Elphinstone Longimanus

[Dan]

Just got back from Red Sea with Red Sea Aggressor, a couple days ago and whipped out this highlight of the trip, i.e., diving with Oceanic Whitetip shark (Carcharhinus Longimanus) in Elphinstone, Marsa Alam. I hope you all enjoy the show.

It was such an experience, not only to see them swimming around me, but also to see how the pros (DM & pro photographers) in action.

I’ll post the rest of the trip report separately, later after the New Year celebration.

Have a Happy New Year to all SBer’s. Best wishes to you all in 2020!

 

[Tribal]

Really nice to see, but didn’t you get a briefing how to act around them?
almost every year there are a few incidents with longimanus, swimming/diving at the surface and turning your back to them isn’t to safe.
Saw one bitting towards a diver that was getting in the zodiac a few months ago.

 

[Dan]

Really nice to see, but didn’t you get a briefing how to act around them?
almost every year there are a few incidents with longimanus, swimming/diving at the surface and turning your back to them isn’t to safe.
Saw one bitting towards a diver that was getting in the zodiac a few months ago.

Yes we did. They are pretty mellow sharks and you shouldn’t worry too much about swimming with them if you are calm, stay put vertically (to look big), facing them, not swimming away, nor splashing on the surface like wounded fish and let them come to you.

As you see in the video, they are swimming around me and the other Photographers. The DM put an SMB on the surface and dive flag below the boat as ways to attract them. In fact, there were some day boats, came all the way from Marsa Alam to Elphinstone to see the sharks swimming below our boat.

When we were done diving with them, we were instructed to gather closer in a group at 5m below the surface and DM would assign one diver at a time to go back to the boat at the right time.

 

[drbill]

I kept looking for them when I dove Elphinstone a few years ago but we didn't get any. Glad you did and shared the experience.

 

[Dan]

We also saw one in Little Brother, under another liveboard.

 

[drrich2]

Interesting to read your fairly benign impression of them (conditional on proper diver behavior). What I've read in the past (plus that video not long ago of one basically ripping the calf off a guy's leg, let's not forget that!) made them sound somewhat anxiety-provoking - swimming at divers and veering off when pretty close, appearing at times in numbers (if you're supposed to keep your eyes on the shark so it knows you see it, but one's in front of you and one behind, then what?) and curious about/prone to investigate divers...

In a nutshell, I've dove with sand tiger, lemon, bull (not real big ones) and tiger sharks (up to near 10 foot, not the huge ones), and enjoyed it. What I've read online (e.g.: an article diving with them near Cat Island in the Bahamas) has made me in no hurry to dive with oceanic white-tips.

Glad you had a good time, and good to hear diving with them isn't always nerve wracking!

P.S.: Happy New Year!

 

[Dan]

Interesting to read your fairly benign impression of them (conditional on proper diver behavior). What I've read in the past (plus that video not long ago of one basically ripping the calf off a guy's leg, let's not forget that!) made them sound somewhat anxiety-provoking - swimming at divers and veering off when pretty close, appearing at times in numbers (if you're supposed to keep your eyes on the shark so it knows you see it, but one's in front of you and one behind, then what?) and curious about/prone to investigate divers...

In a nutshell, I've dove with sand tiger, lemon, bull (not real big ones) and tiger sharks (up to near 10 foot, not the huge ones), and enjoyed it. What I've read online (e.g.: an article diving with them near Cat Island in the Bahamas) has made me in no hurry to dive with oceanic white-tips.

Glad you had a good time, and good to hear diving with them isn't always nerve wracking!

P.S.: Happy New Year!

Ya, I saw the video of that poor guy’s calf got ripped off. He seemed to pay little attention to the shark. As you see in my video, those pro photographers were fully alert and keeping their eyes on the sharks. When one of them swimming towards me at the beginning of the diving, I was ready to shove my camera to it until it veered off to the right about a foot away from my camera.

 

[Dan]

Such a beautiful fish, it looks like a fighter jet.

 

[eleniel]

They are so graceful and elegant. I love sharks and how they move through the water.