Oceanic Whitetip Sharks - Cat Island, Bahamas

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Premo83

Contributor
Messages
139
Reaction score
155
Location
Zurich, Switzerland
# of dives
200 - 499
Last April I was on a trip with Shark Diving. Big Fish Expeditions. World Class Big Animal Diving and Photography Adventures. Dive with Tiger Sharks, Great Whites, Great Hammerheads, Humpback Whales, Oceanic Whitetips, Humboldt Squid and other Big Animals. to Cat Island to dive with Oceanic Whitetip Sharks. The trip was 5 days long with 3 diving days.

Cat Island is a big island with very few residents. The airport is basically a runway with one little tiny building. We stayed at the greenwood beach resort. I can highly recommend this place. Beautiful, tropical setting on a long, quiet beach and the people running it make you feel at home immediately. The infrastructure is basic but that's all you need. Food was great and drinks you can take based on an honor system. Our trip leader was well known photographer Andy Murch. He's a very kind and fun person. Happy to give tips and advice on your photography. His knowledge on the marine life and in general wildlife is amazing, you can learn a lot.

Big fish expeditions worked together with Neal Watson's Bimini Scuba center on this trip. I think we were around 12 guests and had plenty of space on Neal's boat. He also always brought us to great spots. The oceanics were waiting for us. We did two dives a day with each dive lasting about 70-90 minutes. We would drift with current around 5-10 meters with the oceanics following us on the whole dive. There was a buoy drifting with us which had a chumbox which was also our visual reference as we were out in the blue. We constantly had oceanics around us with up to 13 individuals. They were quite curious and active but most of the time well behaved. However you to keep your head on a swivel especially when their numbers increase. There were plenty of opportunities to take nice pictures and videos. Occasionally we had Silky Sharks and Dusky sharks show up as well. If lucky you also get marlins swimming bye but we didn't get lucky. We also saw some tunas and mahi mahis. I tried to get in the water with dolphins but they left and all of a sudden the oceanics were there. I can highly recommend Andy Murch and Big Fish expeditions, as well as the greenwood resort and neal watson's bimini scuba center. Very professional but also lots of fun. We had a couple of guides/safety diver in water who watched you back especially when leaving the water. The oceanics were quite curious in everything close to the surface. Everyone that goes has to remember that it is to see the beautiful Oceanic Whitetip Sharks, there isn't much else to see underwater out in the blue.

I made a short that gives you an impression on how the diving was
 
Nice, I've done two trips with Andy and would definitely do more! I've looked into his oceanic trip, just hasn't worked with that time of year.

I'm glad you had such an awesome time!
 
Nice, I've done two trips with Andy and would definitely do more! I've looked into his oceanic trip, just hasn't worked with that time of year.

I'm glad you had such an awesome time!

Thanks. I hope get on another trip with Andy, he has plenty good ones lined up.
 
Glad you got to go, and had the option. From what I've read of oceanic white tip diving, especially with the numbers you guys had around at once, I'm thinking too rich for my blood! I've done just a little tiger shark diving (never over 2 present at once, none over 10 feet long). Would consider deliberately diving with one oceanic, but not a dozen! Whew! Never have seen one in person.

Nice to see a trip report about this dive destination option posted. I've read of it before, but it doesn't seem to get much attention here.

Richard.
 
I see a couple of the sharks with severe cuts on their flank. These look like propeller damage to me rather than mating damage. I'm far from an expert though. Anyone else able to advise in this regard?

Also sad to see one of the sharks with a trailing hook in it's mouth.

Thanks for sharing this footage because I'll never be doing a dive like this.
 
Glad you got to go, and had the option. From what I've read of oceanic white tip diving, especially with the numbers you guys had around at once, I'm thinking too rich for my blood! I've done just a little tiger shark diving (never over 2 present at once, none over 10 feet long). Would consider deliberately diving with one oceanic, but not a dozen! Whew! Never have seen one in person.

Nice to see a trip report about this dive destination option posted. I've read of it before, but it doesn't seem to get much attention here.

Richard.

Thanks Richard. Before the trip I was a bit nervous, especially when they show up in big numbers. You have to be careful and always pay attention but they were mostly well behaved.
 
I see a couple of the sharks with severe cuts on their flank. These look like propeller damage to me rather than mating damage. I'm far from an expert though. Anyone else able to advise in this regard?

Also sad to see one of the sharks with a trailing hook in it's mouth.

Thanks for sharing this footage because I'll never be doing a dive like this.

Yes it very much looks like propeller cuts. Sad to see but I think it should heal pretty well.
 

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