Bula Baby!
Contributed by Jo
It
all started on flying in early on Friday the 22nd (a day before the rest of the crew,
which were coming from the US). I received the most wonderful welcome and had
a great time scoping out my new home for the next week and a half before having
a great nights rest in my DOUBLE KING sized bed, meaning that it was about 4m
wide (never knew they made beds that large!). I awoke to the sound of "Yeeeehaw"
echoing through the place and knew at once that the Texans and the rest of the
gang had arrived.
I'd been invited by Shark Diver Magazine and various shark researchers to participate
on the bull shark tagging program which was in it's second year of being conducted
in Fiji and looked to identify the movements of the bull shark in an effort
to protect it's habitat. I was introduced to those I hadn't yet met and very
excited about the chance to work with some of these world renown Sharkies. We
were briefed about the coming activities and then had the rest of the day to
settle in and get to know one another well enough before we dived as a team
which would have to work together very closely and with utmost trust in each
others abilities.... How better to do this than get stuck straight into the
kava.
On
the team were Gary and Brenda Adkison (shark film makers, researchers, lecturers
and expert shark divers), Eli and Rafa from Shark Diver Mag (filming for 'Chasing
Sharks' doco and shooting for the magazine), Karen and Paul (Deep Sea Photography),
the amazing (I can't emphasize this word enough) Fijian crew and myself, invited
to assist, photograph and run amok with the guys with whom I shared a research
trip to South Africa studying the great whites last year.
Our first day we were up with the sparrows and prepping the equipment, we set
off full of anticipation and though the first few days were only to be spent
getting friendly with the sharks, we were all very excited about diving with
two of the top 5 most feared sharks in the world (the tiger and bull sharks)
though we were briefed that we 'could' get to experience 8 different species
at any one time. Can you imagine that! I am not sure if that means anything
to most people, but that is a pretty incredible thing. We arrived at our site
and were briefed in different scenarios. You could tell from the smile on most
of our faces that we were pretty bloody excited and full of anticipation, that
being said, all on board were very experienced and knew not to let excitement
get in the way of keeping out wits about us and we listened hard to all that
was said, especially as most of our dives were quite deep which required extra
prep. After covering all visible flesh we toppled over the side and sunk down
into the depths.
The
last to arrive at the bottom was the guys with the food which would be attract
the sharks to us for them to get used to pur presence. Within a minute three
strong looking bull sharks loomed out of the dark and then without much delay
we were surrounded by over 10 quite mature bulls. I was in heaven, these beasts
were so inquisitive, and big and ... then the lemon sharks came out to play
followed by the tawny nurses and silvertips. We only moved with necessary action
to bump them out of the way, clear our masks when they knocked us on occasion,
and to shoot them (by that I mean photograph and video). Most had large camera
equipment with strobes jutting out at all angles and these crew always got pole
position as these could be used to defend yourself when the sharks became a
little too playful.
We hear a rat-tat-tat-tat, knowing full well that someone has rapped their
tank for good reason we all immediately FREEZE what we are doing and look from
diver to diver urgently to get up to speed info, we see the signal and direction
pointed and all heads turn to look. We see nothing straight away but then slowly
a shape forms and is seen moving just out of good sight. Our hearts skip a beat,
not because we are scared but because we all have a very healthy 'respect' for
this particular one and are very anxious to get up close and personal. When
it feels ready it slips into the fray and commences investigating us at it's
own leisure... it's a tiger shark and it's huge.
When
the depths finally caught up to us as humans we swam up the reef bed to a shallower
location and continued observing and to be observed. We were totally elated
to find that the tiger shark found us good company and decided to hang around
for most of the dive. Whenever it felt complacency it certainly put us back
into our places by stamping it's authority with whip of it's tail or a quick
180 spinning it's entire body around in a microsecond to eyeball you up close.
Gawd it was so graceful and beautiful to watch.
On that first day, we had encountered 7 different species in large numbers
and by day two we were to see all known species in the region. We couldn't have
asked for more.
The trip continued with the diving getting more and more exciting and the night
time stories over beers very entertaining. The local people were such beautiful
souls and I loved that they accepted me and taught me a lot about their culture
and everyday living.
Funny story: David one of our Fijian crew is from a very remote island village
and when a Japanese man gave him some biscuits he thought they were so good
that he took the remainder of the biscuits and buried them hoping to grow his
own biscuit tree for his people. What beautiful innocence! We presented him
with a tree covered in choc chip cookies and tim-tams on our last day much to
the amusement of the rest of the Fijian crew.
I was presented with a great opportunity to kick-start shark expeditions for
divers wishing to dive with these animals in the beautiful Fijian waters under
controlled conditions whilst being educated in shark awareness, which I will
look into over the next few months, so keep an eye out!. It was such a great
experience to have studied with some of the most knowledgeable sharkies in the
world and I felt privileged once again to be able to dive with magnificent beasts
without incident which I put down to being completely comfortable with their
presence, as well as the skill of the Fijian crew who have a very obvious affinity
with, understanding of, and great respect for these creatures.
So, all in all a wonderful time, an incredibly intimate adventure with the
tigers and bulls, a rare learning opportunity, and another unforgettable experience
that will stay with me for a long long time.
Vinaka vakalevu!
All photos and text are subject to copyright.
©Jo Northey and Eli Martinez (Shark Diving Magazine, USA).