Tiger Beach, Grand Bahama Island

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Tiger sharks at Tiger Beach

Dear Fellow Diver,

One of the first directions in our detailed dive briefing was "Don't pet the sharks." Are they kidding? I'd never been, nor wanted to be, close enough to a shark to pet it, but at Tiger Beach, I was often close enough to pet these massive creatures -- in fact, really close to these apex predators. But as instructed, we never petted them. Being within petting distance meant I was also within easy chomping distance of a dozen or so 14-foot, half-ton tiger sharks. I could feel my heart racing, and I was breathing much harder than I usually would at 30 feet, which is why they told us to check our SPGs often.

At our dive briefing, we were told that sharks are attracted to shiny objects, so we removed them from our kit and also wore black hoods and black gloves. These no-shine efforts were not a problem but they raised my anxiety level about diving with tigers. We were told to look sharks in the eye and show no fear, which meant, for example, don't fumble nervously if you drop your camera. Just calmly pick it up. Looking these 14-foot tigers in the eye and not showing fear took a great deal of effort because on my first dive with them I was seriously frightened, and I'm positive that every other first-time Tiger Beach diver was equally frightened. But the saving grace was that the shark feeders really know the sharks well, and 15 minutes into my first dive, I saw that the sharks were moving in a fairly predictable pattern. Indeed, the shark feeders often petted their snouts, and sometimes they even opened a shark's mouth to give it bait.

I've dived all over the world and seen plenty of sharks, but I never became completely comfortable with these tigers, though my fear was manageable. After all, Tiger Beach has had a few accidents.

After the first dive, I asked myself, "Why am I putting myself in a position where I need to manage my real fear that the sharks can inflict serious injury?" I'm sure each diver has their own answer to this question, but for me it goes like this:...

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