Trip Report Tiger Beach October 2021

[mcohen1021]

I saw Great Hammerhead briefly in Tiger Beach, while busy keeping eyes on 3 Tiger Sharks, so no time to video the Hammerhead. I heard you’ll have a better chance to see one in Bimini, which would be my next Shark Diving trip.

Hoping i see some good marine life on the exuma itenerary.

still debating what wetsuit to take. i was thinking my 3/2 long suit with the 3/2 shorty to throw over the top if I get cold. i'd hate to take my 5 mil and be hot the whole time

 

[Lorenzoid]

Tiger Beach is a shallow, 35-40 foot deep, bank, north of West End Bahamas.

The shallow reef bar is located about a mile from a deep water drop off.

Okay, now I think I understand. Tiger Beach is not a beach at all but rather a shallow reef bar north of West End, Grand Bahama island.

 

[Dan]

Hoping i see some good marine life on the exuma itenerary.

still debating what wetsuit to take. i was thinking my 3/2 long suit with the 3/2 shorty to throw over the top if I get cold. i'd hate to take my 5 mil and be hot the whole time

Good idea. I’m getting soft as I get older. I was comfortable with my 5mm in Tiger Beach.

If I dive 4x/day, my core body temperature would drop & would feel cold after 3 days of diving. If you were like me, you can don the shorty over the long wetsuit for the second half of the diving week. I have done it that way when I was in Palau & Raja Ampat.

 

[Dan]

Okay, now I think I understand. Tiger Beach is not a beach at all but rather a shallow reef bar north of West End, Grand Bahama island.

Beach for Tiger Sharks

 

[Hoag]

Hoping i see some good marine life on the exuma itenerary.

still debating what wetsuit to take. i was thinking my 3/2 long suit with the 3/2 shorty to throw over the top if I get cold. i'd hate to take my 5 mil and be hot the whole time

Just out of curiosity, which LOB are you going on?

If I were you, I would take the 5mm. It is easier to cool off if you are too hot than it is to warm up if you get cold. If you are on a LOB, expect to have the option of up to 5 dives a day most dives. By the 2nd or 3rd day, you will probably appreciate the extra warmth. Having said that, I have been there a few times around this time of year, and the water temps were in the 75F-79F range. I would epect that depending on when in December you go it will be between 2-5F cooler.

 

[mcohen1021]

Just out of curiosity, which LOB are you going on?

If I were you, I would take the 5mm. It is easier to cool off if you are too hot than it is to warm up if you get cold. If you are on a LOB, expect to have the option of up to 5 dives a day most dives. By the 2nd or 3rd day, you will probably appreciate the extra warmth. Having said that, I have been there a few times around this time of year, and the water temps were in the 75F-79F range. I would epect that depending on when in December you go it will be between 2-5F cooler.

Aggressor.

My thought was 3/2 long suit, if i got cold wear the 3/2 shorty on top, making it a 6/2?

If theres 75⁰ water its a no brainier for the 5 mil...

Thanks!

 

[living4experiences]

@Dan, Outstanding trip report! Your adventures are fun to follow. Thanks for posting

 

[Dan]

One shark diving safety strategy that I forgot to mention is how we position on the sand, relative to current direction. 12 of us would position in semi circular formation with the current coming from behind or our side towards the milk crate filled with bait fish pieces. So we didn’t smell like fish. However, there were times when the currents were near zero or shifting around, where some of us smell like fish. You see in the video where some of us had to push away the Tiger Shark, especially Daisy (the big mama with raggedy dorsal fin). They did swam away when we gently pushed them.

 

[Shasta_man]

Was tutu guy part of the crew? I ask because he seems to be diving in with the sharks and pushing people out of the way...so either he is crew doing a good thing or an annoying fellow passenger.

 

[Dan]

Was tutu guy part of the crew? I ask because he seems to be diving in with the sharks and pushing people out of the way...so either he is crew doing a good thing or an annoying fellow passenger.

On Tutu Tuesday we were all wearing tutu, including the crew. The guy who was wearing red tutu was Finch, trying to save me with the green tutu from my fins being chewed by the Tiger Shark. He clearly annoyed for me being too close to the shark.

The problem was, when the visibility got down to 10 feet or less, all of us, including the sharks like a blind man losing his walking stick. I felt like wanting to thumb the dive but I did not want to leave the group and getting into more trouble situation.