Trip Report Tiger Beach October 2021

[Brodydog]

Wow that first video was awesome. I’m pretty sure I‘ve never watched 19+ minutes of anyone’s else’s video before I got bored and quit. The music was great. And Finch and Ryan certainly earned their tips. Several times I said out loud “he is crazy” while sitting here by myself. Thanks for sharing the video!

 

[Dan]

Wow that first video was awesome. I’m pretty sure I‘ve never watched 19+ minutes of anyone’s else’s video before I got bored and quit. The music was great. And Finch and Ryan certainly earned their tips. Several times I said out loud “he is crazy” while sitting here by myself. Thanks for sharing the video!

Thanks for the compliment. They sure earned their tips. It’s an incredible close encounter with those huge Tiger sharks. On one of the dives, everyone had a chance to position right behind Finch or Ryan, where he would feed the Tiger Shark right in front of you with your camera inches away from the Tiger Shark’s mouth.

 

[Hoag]

@Dan did the crew have the passengers significantly over-weight to keep you "planted" in a single spot or did you just weight yourselves as you normally would?

 

[Dan]

@Dan did the crew have the passengers significantly over-weight to keep you "planted" in a single spot or did you just weight yourselves as you normally would?

They told us to put 6-8 lbs (3-4 kg) more weight than normally weighted. I’m a 5’ 9” (176cm) tall, weighing 145 lbs (66 kg) with 5mm wetsuit & AL80 tank, I normally use 10 lb (5 kg) dive weight. I ended up using 18 lb (9 kg) dive weight.

Some of my buddies didn’t put enough weight and ended up moving around like a flag in a windy day with their hands waving around trying to balance themselves in a current, which was not a good idea with those Tiger Sharks around. It was quite annoying being next to them waving and swimming around in front of my camera. However, they fixed their underweighted problem on the next dive.

 

[Johnoly]

That number 3 tiger is just huge and plows into everything. Cant' believe the reefies are so gentle and calm, they gotta be scared and spooked not to get eaten by a tiger. Best tiger video I've seen yet!!

 

[Dan]

That number 3 tiger is just huge and plows into everything. Cant' believe the reefies are so gentle and calm, they gotta be scared and spooked not to get eaten by a tiger. Best tiger video I've seen yet!!

Thanks for the compliment.

Finch called her Daisy. If she comes too close to you, gently pushing her away seemed to work fine.

The Reefies & Lemons like to hangout. They seem to know that those Tigers are only want to get the snack given by Finch & Ryan. As long as they stay out of the way, Tiger Sharks would leave them alone.

Accidents did happen. One Lemon happened to swim in front of a Tiger as it swam towards the milk crate and got bitten on the head by the Tiger.

 

[Dan]

Here’s the video of the accident. So, watch out for Daisy. Don’t get in the way of her snack.

 

[Hoag]

They told us to put 6-8 lbs (3-4 kg) more weight than normally weighted. I’m a 5’ 9” (176cm) tall, weighing 145 lbs (66 kg) with 5mm wetsuit & AL80 tank, I normally use 10 lb (5 kg) dive weight. I ended up using 18 lb (9 kg) dive weight.

Some of my buddies didn’t put enough weight and ended up moving around like a flag in a windy day with their hands waving around trying to balance themselves in a current, which was not a good idea with those Tiger Sharks around. It was quite annoying being next to them waving and swimming around in front of my camera. However, they fixed their underweighted problem on the next dive.

That is what I thought.

In that situation, I would far rather be planted like the flag pole than flapping like the flag.

 

[jonhall]

Good stuff!!

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.

Will add that LOB appears to be the most efficient and most common way to dive Tiger Beach, whether from the west end of Grand Bahama, Florida, or another out-island of the Bahamas. Most information that can be found is related to packages and not 1 day trips - so hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Last time I stayed in Grand Bahama, the 2 dive ops I inquired about Tiger Beach didn't do the trip - not cost efficient to take their boats around the island to get there. I did find one op that, according to their website, makes the trip with a minimum of 4 divers (max 6) but it is $400+ not including the drive or taxi ride to the west end, which they indicate to be ~$100.

With that price for a 1 day/2 dive trip, I will probably be happy with the reef sharks seen on the south side of the island when I'm there this coming spring.

 

[Dan]

Here’s the video of the accident. So, watch out for Daisy. Don’t get in the way of her snack.

@Fish&beer one of my dive buddies on that trip sent me a better angle of the accident so I thought I include his video clip with mine. The lesson learned from this is, don’t be on the line of fire!