Shark Expedition Bahamas

Shark diving Bahamas

Magnus Lundgren, ambassador for Scuba Travel and Exposure Expeditions, set off in March/April 2017 on an adventure for shark diving in the Bahamas. With him was a group of passionate divers and UV photographers. An expedition bearing in the clear and shark-rich waters of the Bahamas with two clear targets - tiger shark and great hammerhead shark.

"We gathered in West Palm Beach in Florida for a nice dinner the day before departure with live board- the boat. I met an interesting group of passionate UV-photographer divers. Some wanted to get up close and personal with a large shark in clear, warm water for the first time. While others would photograph sharks and develop as UV photographers. Some of the travelers are definitely classified as "sharkoholics" where Tiger Beach is a must as often as possible. During dinner I realized that expectations were at an astronomical level. But around Tiger Beach, reality usually surpasses poetry, and so it was this time too.

We board

We boarded the boat "Dolphin Dream" in the afternoon and Captain Scott was at the helm and his outstanding crew looked after us on board. Now we signed papers and installed ourselves and during the night we then went to Grand Bahama. The very next morning we anchored at the "Anchor line" dive site in the world-famous Tiger Beach area. It was quite windy when we did the first two dives of the day. Soon, however, we all got in the water and got to experience diving with 20, yes maybe 30 lemon sharks plus a passing nurse shark. We were up and running.

After all, I have been diving with sharks around the world for over 30 years, and I know that Tiger Beach and shark diving in the Bahamas is in a league of its own. But the week we got was better than that, it was downright epic dives. The wind died down, the visibility was terrible, the group was so good and we really could make the most of the conditions we got at the dive site "Fish tales". We dived with six different shark species up close during the same dive.

The large lemon sharks, which when the sun falls through a shiny sea, are completely golden yellow in the azure water. Sometimes 10 lemon sharks, but on other dives it was 30 or 40. The fast and graceful Caribbean reef sharks were always there and easy to recognize. New this year was a staff of four to six impressive bull sharks that often stayed under the boat and we greeted them at the beginning and end of our dives.

Tiger sharks and great hammerhead sharks

Down on the sand we met the impressive tiger sharks of the Bahamas. On some dives one or two tigers, on other dives six, seven or maybe even more. The behavior of the diving group sets our limits when we are blessed with so much "action" and everyone behaved in an exemplary manner in large and small ways.

As if this wasn't enough, a large hammerhead shark, Patches, resided at "Fish tales" all our week. Great hammerhead is a normally shy shark species. But Patches, a female shark known from Bimini, had moved to Grand Bahama just as we got there. She is a bold hammerhead shark that will come right up to the bait box and she swam around and among us on most of our dives. An outstanding opportunity. After I received a recent report from Alex Mustard about "slow action" around Bimini (where he was holding a workshop at the time), I decided that we would stop at Tiger beach. It was a good decision and the week was a total success. All with plenty of "big hammerhead action" plus tiger, bull, lemon, caribbean and nurse sharks in excellent visibility over white sand." This is a trip that Scuba Travel runs frequently. Contact them to book your shark diving trip in the Bahamas.

Text and photo by: © Magnus Lundgren/magnuslundgren.com