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Shark Expedition #5
December 2 Wake at 7am and finish packing. I wake Janna up and say goodbye and them leave for the Shear Water. The crew and I get the boat ready for our guests that board at 5pm. There are 10, 5 from Germany and 5 from Austria. After dinner we load bait. First we pack 2 large 50 gal trash bins that are full of freshly dead fish heads and skeletons into 20 plastic milk crates. As imaginable it is a smelly, wet, messy job, but with good crew it can be amusing. After we pack the crates we load them onto the boat. After we load 20 more crates we had previously packed and froze onto the boat. I am extremely tired so I take a nap at 9pm and wake to the sound of the motors at 2am. We depart at 215am for the Bahamas. I take the first watch. It is 56 miles to West End Bahamas from our dock so I drive the first 19 miles. The seas are pretty rough, about 4-5 feet and on the side which makes the boat roll. 3 of the passengers are awake and throwing up. I wake Ed and he takes the second 19 miles. Because I had already gotten 5 hours sleep and I knew Jim was tired I took 15 of his miles and then woke him up for the last 3.
December 3 We arrived at customs at 9am. Thankful to be in the harbor where it is calm. After we clear customs we head north to Tiger Beach, a 2-hour transit in which Jim uses the time for his 2-hour shark diving briefing. Tiger Beach was named by Jim 20 years ago. There is no beach, in fact it is 20 miles from land. It's a large area of shallow waters with mostly sandy bottoms that many shark live in. Upon arrival we see the visibility is very bad and the seas are a little rough for diving but we do one anyways so the guests can get off the boat and see some sharks. We see 20-30 Lemons and the infamous Emma. She is a 15 Ft female Tiger shark that has been gracing us with her presence for 6 years. She is one of the few Tigers not afraid of divers, as well as being very curious, playful and like all sharks hungry for dead fish. After the one dive we move the boat to calm waters for a good night sleep.
December 4 Wake up 530. The wind has died a little so we move 15 miles to Crystal Tiger. The visibility is crystal clear. We spend the whole day here and each do 3 dives. At one point we have over 7 Tiger Sharks, 1 reef shark and 30 or more Lemon Sharks. We notice one of the Lemons has a very large fishing lure in its mouth side ways. It was so large it could barely close it's mouth, but it appeared to be eating okay for now, but if the lure gets stuck down its throat it could easily die. We always have one crew member in the water with the guests. For one we need to guard the crates from the Tigers. The Reef and Lemon Sharks can snip at the crates, but the Tigers can fit the whole crate in their mouth, bite down and completely demolish the crate freeing the food inside. Another reason is so we can shake the crates, fish particles fall out more sharks come and or come closer. I have not felt comfortable in the past to do this, but I am starting to now with the lemon sharks so on my dives I shake the crates a little and then quickly move out of the way. As each Lemon swims past me I stick my hand out and stroke them. They are very graceful and fascinating to watch and I have so much fun interacting with them. Jim does not allow guests gear to be colors other then black and dark blue especially white and yellow because it looks like food to the sharks. My fins are yellow and black. I have tried to color with a permanent marker, but have only partially colored and the marker has faded so my feet do get a lot of attention especially when I shake the crates. After long day of diving we move to night anchorage.
December 5 Was woken around 3am because of the howling sound of the winds and the rolling of the boat. Woke again at 6. The wind are blowing 30-35knots and is undivable conditions. We leave our anchorage and re anchor another 10 miles into shallow water. Here we can never dive because the visibility is always very bad but because we are in 6 ft of water the seas stay relatively calm. Instead of diving we do what Jim calls Tiger Snaps. We tie fish heads to fishing line, cast them out and wait until a Tiger is approaching. As the tiger jumps we reel in or jerk the line. Sometimes the guests get amazing photographs but more likely the tigers get fish. I attempt many times and am berated, all in good fun, about my lack of casting skills and my slow reeling speed resulting in lots of well fed sharks. It rained off and on the whole day and we alternated tiger snaps and movies.
At 1130 we motored another hour to Tiger Mini Wall and the the chain.
