A Story With Bite

Humanity has always feared what we do not understand.

- Tom Park

This fear of entering the unknown binds us to the surface and limits our ability to explore the depths below. The fear of encountering a monster of the deep, coming face to face with a shark has scared many away from the water altogether. But over the past few years, ocean lovers have increasingly become fascinated by these apex predators and have begun seeking them out.

I was lucky enough to have this opportunity, joining a recent expedition off the coast of the Bahamas to seek out and scuba dive with Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks. Statistically, these two sharks are considered the second and third most aggressive and most deadly sharks in the world, and to make this interesting we were diving without a cage.

I have never felt anything quite like this before. We were thrown into a world where we were completely powerless and defenseless against the will of nature. We were staring down the eyes of some of the most feared predators on Earth, hoping that the trust we placed in these animals was not a mistake. While I have never felt more alert in my entire life, as ridiculous as it sounds, the sensation of fear was not present. We had placed our trust in these apex predators, and it almost seemed as if they were as curious in us as we were in them.

The expedition was filled with awe-inspiring sensations of fascination and disbelief as 15 – 17ft Tiger Sharks swam within centimeters of us, at times even forcing us to use our cameras as shields to push them away. Yet they displayed no aggression at all. During these periods where there were only 1 or 2 Tiger Sharks in the water and a few Bull Sharks lurking in the distance, things were surprisingly relaxed. It offered a rare opportunity to interact with these apex predators in a manner I never thought possible.