Bull Sharks in Playa del Carmen

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

I will be down there in the middle of December through to the New Year. I've never been on a dive with sharks nearby but Wikipedia has this to say about bull sharks:


Is diving with these guys around a good idea?

John just to rebuttal on what you are saying about the bull sharks. All these places that Wikipedia is saying attacks occurred are in very murky and shallow water where the bull sharks do not know what you are and feel that you are intruding. Out in open water where the visibility is around 25-30 meters they can see what you are and see that they are not interested. Again it is in shallow murky water that most or all of the bull shark attacks happen. These animals are magnificently beautiful and you truly feel lucky when you get a chance to dive with them. Their grace and powerfulness is really unlike anything you have ever seen. I agree it is not for some people, but research these animals and you will see that diving with them in clear water is the safest time.

 

[Geofish Dive in Playa]

I will be down there in the middle of December through to the New Year. I've never been on a dive with sharks nearby but Wikipedia has this to say about bull sharks:


Is diving with these guys around a good idea?

I was out with GeoFish last week just outside of Chunzumbul.

Our sole purpose was to find some bull sharks. Morgan and Max had heard from some fisherman that there were sharks out there.

Gerrardo, our guide, had them drop us off at about 85 feet. Nothing but sand underneath us. We started our dive from the deep towards the shallows. About 4 or 5 minutes into the dive, we saw our first shark. He (pretty sure it was a male due to its size) was trolling the reef's edge. Shortly thereafter, we saw two more. About 10 minutes into the dive, we saw our last one ... although we couldn't be certain if it wasn't one of the other three.

At the end of the dive, we were doing our safety stop and saw a southern stingray.

I haven't had time to write up a trip report yet, but GeoFish really took care of us. I was itching to go find those Bull Sharks, and they custom tailored a dive for us. They are absolutely one of the best shops I have ever dove with. I am looking forward to the next trip and will post a trip report when I am un-buried.

Yes, the bulls are running.

GeoFish Scuba Diving - Barracuda Reef Information - Playa del Carmen Mexico
Geofish Dive in Playa del Carmen - Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, PADI Dive Instruction and Kiteboarding

John you would have loved this dive we went on yesterday. It was myself, my brother, Irene, Tim, and our friend Johnathan. We went deep........about 135ft. No more than 2 minutes I look up from the sloping Cantil and there is a fat 7-8 footer no more than 20 ft from me. So many got so close to us that we could see every little spot on them. Absolutley amazing, we ended up seeing around 7 or 8 different ones. At one time my brother saw 5 all together.

It's dives like these that make you realize why we love diving so much! Talk to you soon, hope everything is going great!

 

[scubajcf]

John you would have loved this dive we went on yesterday. It was myself, my brother, Irene, Tim, and our friend Johnathan. We went deep........about 135ft. No more than 2 minutes I look up from the sloping Cantil and there is a fat 7-8 footer no more than 20 ft from me. So many got so close to us that we could see every little spot on them. Absolutley amazing, we ended up seeing around 7 or 8 different ones. At one time my brother saw 5 all together.

It's dives like these that make you realize why we love diving so much! Talk to you soon, hope everything is going great!

Dive sounds great. I was jealous when I read your report. Funny ... we were talking about the Cantil at one point when I was there, weren't we?

Tim from Chicago. Nice guy! You should post that video Irene shot of our shark dive on Youtube. I checked my Video and it wasn't as nice as hers (She was closer).
I'm planning on being back in February. Look forward to diving with you guys then.


Keep up the great work!



jcf


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[cavew0man]

I will be down there in the middle of December through to the New Year. I've never been on a dive with sharks nearby but Wikipedia has this to say about bull sharks:


Is diving with these guys around a good idea?

Using Wikipedia as a research tool is a little bit like getting your news from The Daily Show - entertaining, but not necessarily 100% complete!

I was out about two weeks ago on Cantil, saw 4 or 5 already. Last year, our best dive there we saw at least 15, plus a hammerhead, so close you could almost touch them. They are incredibly beautiful.

 

[dolphinmermaid]

I read the threads about bull sharks in Playa del Carmen and I decided to dive with Playa Scuba last week in Jardines Deep where we encountered 5 Bull sharks.
It went well organized we where positioned in a semicircle in a trench and the crew was alert making shure they would not come to close to us.There was sardines on the floor and Alberto explained us that the sharks here have plenty of food so they will not attack humans unless provoked.I was aprehensive at first but relaxed quickly as Klaus and Luis handled the dive well organized and with many safety procedures in place.This must have been one of the most exciting dives in my life.
I highly recommend Playa Scuba Dive Center in Playa del Carmen for the Shark dives I also dove with them in May for whale sharks in Gladden Spit.
Playa Scuba Dive Center has a video on Youtube keywords playa scuba bull shark
Reserve 52 984 8032403

 

[Jon_Tupper]

Using Wikipedia as a research tool is a little bit like getting your news from The Daily Show - entertaining, but not necessarily 100% complete

Actually I only used Wikipedia for a quick quote. I spent some time in the library yesterday (before a meeting) and read about bulls in the Encyclopedia of Sharks (Firefly Books, 2008) as well as The Secret Life of Sharks: a leading marine biologist reveals the mysteries of shark behavior (Simon and Schuster, 2003), I did a journal search and found 3 articles in a couple of ublications, and I used those sources to verify that a number of scientists who research shark behavior find the bull sharks are not what you want to encounter out there. Part of the problem with bulls seems to be that they're scavengers and opportunists. That makes them very reasonable animals when food is plenty, but completely predicious when food is not plenty. And one can never know which mood these guys are in. Although there have not been any fatalities off the Yucatan peninsula, there have been a number in the gulf of Mexico. As well, there have been attacks on the northern tip of the peninsula. Not a big deal, you usually only lose a limb.

As an analogy, I know a number of hikers who tell you that encountering a grizzly bear in the wild is fine and not a big deal, the odds of getting charged are low and the animals are more afraid of you than you are of them. However I personally know 1 zoologist and 2 park wardens who think you're far better not going for a hike in an area known for grizzly bears.

 

[ShakaZulu]

You guys do realize those things bite right?

 

[Oside Jimc]

You guys do realize those things bite right?

It'll grow back.....

 

[PlayaCountryBoy]

I concur...The bulls are back and they're back early! WooHoo!!!

 

[Diver Lori]

My buddy and I dived with mating bull sharks off Bat Island Costa Rica back in 1998. The dive op did not know they were mating when we descended, but called all the other ops when we got back to warn them.

They were very aggressive and to say the least we were all "one with the rocks". The divemaster for our group got charged a couple of times. He signaled and we swam off, laying low to the rocks, my buddy and I actually doing a pull and glide to stay low and away, until we got away from the mating area. (don't fret, no coral there)

We did our deco stop at 15' without a reference as the op was doing live pickup. My buddy and I just faced each other during our deco....every so often I would look down expecting to see the typical JAWS clip of a open-mouthed shark coming up fast from the bottom to nibble on us!

The really cool thing on that dive was the deco stop. While we were hanging there, I looked off into the water column over my buddy's shoulder. I saw a marlin meandering behind him and quickly spun him around so he would not miss it. If I had gestured for him to look he wouldn't have turned in time. We still laugh to this day about that incident....he likes to tell people what was on his mind when I spun him...."I was sure a bull was coming up behind us and she was throwing me at him to save herself". We were later told we should have been more concerned about the marlin, than we were about the bulls. :blinking: