Swimming through a bait ball in Bonaire

[Spike_Digger]

We just got back from Bonaire. Our last dive of the trip turned out to be the most memorable. We had just finished diving Bari's Reef late in the afternoon on our last day, and were coming back into the dock at Sand Dollar around sunset. We were in maybe 5 to 6 feet of water, when we noticed a giant tarpon. That was neat. Then another. Then two more. Then a bunch of horse-eye jacks, and a school of bar jacks. I started wondering why so many predators were gathered so close to shore. Then I looked to my left, and saw a huge school of herring, maybe 50 to 100 feet wide. We watched for perhaps 10 minutes as the tarpon and jacks cruised back and forth through the herring. What an amazing sight! A giant school of herring moving in unison, shifting, parting, and flowing around the predators. Then we decided to swim right into the middle of the bait ball ourselves. Wow, was that cool! I've never experienced anything like it. The sun's dying rays reflecting off thousands of silver herring... the sea of fish parting and flowing around us... occasionally coming within a few feet of the giant tarpon as it emerged from the mass of fish. Very, very cool! It was the most memorable dive that I've ever done.

Afterwards, I was describing this dive experience to a diver who is more experienced than I am. His eyes got real big when I told him that we swam right into the middle of the bait ball. He said you should never do that, that we were lucky we didn't get caught in a feeding frenzy and get bitten by the fish. The thought never really occurred to me. I know tarpon don't have teeth. I don't know what bar jacks and horse-eye jacks have for teeth, but their mouths are small enough that they don't look like much of a threat. Bonaire doesn't have many sharks, so I wasn't worried about that. And we were in 5 to 6' of water, right next to shore, so getting out safely wasn't a big concern. It just seemed like a wonderful, up-close view of nature.

What do other people think? Were we throwing caution to the wind by going into the school of herring? Have you ever heard of anybody getting bitten doing what we did?


Edit: after reading other posts, I think I may have incorrectly identified the bait fish as herring. I'm definitely not a fish ID guru. They sure looked like the picture of herring in the reef series fish ID book. :huh: But everybody else is saying they saw schools of mackerel scad in the same location, so they probably were scad.

 

[spectrum]

We observed a smaller version of that minus the biggest predators a few weeks ago down the beach off Buddy's Reef. It was really cool to see the school racing and changing direction, all following a few lead fish being driven by predators. It really was the sort of stuff you see on TV.

I suppose at some point you need to remember that these are wild creatures but I don't know enough to comment on the wisdom of swimming into the cloud of bait.

Pete

 

[dvrliz1]

Spike,

We actually encountered a bait ball while snorkeling off of Divi. The herring actually tried to use us as cover, so no matter where we swam we had tarpon and some wahoo darting through the bait ball.

We also have enountered huge bait balls while diving. When we approach them, they usually split, thinking we are trying to eat them. Sometimes it is difficult to avoid them because they are sometimes so large.

It is an amazing sight isn't it. I must say diving on Bonaire for over 15 years and encountering maybe 2- bait balls a year, not me or anyone else I was with was ever bitten.

Enjoy!

Liz

 

[gangrel441]

I wouldn't be worried about the tarpons' teeth, but the thought has crossed my mind before that if one of those puppies ran into you at a good clip, you could come out of it with busted ribs or worse...Heck, I've had tarpon look at me funny a few times and they gave me chills. Not sure if there is any data to support this concern, but you are talking about a 100 lb plus fish swimming through low visibility conditions at a high rate of speed in the middle of a feeding frenzy. Glad you had a good experience, and I wouldn't want to take anything away from that, but I probably would not have done the same....

Edit: 'Cudas would also be a concern of mine in this situation....

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Cheng and I had a similar experience at the Salt Pier. Just a few minutes before it happened, we had been photographing a school of smallish (2-3 feet long) barracuda ... maybe a dozen or so of them.

On the way in we encountered the bait fish ... actually there seemed to be three separate schools, as they were different species ... but it went on for several minutes. It was almost blinding ... like driving in a snowstorm with your high beams on. Cheng was just a few feet to my left, and I could barely see her through all the fish.

It was a wonderful experience ... and when we stood up at the exit, the first thing Cheng said was "All I could think about was where are the barracuda?" I had forgotten all about them until she said it ... :11:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DeputyDan]

One of my memorable dives was swimming through one in the keys!

 

[Spike_Digger]

Cheng and I had a similar experience at the Salt Pier. Just a few minutes before it happened, we had been photographing a school of smallish (2-3 feet long) barracuda ... maybe a dozen or so of them.
(Grateful Diver)

We saw several schools of 2-3' long silvery barracuda-shaped fish in Bonaire, but they lacked the black tiger stripes that I normally see on a 'cuda. I later wondered if they were southern sennets? Can any Bonaire regulars comment on whether schools of southern sennets are common in Bonaire? My fish ID book said that barracuda tend to be loners and sennets tend to school, which led me to think that they might be the latter.

 

[piikki]

Oh, we had "our bait ball" waiting for us every day of the week when we were in Bonaire. First dive on house reef we were a little tentative pushing through it but thoroughly enjoyed it. No 'cudas but some smaller predators flashing through it. I didn't think anything of the danger either.

 

[highdesert]

I have to agree it's a pretty intense thrill. We had our bait ball encounter in Bonaire last October, just south of Pink Beach. I was surprised that a dozen bar jacks could herd a coupla hundred thousand mackerel scad around. And below the ball was the biggest 'cuda I think I've ever seen. He didn't seem hungry at all; I think he just liked the shade!

Maybe in deep water, where you could encounter some big pelagics feeding, it would be worth thinking twice about purposely swimming into a bait ball. Was it the Planet Earth series that showed a big school of sailfish feeding on a bait ball? In 10' of water in Bonaire, it's hard to imagine a big risk. Having those fishies swirl all around me was like an experience one might have on mind-altering substances ... not that I've ever done anything like that in my past ... just what I've heard. And I should also say that the bait ball essentially engulfed me, rather than me swimming into it.

 

[HateCheese]

The most spectacular underwater video I have ever seen was on the discovery channel showing how killer whales hunt. Once they 'herded' the small fish into a bait ball, they would swim by (not thru) and take turns whacking the bait ball with their tails. The bait ball would stay together, and they could clean up on the stunned/dead fish that they hit with their tails. Efficient, and definitely remarkable.

That was the first thought that came to mind when you described your encounter. Short of killer whales, I have no idea if there are any predators that would be of great concern.

Thanks for sharing what you were able to witness. Loved reading about it. I know what I'll be dreaming about tonite.