Where to go for best chance of shark sighting

[armemo]

If you want to see in one place, hammerhead sharks, white tip, black tip, tiger sharks, Galapagos sharks, go to Cocos Island, Costa Rica, it's amazing the amount of life you see, I recommend it.

 

[joan.pal]

To armemo: would you advise diving at Cocos Island to a beginner / intermediate diver ? Is there a lot of strong currents?

 

[armemo]

it is a place where you must be very careful, it is an oceanic island to 290 miles offshore, and seen people with OW only go to the island, but to enjoy the place must have at least advanced OWD because many of the dives are at least 80 feet. good buoyancy control and if you have Nitrox much better.

with respect to the current, the most important thing is not separated from the rocks, if any person is in the blue and see nothing but water, immediately ascend to the surface, there are parts where a currents can carry 1 mile in a pair of minutes. but the boats takes great care and expertise. with Okeanos, Wind Dancer, Argo, Sea Hunter, Yemanya, are good options to make the trip.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

I'm planning a dive trip for my two sons and I for next year. For financial reasons this is likely our last chance to do a "warm water" trip together.

We have been looking at the usual destinations...Cozumel, Roatan, Belize. Neither of my sons has seen a shark on an open water dive yet and it would absolutely make the trip if we could see one or two. One of my sons is a marine biologist and has no interest in a typical "shark dive" with hand feeding while the divers sit and watch. They both just want an opportunity to see a shark free swimming in its natural environment.

The species honestly doesn't matter...they would be thrilled with a nurse shark sighting!

Can anyone help me determine which caribbean destination has the best chance for shark sightings and even the best time of year (we are flexible on the date).

Thanks guys!

Bob (Toronto)

I did 20 dives off of Little Cayman on the Cayman Aggressor in October of 2011 and saw at least one shark every dive. They usually were black tip reef sharks and occasionally a nurse shark, all less than 6 feet long and most would get pretty close. On some dives, the DM would go after lionfish and the sharks showed up as soon as a lionfish was speared. The sharks would pull the lionfish right off of the spear. The groupers would also follow the DM like hungry puppies begging for handouts.

I did 13 dives in Belize in March of 2010 and only saw sharks once, three large tiger sharks while at Gladden Spit looking for whale sharks. A pod of dolphins showed up and chased them away.

I've done at least 100 dives in the Keys and have never seen a shark while diving.

My friend was just in Cancun a week ago and saw lots of bull sharks.

Based on the above, I recommend Little Cayman Island.

 

[Dhboner]

Thanks for all the great advice.

Cheers!


Bob

 

[danvolker]

I would second the suggestion for Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures, for his Bahamas liveaboard trips....Typically they do sharks and dolphins, and reefs. You will dive as much as you can handle every day, have gourmet food whenever you are hungry, and typically Jimmy has famous photographers and noted marine biologists aboard. This is swimming with big tigers and lemons, and hammers....Jimmy is one of the top shark behaviorists on the planet....See his movie recently out... This is Your Ocean: Sharks - The Film

Also...Of all the people I have met in the dive industry over the last 30 years, NO ONE has the enthusiasm and excitement that Jimmy has. He is as excited on each dive today, as he was when I was diving with him 25 years ago....his enthusiasm is very contagious, and people that dive with him will tell you how different this operation is, from all others. Your kids would LOVE a trip with JASA!

 

[herman]

If your time frame can be mid to late summer then North Carolina is an option. We routinely have large sand tigers on our wrecks most of the summer. We do not do anything to encourage the sharks but unlike a lot of places where the sharks leave as soon as divers enter the water, the sharks here pretty much ignore divers. It's not uncommon to have 8 to 12 ft sharks swim within a few feet of you and on occasion they will school with you.....it's unnerving and exciting at the same time.

 

[cbm32]

I saw at least one shark on every dive while at Naigani resort on Naigani Island in Fiji. Very easy dives and lots of brilliant coral. The Shark dive in Pacific Harbour Fiji was an easy dive but pretty deep for a newby. The shark dive at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort on Nacula Island in the Yasawas, Fiji was awesome. Not real deep and great viz to go along with a wonderful assortment of reef sharks and three or four bull sharks. An easy enough dive that I saw several divers that had just completed their OW cert with a day or two of the shark dive that had no problem at all with it.

 

[KeithG]

Turks & Caicos on a live aboard. West Caicos and French Caye dive sites generally provide a reef shark encounter. These are not "shark dives" as there is no chumming or other shark attraction activities. This is just sharks in their natural habitat doing what they do naturally.

By the end of the week, a shark sighting gets to be ho hum and everyone wants to find eagle rays instead.

 

[diveprof]

If seeing mostly nurse sharks is ok and particularly if you are watching expenses, I would recommend Cozumel. The past two trips I made we were seeing nurse sharks on about 75% of the dives.