Sharks: real ones, no cage, just the adrenaline
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
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343
398
Trip End
Ongoing
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Pacific Harbour,
Viti Levu,
Fiji
Thursday, December 4, 2008
I wanted to dive with the sharks. Not the innocent reef sharks, not in a cage, not behind a net. WITH the sharks. And there they are.
We are at the Lagoon resort, where the dive boat leaves, at 8h20 and as expected, everything is late. There are not 2 boats, as they told us yesterday: 1 for everybody together: 12 divers, 7 staff.
We are ready to jump in at 9h30. The briefing is exiting already: hide your fingers, do NOT point your camera (it looks like bait), do not make any sudden moves, ... . We go down to 30 meters and sit down. The first dive they feed 200 kg of fish. The second 500 kg. The feeders are professionals: do not try this at home. They also wear gauntlets. And they are not feeding more than 10 minutes in a row. One mistake can be fatal.
Next to the sharks, there are 1 million fish: giant trevally, surgeon, damsel, giant (and I mean giant) grouper but we came for the SHARKS: they are there: close and huge: silver-, black-, whitetip, reef and nurse sharks and also the bull sharks. They do not attack humans if they are not hungry. Just once in a while by accident. When they mistake a surfer for a fish. The bulls have pups. And they are dangerous: they do not know yet that the humans do not taste so good and they go crazy on the smell of blood.
I am happy with my shark dives. It was worth the drive. Unfortunately, the pictures and videos do no grasp it. There were times that a shark opened its mouth and the hole was bigger than the animal! No kidding: I would fit in there!
If it appeals to you: check first: they are 2 companies in Pacific Harbour diving with sharks, each twice a week. Not all the sharks are there at the same time. The bull sharks disappear more than a month to go mating in fresh water. We did not see any tiger sharks. They are rare.
And ... do not bleed !!!