November 4 640 Tiger Beach. 11am moored at Hammertime
November 5 Classic Tiger Beach. 6 Tigers including Emma
November 6 Crystal Tiger. 6 Tigers, 11 lemons. 1:30pm moved to Tiger Ridge
November 7
November 8
November 9
November 10
December 9 Today is my moms birthday and I'm not able to wish her a happy one, but I do in my heart. It is the last day of this trip. Wake up around 6 and move to Tiger Beach. We put the last of the bait in the water and wait for sharks. After an hour we have one Lemon shark. Finally the tide turns and carries the delicious smell of dead fish to the sharks and in another hour we have 3 Tigers and 20 Lemons. It is 10 before we do the first dive. I go with the first group. The water is crystal clear. I recognize Begonia, but not the other 2 larger tigers. They take turns coming in close to the bait. It is surgy but still very nice dive. I come up after 97 minutes and Jim goes in. He stays for an hour and half then Ed goes in/. Ed is on the final dive of the trip so after and hour he releases all the bait and the sharks go crazy. We get the divers onboard and at 415 head for West Palm Beach. Normally we run at 10 knots but because we have 1 engine and the seas on our bow we average 5 knots. We get in at 130am. Since we don't clear custom until the morning we are not aloud to dock so we anchor near the customs office.
December 10 Wake up 530. move the boat to the customs dock and wait 45 minutes til they show. We clear customs at 945 and head to the dock. The guests are offloaded by 1030 and we begin clean up. We move quickly and are done by 230. I race home to shower, hang with my sissy and sleep. :)
Shark Expedition #4
November 22 to November 29
Shark Expedition #3
November 12 to November 18
Shark Expedition #2
November 3 210 Departed WPB for WE. Another Nice crossing. I took the first watch from 2-4am.
Arrived in WE at 830. Departed customs and moved an hour north where we released baby sea turtle we got from a turtle rescue lab in Florida.
Shark Expedition #1
September 21
My first shark expedition. The 9 guest aboard are from Austria with Waterworld. I am a little nervous but mostly excited to dive with sharks. After a long day of preparing the Shear Water we depart Palm Beach Fl. At 2am and head east to Bahamas.
September 22
The crossing was beautiful. It is 54 miles from the sea buoy. I stand watch for the first 19 miles and go to sleep around 4am. I wake up around 730 am and head outside. It is a beautiful morning with bright sunlight, clear skies and turquoise seas. We arrive at customs in the Bahamas at 845am.
After we cleared customs we headed north for 2 hour transit and moored at a reef called Hammertime.
I sat in on Jim's 2-hour shark briefing as this was my first time diving with sharks and I have always been afraid of them.
1 Tiger, 3 Lemons, and 20 Reef Sharks.
September 23
Ginormous Reef: 3 Tigers
September 24 Hammertime: 1 Tiger
September 25 Shark-Tooth Ridge: 2 Tigers
Night Snorkel with Atlantic Spotted Dolphin.
September 26 1st Dive The Chain, Carcarious Cut, Sugar Wreck
September 27 Tiger Beach
September 28 Cornfield Lots of lemons
September 29 Hammertime. Departed for West Palm Beach at 4:30pm and Arrive at 945pm
September 30 Cleared Customs at 8:30am. Cleaned Boat and went home at 430pm
December 6 Wake at 530. Very tired today because Ed's snoring was extremely loud. On 2 occasions I hollered at him and told him he's snoring so loud. I think I will move to the salon in the future. At 6 we move to Crystal Tiger. In the afternoon, as one of the guests is getting on board she drops her fin and it quickly drifts beyond reach. I decide to go in after it and tell Jim to stand watch. Because it is not safe to surface swim I have to get my scuba gear on. In a little over a minute I am ready to go. The fin, still visible, is 200 feet from the back of the boat. Jim gives me his scooter which I have only used it one other time for about 3 mins while swimming with dolphins. I take a heading to the fin, jump in and descend 5-10 feet. I press the motor button on the scooter and find it awkward to steer straight. On my previous dive I had chewed off one side of my mouth piece on my regulator and through ¾ of the other side. I had meant to change it but in my haste had forgotten as well as to defog my mask. I surface and look back at the boat. Jim signals to go west. I descend and head west. I surface again and Jim signals I am near it and to look around. I go back down and am approached by a Tiger Shark. She is a small Tiger probably 9-10 feet. She is very curious of me and my bright yellow scooter. The Tiger I later learn to be Begonia approaches me very closely so I push the end of the scooter to her face. She backs away but is still very curious. I notice on my right another Tiger. This one is much bigger, 15 ft. I recognize her markings and scars, it's Emma. I attempt to scooter away but the button is locked. I remembered back to the first time I used it Jim pointed out the safety switch which I must have hit by accident I tried to located it. I am extremely flustered and getting scared. I descend to the bottom to help regain myself. I am breathing very heavily, my regulator is letting in water and is very hard to keep in my mouth. I switch to my secondary reg but the hose is so short It does not reach my mouth. I try to clear my mask by flooding it then purging the water out, but it quickly starts to fog