Vaction 7/00: Shark dive, Walker's Cay, Bahamas

Sharks!

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Dive Shark Rodeo
Walker's Cay

A dive operation in Walker's Cay offers a shark dive, just off the shore of the island. Walker's Cay is in the Abacos, Bahamas, almost directly east of Palm Beach, FL. After taking you on an initial, "normal" dive, they head for a spot where they have been feeding the sharks for some time. They gun the boat engines as they approach, and by the time you are ready to go in the water is already teeming with sharks. Most are Caribbean Reef sharks and a variety of Black Tips, a couple of Nurse sharks, and maybe a Bull shark or two. The average size is about 5', with the largest maybe 7'... not huge, but still... You also see a number of large grouper and lots of yellowtail snapper. Note: The photos on this page are small versions... if you want to see a larger version, click on the photo. And if you want to see the full size version, click on the small "X" beside each photo. Full size are about 1.5Mbytes

After you're in the water, they drop down a large frozen ball of chum... a "chum-sicle" (yum). Everybody gathers in a circle surrounding the sharks and watches the show. About the only danger is that a shark will literally run into you in their mad dash for the free lunch.

This barracuda was on another portion of the dive. We didn't see any around the shark feeding.

The Feeding Frenzy: This is what it looked like when they were all tearing into the delicious chum-sicle. There were at least 2 or 3 with their teeth on it at any one time, with many more circling, waiting their turn. It's hard to see the chum ball in these, but it's in there.

When it finally breaks loose of the chain, one of the bigger sharks grabs what's left of the entire thing and makes his getaway.