I knew I wanted another chance to dive, but it wasn't until PCA in the Bahamas that I'd get the perfect opportunity.
I got in two days before the start of the tournaments and signed up for a dive with Stuart Cove's. One of their dives features a shark feed, promising contact with dozens of tiger sharks in the middle of feeding.
Contrary to what Shark Week might have you think, it's incredibly rare for sharks to attack humans. You're ten times more likely to die from a lightning strike than from a shark. The risk is also mitigated by taking precautions. For example, most bites occur when a shark mistakes a human for its natural prey, so we were instructed to keep all our limbs close to our body during the feeding ("T-Rex arms" according to the dive master).
On the day of the dive, only four divers including myself were signed up. Everyone - Philip (our dive master), Patrick (my dive buddy), Jonathan, Amelia, and Pia (our photographer) - was in good spirits in spite of the light rain, overcast sky, and rocky waves.
The first dive, where we'd free swim along a rock wall, went pretty much according to plan. I picked up some shark teeth on the ocean floor (they apparently shed them constantly).
The second dive was the one we really came out for. Now clad in an metal mesh suit, Philip carried a box filled with shark bait with him to the ocean floor. The rest of us arranged ourselves in a semicircle around him. As he began to feed them, the swarm of sharks around us grew until our vision was as much shark as it was water. I reached out to touch the sharks several times, but they seemed aware of my attempts and adept at avoiding me. Then I was reminded of Philip's "T-Rex arms" advice and decided I didn't want to try to touch them anymore.
At the end of the feed, we had some time to look for shark teeth before making our way back. Suddenly, I hear a loud, repeated tapping sound, as if someone's trying to get our attention. I look up, and see a humpback whale! She was maybe 60 feet long, and just as far away from us. And then I was also suddenly aware that there are zero sharks around us. The others swim as fast as they can to follow her, but because I'm holding my camera in my hand, and I can't swim fast enough. No one can swim fast enough. Before we knew it, she was gone.
I knew that seeing a whale here must be very rare, but it wasn't until I got back on the boat and saw everyone's faces, their fist pumps and high fives and excited squeals, that I realized just how rare it is. I was told that I should quit diving now, that it'll never happen again in my life. Philip said that was the first time in six thousand dives. When we got back to the dive center, I lost count of the number of times Pia showed her video to excited divers who had heard. The news even reached my poker dealer (while telling this experience to a fellow player, the dealer exclaimed, "You saw the whale?")
I took my GoPro with me for this trip, and you can see some footage of my dive. I had some trouble attaching the camera, but I'm very glad my fellow divers convinced me to take it. It's a dive I won't soon forget.
