Trip Report TigerBeach LOB report

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dirtfarmer

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Northern California
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500 - 999
Screw this pandemic, I wanna go diving, but where should I go? My regular go to's of Indonesia and the Phillipines are out of bounds, (open now though) closed to tourisim or with challenging hoops to jump thru, and I"m in need somewhere open, close, and epic. Hmmm, some shark diving sounds good and meets the above criteria, open, no seemingly endless rounds of 'rona tests-quarenteen and pretty easy and close to get to. So pandemic be damned, I booked a trip on the dolphin Dream headingout to Tiger Beach in late January 2022 which is one of the time frames I can leave the farm and it's a really good time for seeing both Tigers and Hammerheads.

I've been to Tiger Beach before in Jan 2019 on the Shearwater run by Jim Abernathys Scuba Adventures. But this time I choose the Dolphin Dream, I enjoy branching out and trying new things and though I thourouly enjoyed my trip on the shearwater in 2019 (mostly- more on this later) I had a reccomendation from a friend that I ought to give the dream a try.

Nowadays with Yelp and Trip Advisor everybodys a critic, so along the way I'll have some comparisons and contrasts.

The Shearwater office booking queen Susan is awesome she returns messages with lightning speed , is helpfull knowlegable and friendly, two years ago I was trying to book one of the last open spots on a trip to Soccoro, but the boat I selected wouldnt confirm my spot as they had a large group dilly dallying trying to make a decision wheather to book, so precious time is going by and I wasn't going to get skunked with no trip so in the meantime I'm messaging Susan to see if they have space on the Shearwater if I can't get to Soccoro, shes top notch and will let me know if i need to pull the trigger and book Tiger Beach so I don't end up sitting at home bored out of my skull. Eventually my booking to Soccoro came through so I ended up thanking Susan and booking a trip to Soccoro which was right before the big shutdown. My booking with the Dolphin Dream took longer for communications but went smoothly, if you are in need of alot of back and forth communication just be aware that it takes a while for that to happen with the DD.

On both trips out to Tiger Beach the conditions were rough, the Dolphin Dream is a much bigger boat than the Shearwater calming the conditions some, the beam is much wider on the DD and the swells were coming more broadside making the boat roll and pitch quite a bit and I ended up getting seasick which is a rare occurance, while on the Shearwater we were hitting the swells straight on pitching the boat up and down, on that ride ended up coming up off my bunk completely about 3 times and yes i was completly airborne...my whole body in the air flying up and crashing back to the surface of my bed. I was really crossing my fingers that the hull was I good shape I I wouldn't end up drowned in my bunk from a failed hull. It did we arrived safe and sound but I got zero sleep.
The Dolphin Dream is much larger than the Shearwater, it has actual cabins and the salon is much larger giving more room and comfort and space in general. The dive deck is also larger on the DD but still cozy. For comfort the DD outpaces the Shearwater by a mile.

Our first day started in earnest everyone excited to get #sharkywidit. The Dolphin Dream feeds on some of the dives so the tigers tend to stay close and not swim off to far. On the Shearwater they have a baitbox but don't feed so the tigers tend to make a pass or two then swim off looking for something to put in their belly, yes they come back but there tends to be more time when the big girls aren't there.

Our dives the first day were a blast, it was great to get back in the water and even more so with some lovely tiger sharks. The Tigers showed up almost immediately and there were no other boats in the area so they came and stayed for long periods of time. The vis was mostly really good at around 80' and very little haze and the sun came out from the clouds for most the day.

At the last dive of our first day the vis got pretty bad down to about 20'. The low vis made the photos from that dive look a bit like i was shooting black and white on an old timey camera. I'm told that since one of the hurricanes since 2019 that there is quite a bit of fine sand silt that gets stirred up during tidal changes and storms. On my first trip in 2019 we never experienced that kind of low visibility.