again. I think for a moment about being attacked by the sharks and quickly shake those thoughts out of my head. I am 100% confident that sharks do not want to eat me, but they identify objects with their mouths, which are big, strong, and full of teeth. The Tigers must have gotten bored because I no longer see them. I have given up on finding the fin. I look at my surroundings, it is very pretty. I am in 22 feet of water. The bottom is short turtle grass and there is a school of small blue fish, a few larger jacks and a reef shark. I calmly look at the scooter and clearly see the safety switch and unlock it. I surface to get a heading on the boat and then descend and scooter that way. I make it back to the boat and Jim thanks me for my efforts. I feel disappointed in myself for not getting it, but feel better after Jim tells me when I was near the fin he saw a Tiger grab it, it disappeared for a moment then popped up. Since I am already wet I finish my dive under the boat. Begonia and Emma were there. Begonia is very pretty and cute to watch as she buries her face into a sea plume looking for falling fish.
The visibility turns milky so we decide instead of diving to attempt to rescue the Lemon shark with the lure in his mouth. The plan is to get the shark to the back of the boat, use the stainless steal latch that clips around the tail without hurting it, bring him on board with heavy lines, jump on him and somehow get the lure out of his mouth. Shearwater crew in the past has rescued sharks in this fashion. I have only seen video footage of it and am excited to be apart of it. First we need to find him from the surface with about 15 other Lemons. I take the fishing pole with a fish head on it and begin by slapping the surface. Then I lure the sharks past the swim step until we identify the shark in need of help. The guests are on the back deck with cameras and video and the crew is armed with the tail latch on a pole. After 3o mins I get the right shark to the swim platform and Jim strikes and misses. Another 10 minutes and I get him again. Jim strikes again, instantly there is furious splashing and slapping, we got him. Jim, Ed and Mike are hauling in this 8-foot shark on board when suddenly it is quiet. The cable had snapped and the shark is free. He is probably so freaked out that we may not see him for weeks. But we will keep looking and try again to help this shark.
December 7- Wake up at 545. We depart at 615 for Sugar Wreck. In our crossing the port engine revs to full throttle on it's own. This is called a runaway and can be very dangerous on many levels. I was on the back deck and noticed a big cloud of black smoke from the port engine. I run inside and head to the engine room and here Jim scream shut it down. I jump into the engine compartment and the engine is screaming. I look for the air shut off valve and can not find it so I shut the fuel supply off. In less then 5 seconds the engines struggles, smokes and dies. We all speculate what had happen but since none of us are mechanical engineers we call on the satellite phone our engineer in Palm Beach. It takes hours to get a call back. He tells us many theories it could be then he says to check the oil level. I did, it was well over the full mark. I drained a gallon and a half which brought it to the full mark and noticed it was very thin. I told Jim and we concluded there must be a leak in the fuel line which has been filling the oil well. We send a message back to the engineer, but don't hear back from him til later that night. We still have the starboard motor so we continue to Sugar Wreck. I love Sugar Wreck. It is a large sugar barge that had sunk many years ago. Parts of the boat are scattered about the sea floor creating a home for so many fish. It is very shallow around 20ft which makes it possible to stay down for a long time. Mike sets the crates on the wreck and I go down shortly after him. I see there are 5 Reef Sharks and one Tiger so I furiously shake the crates to bring them in closer. The Tiger stays out but the Reefs come in. There is a huge school, possible hundreds, of barracuda. I somehow burn through my air in an hour. I dive again at noon to free the anchor so we can move to the reef. We moor at Carcarious cut at 1230. I dive after lunch and then again at 6pm to float the mooring. This was my first time bringing in the crates and floating the mooring at night. I was a little nervous, not so much of sharks but of finding the mooring line. It was not quit pitch black but still very dark. I brought the crates to the back of the boat and Jim saw a crate about 50 feet from the stern so I went to go get it. Because it is not safe to swim at the surface I descended 15 feet. As I got closer to the crate a mom and baby dolphin cross my path. I stop and watch them swim past. I saw the crate it was covered in algae a sign it has been in the ocean for many weeks or months. It was being used as shelter for 6 small, cute fish. I swam it back to the boat and handed it to Ed. He turned it upside down in the water and 3 small fish fell out. I swam down and floated the mooring then we drove to a calm anchorage for the night. The seas were calm but I was awoken by a horribly load continuous noise. I dreampt about finding this noise and stopping it for what seemed to be a long time and finally woke to realized it was Ed snoring. I packed my blanket and pillows and moved to the salon.
