Question Bimini, Great Hammerhead dive ?

[Murphy in NC]

Looking to do a quick trip before my son returns to school.
We are out of NC and looking at the Bimini Great Hammerhead Dive. Not a fan and never have been to a baited dive however Great Hammerheads would be a blast.
We have never dove the Bahamas and would be interested in any info regarding operators/conditions/etc.

Also interested in hearing of any other quick trips from fellow Carolinian's

Thanks in advance

 

[Knockneed Man]

I highly recommend the Dolphin Dream out of West Palm Beach. I did their tiger shark trip and it was amazing… the crew, Capt Scott are fantastic. The vessel was comfy and food good. Looks like they still have openings for some of their upcoming Bimini hammer trips:

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Hammerhead shark diving Bimini Bahamas by live aboard. Combined with Tiger Beach diving, all in one trip. 8 to 10 day trips.

www.sharkexpedition.com

 

[CCS]

Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center is your best option for a Great Hammerhead dive in Bimini. My wife and I just dove with them last week and it was great. They have a great crew, good facilities, and really nice boats.

We had a couple of folks on the boat with us that had done the Hammerhead dive three time over four days and they were just as excited about doing it a fourth time.

 

[Hojo in SC]

I went down from SC, met up with my son in FL, we took the ferry over and also went with Neal Watson's scuba center. Wouldn't you know it we didn't see any hammerheads day 1, and that was suppose to be the only day of hammerhead diving, however, since it is so rare not to see a hammer, Neal changed our dive schedule the next day and we were so happy when Gaia the 14 foot great hammerhead came to see us.

Seeing photos of great hammerheads just does not give them justice, sit in a room with a 14 foot wall and you will begin to understand just how enormous they are, truly amazing.

I tend to get cold so I took a 7 mm wet suit and glad I did. When you're sitting on the bottom not finning, you don't stay as warm, several divers went up to the boat too cold and didn't come back in, so they missed Gaia. You need to put on a bunch more lead on to stay still on the bottom, plan accordingly, and take a camera.

 

[Murphy in NC]

I highly recommend the Dolphin Dream out of West Palm Beach. I did their tiger shark trip and it was amazing… the crew, Capt Scott are fantastic. The vessel was comfy and food good. Looks like they still have openings for some of their upcoming Bimini hammer trips:

Hammerhead Shark Diving

Hammerhead shark diving Bimini Bahamas by live aboard. Combined with Tiger Beach diving, all in one trip. 8 to 10 day trips.

www.sharkexpedition.com

So it looks like a weekly trip ?

 

[dirtfarmer]

So it looks like a weekly trip ?

Generally 7 or 8 day trips out of West Palm Beach.
Well run operation, I'm heading out on a 2nd trip with them in a couple of weeks.
Be aware it can take some time for them to answer emails as there is no office staff to answer emails when they are out on a trip.

 

[Manuel Sam]

I've done the Dolphin Dream twice - once for Spotted Dolphins only in 2009 and once in 2014 when I did a combo Tiger Beach and Spotted Dolphins.

I also think highly of the DD and agree with all the comments made above: the food, the crew and the Captain are right up there with those on the better liveaboards. But compared to most international liveaboards, when it comes to accommodations (cabin comfort and space and just two shared bathrooms for 10 (maybe12) divers), it is a bit Spartan..........assuming these are important criteria for you.

I also did the Great Hammers land-based with Neil Watson in 2017 for five days and would not hesitate to do it again with them. They are based at the Big Game Club in North Bimini. We stayed in a condo (was called the Bimini Sand) in South Bimini but Neil Watson was very accommodating in arranging for the dive boat to pick us up and drop us off at the marina of our condo everyday. They are an excellent dive operation, but if you end up having to stay at the Big Game Club in North Bimini, it was pretty pricey back then, and on top of that, their restaurant prices were pretty steep as well.

We saw Great Hammers everyday, some days up to 4-5. There were loads of Nurse sharks lined up in front the feeder looking for scraps. Bull sharks tended to stay at a distance and if they approached, the dive crew banged the bait box to drive them away.

One thing worth noting regarding the great hammer diving day with Neil Watson's operation, at least as it was done in 2017. Each diver was assigned two tanks. Since the dive was done in 25-30 feet depth, with two tanks, air should not have been a limiting factor when determining how much bottom time of Great Hhammers you got. The limiting factor was the amount of bait they had. Once the feeding started, it never stopped - ie, there was no break built in to allow divers to change tanks. That's understandable because if the feeding stopped, the sharks would then lose interest and leave. On most days, the bait ran out in about two hours.

Those who were really good with air could squeeze two hours out of one single tank and therefore stay the whole feeding time. But if you had to change tanks, you lost that amount of time it took you to ascend, swap tanks, maybe get a sip of water, and then descend again.

I don't know how this compares to how DD does a full day of Great Hammers.

 

[Ned_Land]

I went down from SC, met up with my son in FL, we took the ferry over and also went with Neal Watson's scuba center. Wouldn't you know it we didn't see any hammerheads day 1, and that was suppose to be the only day of hammerhead diving, however, since it is so rare not to see a hammer, Neal changed our dive schedule the next day and we were so happy when Gaia the 14 foot great hammerhead came to see us.

Seeing photos of great hammerheads just does not give them justice, sit in a room with a 14 foot wall and you will begin to understand just how enormous they are, truly amazing.

I tend to get cold so I took a 7 mm wet suit and glad I did. When you're sitting on the bottom not finning, you don't stay as warm, several divers went up to the boat too cold and didn't come back in, so they missed Gaia. You need to put on a bunch more lead on to stay still on the bottom, plan accordingly, and take a camera.

Hi @Murphy in NC - I was reading a Shark Lab article saying as of 2023, "the number of ‘regular’ great hammerheads frequenting the provisioning site in Bimini has fallen from more than ten to only three". How was your trip? Does anyone else have more recent experience diving there?