Work travel took both of us to the Orlando area in April, so we decided to take an extended weekend to road trip down Florida’s Atlantic coast for some diving with a friend. We first met Lureen diving in Palau in 2016. Having been amazed by her underwater shark photography, we decided to meet up in Jupiter, FL, for a day trip on the Lazy Daze boat with Captain Roger from Salty Divers for some shark diving.
In baited shark diving, the sharks are attracted using a crate filled with fish parts carried on a line by the shark handler. Divers hang out around the bait crate, avoiding the chum line and staying at the same level or above the handler. The sharks arrive after a few minutes, circling around and swimming in and out of the group. On our first dive, known as Deep Ledge, we were surrounded by dozens of bull sharks, some lemon sharks and a few sandbar sharks. At first, it was pretty intimidating when the sharks were coming right at us, only to turn away at the last minute. Sadly a number of the sharks we saw had hooks in their mouths.
The second dive was to be on the Mariner Tugboat. As we descended, we immediately saw Giant Grouper, who typically stick close to structures, but ended up missing the wreck and thus spent most of the time drifting along the sand. However, there was plenty of action as we were joined by several nurse sharks, lemons, and bullsharks. The highlight was a huge 12 foot hammerhead who wasn’t afraid to come in close.
The third dive of the day was on the Bonaire Wreck and featured lots of lemon sharks up close and personal. After 15 minutes in the sand, we ascended and spent the rest of the dive in the blue (suspended in the water). Lemons are the dogs of the shark world, very social and playful, often giving divers a nudge as they swim by. But keep in mind that strip club rules apply here – they can touch you but you can’t touch them – unless it’s a gentle push to divert them in another direction.
Overall we saw five different species of sharks on our three dives – not bad for our first baited shark experience! Patrick, the popular resident tiger shark, unfortunately didn’t make an appearance. It was an unreal experience being this close to and interacting with the sharks. We never felt threatened and it was clear that they viewed us as awkward, bubble-generating creatures rather than prey. The seas were pretty choppy that day making both of us (and others!) quite seasick, so we greatly preferred being in the water to being on the boat. And, next time we’ll be taking some anti-nausea meds!
The practice of baited shark diving is sometimes seen as controversial because it does alter natural behavior. Most of the time, it’s the only way to get up-close experiences with these apex predators. Our take is that improving awareness of sharks is positive for getting people educated and interested in conservation of these impressive creatures.
Lureen’s photography is featured on this post – check out her website for more pictures.