December 8- Today I wake up at 630. We got a message from the engineer to drain the oil to the low level mark, prime the filters and try to start it. So after a quick cup of coffee I go to the engine room and remove another 2 gallons of oil, the filters did not lose their prime so we tried to fire it up but it does not start. Jim decides to leave it alone as we will be fine going home on the one motor. We moor at Shark Mound and I go for a dive at 9ish. Jim was down there and he placed me in many settings for many pictures. At 1 we moved to Carcarious Cut. I did one dive there and saw Reef Sharks and one Tiger. As I was coming up I saw the Tiger B line to the crates so I told Ed to get in the water to defend the crate. Jim said he was going, but by the time he got down the crate was gone. This was the 3rd crate we lost today to tigers. At 430 we left. Jim floated the mooring and I drove. Because we lost so much bait this trip we needed to fish. A few of the guest participated and in an hour they and caught 5 barracuda. At 530 we anchored at the Sugar Wreck. At 745 I did a night dive with 6 of the guests. 945 anchored at night anchorage.
December 15
I wake a few minutes before 2am and go to the engine room and start the generator and switch over from shore power. Jim is on the bridge and I release the lines then go to the bridge and pull the boat off the dock with Jim standing by in case I need help. There is little wind and I have no problems. I drive the first 19 miles. We are heading into the seas which, in my opinion, is the most uncomfortable. Jim picked up turtles to release earlier that day and they are in coolers on the back deck. Two of them are 3 months old and have transmitters glued to their shells so they can be tracked for a few months until they fall off. Jim told me when I am 10 miles off shore to release them. At 350am we are 10 miles off shore. I am the only one awake and the boat is on autopilot so if I fall overboard it will probably not be noticed for hours or until morning and most likely I would never be found. This is in mind as I tie a line to the boat and hold it with one hand and pick up a turtle with the other. I lean over the side and release them one at a time. I go back upstairs to the safety of the bridge and have another hour until I can wake Ed to drive the next 19 miles. I am very tired and quickly fall asleep. I wake 3 hours later. Jim says the starboard motor is struggling so I go into the engine room and notice there is a lot of water in the fuel filter. We are less then a mile from customs so I wait to change the filters until we are docked at customs. We leave customs at 10am. We still have 20 baby turtles to release so we drive a few miles from land and anchor. Mike tells me he heard there is a sunken treasure around here. He is the first to jump into the water with the hopes of finding it. The guests get in the water and I release one turtle at a time. The guests watch as the turtles swim down and away. We have 12 green turtles and 8 loggerheads. Mike returns 30 minutes later and says he has found it but can not float it or open it. I of course don't believe him and sarcastically ask if he wants a float bag to float it. I am surprised he says yes. First I want to see it so I jump in and follow him for a long, tiresome swim. He is fast and hard to keep up with but I do my best and stay with him. He free dives down to around 10/15 feet and tries to open a rectangular box. It is approx 2x3x2 feet tall. It seems like the size of a treasure chest. I dive down to get a closer look. We surface for air then dive down again. He picks up a rock and bangs the chest, growth falls away and I recognize what it is. I feel bad to ruin the excitement but I am certain it is not treasure. In fact we have 3of these exact items in our engine room. I tell him. He dives down again and discovers battery connectors and confirms it is a large battery. The swim back is against current and is a little harder but feels great to get the blood flowing as I am so tired and lacking energy. We make it back to the boat, all the guests are already on board so we pull up the anchor and drive 17 more miles to the reef. Ed and I take turns at the helm while Jim gives his 2-hour shark briefing and Mike prepares lunch. Today is both mine and Mikes birthday. He is 3 years younger. We arrive at Ginormous at around 1 and moor up. Ed sets the mooring and the crates and dives with the first group. I dive with the second. The seas are flat with little wind and current. We see one Tiger off in the distance, one shy lemon and too many reef sharks to count. When I come up Jim goes in and does 2 dives back to back. When the last guest surfaces Jim brings up the crates and floats the mooring while I drive to pick it up. We drive to Tiger Beach around 5pm to spend the night. Mike prepares us a delicious ice cream cake which I scoff down then go to bed around 730. I wake through out the night surprising not because of Eds snoring but because I am stuffed up and have trouble breathing.