For the first dive of our second day they did a swim around since the viz was on the low side. It was Tutu Teusday so all the divers donned TuTu's for fun. It's a fun sight to see Finch one of the DD crew give the morning briefing in a TuTu with his my pony swim shorts on and a cute rainbow t-shirt. His choice of apparel is always interesting and humorous for a guy that feeds sharks for a living. I skipped the first dive to save my core temperature for later and on the first shark feed dive the action got HOT 4 Tigers showwed up and promptly got my heartbeat pumping. Early on a tiger coming at me didn't turn but with a gentle push with my camera she moved off, then a bit later she decided to come straight at me no turning in mind and then she opened her mouth and gave my camera rig a bite, I let go as not to get in a tugging match with a big ass tiger shark, she turned away with my rig hanging from her jaws swam a few feet and let go, my rig is positively bouyant and ryan the saftey diver recovered it. Happily my gopro which is attatched to my photo housing was running so you can see her coming at me then you see her ampuli of lorenzini some blue water then more of the action. All the camera equipment came out unscathed cept for a remembrance scratch or two on my dome housing, not the actuall dome so no problem no worries. It was quite the addrenaline rush and I'll remember it for the rest of my life and have a great story to tell to everyone but my wife cause if I tell her about it she'll never let me leave the house again.

Our second feed dive we had 5 tigers 3 of which are extra fat so most likley preggo. One of them is new to the crew, she was named Alli, and she is still learning the ropes about being a shark being fed with a bunch of strange creatures watching her and filming her. She is the one that chomped my rig and she mouthed a go pro without her teeth, (really cool video shot by another diver where you can see her chomp on a go-pro with a dome but she doesn't use her teeth just her gums. Alli also had the tendency to occasionally cruise down the lines of divers looking for her fish snacks, she is still learning that the snacks come from the human in the middle with the bait box, this behavior most prevelent when the current wasn't as strong making it clear to her that the fish came from the box in the middle. The other girls were well behaved, doing their sharky job of being magnificent wowing us divers with their prescence and powerful grace.

For the third day he weather turned for the worse with thicker cloud cover, wind, and choppy seas, we were able to get two dives in both feeds one where they set divers up for open jaw shots. All the divers set up in the normal horsehoe but then one diver sets up 5 feet behind the baitbox and shark feeder with another saftey diver right behind them, the feeder then sets the feeding up so the photographer has the best opportunity to get the classic mouth open teeth showing shot. With the saftey diver right behind you can concentrate on whats right in front of you and not have to worry about the action going on behind you, its conforting and gives you the ability to focus on whats in front of you. Its a really awesome experience and i wasn't nervous knowing someone had my back.

The exit on both dives that day were pretty hairy with 5-6 foot swells, the crew did a really good job at getting the divers out of the water safely. We could only get 2 dives in as the swells got even bigger and had to move to cover. The Dolphin Dream entry deck is fixed as opposed to the Shearwaters which is on hinges, this allowed us to exit the water with a bit more saftey as the deck is a bit more predictable. Still hazardous and a mini adventure but the crew was really on top of their game and we all made it out of the water without getting knocked on the head.
On my previous trip on the Shearwater we wouldnt have even tried diving with such big swells. We did have a day of diving we missed due to weather on the Shearwater, Captain Scott on the DD did say that its pretty normal to have weather systems affect the diving at this part of the year. Captain Scott did inform us of a weather system due to come in with 30 knot winds making the trip back in those conditions would be hazardous so the trip would need to be cut short by a day.

Continued in 2nd part


 
Continuation of Tiger Beach trip report

We took a vote to head to Bimini to try for some hammerhead action and happily the Hammers won so off we headed. I woke in the morning to find glassy seas but still cloudy.

The Bimini dives are done "pools open" style. The bait box is put down with the feeder and divers can dive when they want, coming up for tank fills and of course mainaining proper dive profiles which aint hard as the bottom is at 7 meters which means i was able to get 90 min dives then come up for a tank fill and a small surface interval then jump back in if there was action I wanted to see.

Our first dive had 1 hammer coming in often, after that excellent first dive,2 boats out of Bimini showed up and Princess the Hammerhead decided to go over to play with them and leave all the nusaince nurse and bull sharks with us. I was waiting for her to show up after they left which she did but very briefly untill the very last part of the day. When she came round more often again.

