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Shark Action In The Caribbean
After calling a wrap on the Vertical Blue 2009 shoot in Long Island Bahamas, Nicholas Claxton at The Underwater Channel got in touch and asked us to set up a shoot at Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas in Nassau. We are to compile a pitch for Neil Peterson, a contender for the new Face for The Underwater Channel in the Bahamas.
Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas is Nassau’s leading full-service dive resort. Originally opened in 1978, the operation offers a wide spectrum of diving activities featuring the Extreme Shark Adventure. The Shark Adventure program takes divers on an underwater encounter with Caribbean Reef Sharks. On the first dive divers participate in a ‘free swim’ with the sharks. The second dive sees the group form a semi-circle on the bottom while a professional shark feeder enters the water with a box of bait. Upon reaching the bottom, the feeder begins feeding the sharks with the aid of a pole spear. To say the sharks come close to the divers is an understatement – they are everywhere!
The Blue Eye FX team is excited! But we don’t want to sit on the bottom and watch sharks…we want to participate!
Our team gathers on the dock early in the morning. Neil Peterson is to be our guide, our shark-feeder and possibly our new Face for The Underwater Channel. Cameras and equipment are checked. Neptunic stainless steel chainmail suits are distributed. We’re going shark diving!
Just ten minutes by boat from the dive centre and we are on the site. The first dive is an orientation dive. We film the wrecks placed by the dive centre – the Ray of Hope and the Bahama Mama – and the Caribbean Reef Sharks cruising amongst them. The sharks are interested in us, but not overtly so. They are just checking to see if we have a tidbit for them! It is a perfect first dive – good visibility and a little current. We ascend satisfied with the footage and Neil’s efforts. Topside, we put him through his paces as a would-be presenter and he does well.
The second dive promises serious action. We kit up in the chainmail – a necessity if you want to move around with the sharks while feeding is underway – and we follow the bait box into the water.Initially, a few sharks come to meet us as we descend. As the irresistible scent of the bait box spreads through the water, more and more sharks join us.
Neil organises himself on the bow of the Ray of Hope and the feeding begins.
Sharks are everywhere! The moment Neil opens the box; sharks are jostling for position. The resident oversized Groupers are also competing, hoping to snatch a piece of bait intended for the Caribbean Reef Sharks. Neil is wearing full chainmail and a helmet and the reason becomes apparent as he is struck repeatedly while the sharks crowd him for the bait. Sharks bump into the camera lenses, shove their way though the infrastructure of the feeding site wreck and push their way to the front of the crowd.
At the height of the frenzy, there are more than 40 sharks surrounding us.
Throughout it all, Neil remains unruffled. He choreographs the feeding so we are able to get the shots we need, but this takes time. Toward the end of the session, we are into overtime. The bait in the box is now thawed and the hovering Yellow Snappers are able to get into the holes in the box and pull the bait out, which disintegrates. What began as a controlled feeding session is now a chumming session with some very excited sharks!
But once the bait is consumed, the sharks disappear gracefully into the blue. No doubt, they will return for the next people lucky enough to experience this dive.
Thanks to Stuart and all the team at Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas for the outstanding hospitality the Blue Eye FX team received. Good luck Neil, with your pitch to be the Face of The Underwater Channel at Stuart Cove’s in the Bahamas!
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