December 16
I wake up at 630. We are already at our dive site, Crystal Tiger. Jim and Ed do the first dive. I dive around 9 and stay for 90 minutes. The water is around 80 which seems warm but after an hour I start getting really cold. I have a 2/3 wet suit and need to get a 5 or 7 mil. Jim lends me his camera and I take over 100 pictures. Emma is there and she loves her picture taken. She must associate the camera with fish because she is all over me. It is the closest I have been to a Tiger Shark . I actually have to push her away a few times. There are 3 other Tigers but they don't come as close as Emma. One is a small tiger around 10 feet and her bottom jaw is badly broken and deformed. I feel bad for her and wish she would come in so we can feed her. We have seen her for the past month and it appears, somehow, she is able to eat. Most likely her jaw was broken by an automatic fishing reel. More then not the sharks have fishing wounds. There are 15 + lemons. They stay close to pick up the scraps that fall from the crates. After lunch I dive again. Again Emma is there and probably all the same lemons. I stay 78 minutes before I am so cold I have to surface. It's 452 now and I am going to try to take a little nap before the night dive. Most of the guest do the night dive. The wind had picked up so we pull anchor and drive 10 miles to safe water. I am in bed by 10pm.
December 17
The weather can turn so quickly. Yesterday was so beautiful, no wind, no current, and flat seas. Today the winds are gusting to 20knots. We leave our night anchorage at 630am and head back to Tiger Beach. We arrive and I do the first dive. The visibility has dropped dramatically. Yesterday it was easily over 150 feet. Now it is a very murky 50 feet and the current is very strong. I stay down with the guests for about an hour and when we get up we move the boat to find a better spot. We drive to the reef and do one more dive. Jim dives with the guests. While he was getting ready I get the idea to sew ears onto his hood. While he is diving I find an old diving booty and cut it up and sew 2 round bear-like ears.
The seas are 5-7 feet and are causing the swim platform to bang and the boat to rock a lot. We decide to leave and go to calm waters. During the hour drive I sew the ears onto Jim's hood and then put his hood back in his gear box. The wind is now gusting to 30knots and the conditions are undivable so we do surface Tiger snaps.
Mike and I make a bet. He and a guest, Steven, said that if you take a cold corona put it in the freezer just long enough so that frost builds on the outside it will freeze when you drop a bit of frost into it. They say that it will completely freeze enough so that less then an ounce will come out when held upside down. If I win I can have his bunk for the rest of the trip and if he wins I will do the dishes for the rest of the trip. I actually believed him, because he was so confident and because he has seen it happen, but it seems fun to gamble. I help him with the dishes after dinner usually one or two nights a week. It is a sucky job and I feel bad that he always has to do it plus because he helps us out on deck and because he cooks vegetarian meals for me. I also thought that if I won it would be nice for him to understand the magnitude of Ed's snoring. I bitch about it probably every day sometimes subtlety so not to seem like a complainer. At dinner time he takes the beer out of the freezer and we explain to the rest of the guests the conditions of the bet. Mike take the corona out of the freezer and uses a knife to scrape the frost off and drops it into the beer. Slowly it begins to freeze from the top down. I am pretty worried and almost convinced I have lost. The beer is about halfway frozen when it stops freezing and begins to defrost as quickly as it had froze. Since he had just cooked dinner and one of our ac's has stopped working it is probably 85-90 degrees in the salon. He rushes the beer outside hoping the cool night air will complete the freezing process, but it is too late... I win the bet and gloat loudly for a while. Later, around bedtime, 8pm I pack my stuff and am heading down stairs when he is coming up. I warn him that if it starts to rain to scoot down a foot or 2 because there is a leak in the ceiling above my bed. He frowns and I giggle and say goodnight.