The send day at Bimini Princess decided to not show up and play all morning and the vis declined quite a bit, the other divers dove the morning but I choose to stay dry and chill waiting for news of her arrival.
She did come round in the afternoon for a brief visit, but i was in chill mode and didnt get in the water all day. I read, napped, read again, checked to see if Pricess or any other hammers were gracing us with their prescence for more than a brief visit and did the same over and over.

Late afternoon the DD headed back to to West Palm, the seas were again rough, (we departed a day early to avoid really bad conditions) . My first venture on deck in the morning brought a rude awakening of chilly (for florida) temperatures and a brisk wind. Of course I checked in with the modern world via the internet, since I don"t have international service on my cell and was off the radar the whole time. For those that can"t be discinnected there can be minimal service where the Dolphin Dream moors for the night at Tiger Beach, and at Bimini service is fine since the island is right there.
Since we came back a day early we were able to stay on the boat and be fed. I did choose to venture into West Palm for dinner since I do like drinking and eating in nice restaurants, and i couldnt pass up the opportunity. The Food on the Dolphin Dream was good homestyle cooking with and added foodie flair occasionally. ( I was shocked when an excellent chimmichuri, pesto, and romesco sauce went virtually untouched cept by me) and in abundance. Needless to say I didn't go hungry and especially liked when the cook would do eggs to order and I could make fried egg, bacon and english muffin sandwiches. There was also an abundance of snacks in a section of the salon that would satisfy any ones snack cravings and yes anyones, gluten free, vegan, orvpure junk. It was a snackers paradise, (and oh yes there was a wall of fruit above the snack pile that went vitually untouched) And yes if your wondering the food on the Shearwater was also good homestyle cooking in abundance but the snack selection certainly wasn't the heap of crunchy salty yummy things that there was on the Dream. It's BYOB on both boats. I opted for a nice bottle of whiskey for my latest trip, as beer means to many trips to the bathroom.

So besides the boat size there are other large differences between the DD and Shearwater. The DD feeds and the Shearwater doesnt, (excepting when one of the guides would toss an occasional snack) As you can imagine this does affect the shark behavior, feeding keeps the sharks around longer and ramps up the action a bit. On my 2019 trip Patches a Great Hammerhead was hanging around Tiger Beach ( she's not there these days) and being fed really amped her up. I had one of the most exciting dives of my life when she and Emma a big tiger were given snacks. They both stuck in visual range for a good 10 minutes or more and were really "hot on the box".
It was really high voltage diving and my heart was pumping hard from all the action, the action was spectacular and left me with quite the adrenalin high. This is one of the reasons I chose the Dolphin Dream as I wanted some high voltage feed dives.

Tigers are also more curious and "mouthy" when they are being fed. What do i mean by mouthy and curious? Curious means they might circle a diver especially on the end of a line of divers (where i like to set up, ((think photos with no divers pointing their go-pros at the shark))) seeing if they have a snack for them, and mouthy means they might think things like cameras might be a diver trying to feed them, especially ones like Allie who is learning the being fed ropes. Besides her giving my camera a bite another two other divers had their rigs tasted. Once I got over the initial shock of a shark coming right up to me and chomping my camera, which actually is a comforting barrier between their mouth and my body, the whoo hoo that was increadible rush sets in and thats why I love this type of diving. During my first trip Patches the Great Hammerhead decided to not turn or go over me as she had been doing but rammed my camera rig hammerhead on. That again was initially a shock but leaves you with adrenaline courseing thru your veins. Good stuff.

The dives at Tiger beach on the DD generally last about 60 minutes, which you can stratigically extend to almost 90 by being first in the water and good on air so last out. On the Shearwater we stayed at Tiger Beach the entire time since there was a Hammerhead there. They dive a pools open style where you dive your air/computer limits so if you want so you can spend alot of time in the water. At Bimini there are no tigers so the DD did dive a pools open style there.

There are other differences besides boat size, feeding or not feeding between the 2 boats/operations, Capt Scott of the Dolphin Dream is really chill and relaxed as opposed to the intensity of Jim Abernathy. I don't think Jim is on all his trips but his personality is very strong and a bit overpowering, at times the conversation around the salon table seemed to be dominated by Jim, I appreciate Jims passion for sharks and wildlife but 7 days of the Jim show on a small boat was a bit much for my taste. He could also use a human resources course, if i treated my employees as he did his when problems arose they would walk off my farm in a heartbeat. Captain Scott is probably the antipathy of Jim, he's mellow, quiet, yet approachable. If you want to hear and interesting conversation ask Scott about who really "discovered" Tiger Beach.
Both crews were top-notch, excellent at their jobs, professional, and provided a wonderfull experience on both boats. I got to tip my hat to them, they have long days, are responsible for all kinds of divers saftey and pleasure, and everyone thinks they have a dream job. So be nice tip your shark feeder, just because you think they have your dream job doesn't mean they don"t deserve to be tipped.

Long trip report short, I love Tiger Beach/Bimini. Diving with Tiger and Great Hammerhead sharks up close and in your face is an incredible
 
Appreciate the details on how they conduct the dives, that the viz. can get down so low, and that the big swells can be an issue. Diving in 20-foot viz. with baited in tiger sharks? Whew!
 
Great 2 part report with all the comparisons.
 
Appreciate the details on how they conduct the dives, that the viz. can get down so low, and that the big swells can be an issue. Diving in 20-foot viz. with baited in tiger sharks? Whew!

Some friends of mine might be getting that experience ... they set up a trip with Shark Explorers out of Freeport to go to Tiger Beach June 3-7. That might be problematic.

 
Nice detailed trip report @dirtfarmer It brings fond memories of my 2 trips with DD in October last year & March this year.

Thanks for reporting the comparison between DD & Shearwater and between Captain Scott & Jim Abernathy. I always wondering about them.
 
Nice detailed trip report @dirtfarmer It brings fond memories of my 2 trips with DD in October last year & March this year.

Thanks for reporting the comparison between DD & Shearwater and between Captain Scott & Jim Abernathy. I always wondering about them.
I like the trip so much I am heading back for a third time in January. I wonder if I will ever get my fill?
 
I like the trip so much I am heading back for a third time in January. I wonder if I will ever get my fill?
That's an interesting question. Now that you've spent considerable time in water with tiger sharks, will you at some point seek other species of potentially dangerous (if that's part of the draw) species?

I've read a report of oceanic white tip diving near Cat Island in the Bahamas that sounded too rich for my blood! It'd be one thing to encounter one or two when in a dive group in the Red Sea (where I've never been, and yes, I saw the video of one tearing into a diver's calf there), but that Cat Island write-up sounded intense.

Then there are the great white shark dives out of Guadalupe (whenever that opens back up). Yeah, it's cage diving, but still...great white sharks. Wow. Some of the photos people post from that are jaw droppers.
 
I loved my recent trip on the Dolphin Dream.

Did everyone see my video?

Yes. I know its obvious. My parents didn't give me enough validation.

 
That's an interesting question. Now that you've spent considerable time in water with tiger sharks, will you at some point seek other species of potentially dangerous (if that's part of the draw) species?

I've read a report of oceanic white tip diving near Cat Island in the Bahamas that sounded too rich for my blood! It'd be one thing to encounter one or two when in a dive group in the Red Sea (where I've never been, and yes, I saw the video of one tearing into a diver's calf there), but that Cat Island write-up sounded intense.

Then there are the great white shark dives out of Guadalupe (whenever that opens back up). Yeah, it's cage diving, but still...great white sharks. Wow. Some of the photos people post from that are jaw droppers.
I'm not super interested in the Oceanic White Tips and an aquaintence has dove with them off Rhode Island I believe, I have done the GWS off Guadalupe 2x, once in November for the big females and once in September for the all be it smaller but more active and aggressive males. I preffered the better action of the males. It's unfortunate for the dive ops that it's been closed, maybe they aren't greasing the right wheel.
 

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