December 18, I slept soundly, but it felt a little stuffy in Mikes bunk. My bed is on the bridge where there are lots of windows and a fresh breeze. If Ed didn't snore so loudly it would be amazing. Millions of stars fill the black sky, most morning I lift my head up and briefly admire the sunrise before getting another hour of sleep. The weather forecast gets more grim. Today the weather man is calling for 30 knots of wind from the S and 5-7 ft seas and tomorrow they predict 50 knots from the west with 6-0 ft seas. We are suppose to do the crossing back to west palm beach tomorrow. Jim asks the guests if they would like to leave a day earlier because diving will be limited and the crossing will be much more comfortable if we leave today. They all vote to leave today in the afternoon. It is possible to do one dive early in the morning. I am glad because I am dying to see Jim dive with his hood.
Shark Expedition #6 December 14 to December 20
December 14 This is the final trip of the year and before my long break. I am feeling tired today, but we have a lot of work to do before the guests board. We still have one engine down so while the mechanic works on it I work on changing the oil. It take me a little over two hours to change the filters and remove the waste oil and replace it. Most of the guest arrive a little after 5. This week we have 2 Americans, 4 French, 2 Swedish and 2 Italians. They all are very nice, and anxious to dive with Tigers. We order Pizza for dinner and afterward Ed and I load bait.. I shower and take a nap at 1130 pm. Jarrod calls a little after midnight to wish me a happy birthday and then I quickly fall back asleep.
We normally never dive at this spot in fact it is 10 miles from Tiger Beach and the shark here are not used to divers and it is very hard to get them to come in close. Luckily we have so much bait left and since we are leaving a day early we put all 19 fresh crates of dead fish. It creates a huge slick of fish oil that the sharks can smell from a long distance. I am trying to convince Jim to go diving because I want to see him in the hood. He even says to me “man you really want me to go diving.” He is hesitant mostly because the sharks are not coming in close, but finally after an hour we have 6 Tiger Sharks and Jim says he's going diving. Ed, mike, I and a guest Annalie are on the deck watching him start to get ready. He puts his wetsuit on and Mike and Annalie have their cameras ready. He finally grabs his hood and without looking puts it on his head. It is perfect! So Funny we all start to chuckle softly in hopes not to give it away. He continues to get ready by putting on his booties. The crowd has gotten bigger and the laugher louder. Mike starts recording and say nice hood and Jim discovers the ears. He is a great sport about it in fact he applauds me for such a great joke. It was fun and later we showed the video and all had a good laugh.
The visibilty gets really bad so after 2 hours Jim directs all the divers up and we depart for WPB at 115pm. The crossing wasnt the smoothest but it was bearable. We get into WPB at 730pm and have time to do a dive at the bridge. The blue heron bridge in lake park is a wonderful shallow dive with many small creatures like seahorses, bat fish, flying gurnards, nudibranches and much more. After the dive we anchor near customs for our 8am appointment.
December 19
We pull anchor and dock at customs at 730am. We are cleared by 830am and head back to the bridge for another dive. The guest still have one more day on the boat even though we had to leave the bahamas early we still could dive in West Palm Beach. But we cannot do shark diving. After the brdige we head to breaker reef.. Mike and Ed do the first dive then I do a short dive and Ed does the last dive. We head back to the dock at 5pm. After dinner I spend hours on the phone and internet then try to sleep. I don't know if I am just so excited to start my vacation and to go home, but I barely sleep. I slept from 1-4 and go down stairs and Jim is awake with a guest. I contemplate staying awake and starting clean up but and too tired so I sleep for a few more hours. The guest disembark around 9 and the crew busts our butts and are done by 2pm and I am home by 3pm.
February 19, 2011
February 18, 2011
This is a Shark Tagging trip lead by Dr. Neil Hammerschlag.
My alarm went off at 1:55am Matt and I prepared for our 2am departure. I drove the first 19 miles. Curt, one of our guests, a charter boat captain and shark tagger joins me for most of my miles. we talk about the tagging that will go on tomorrow as he has experience tagging sharks
