I was really looking forward to all the shark diving, as I have only seen grey and Oceanic white tipped reef sharks in the Red Sea but I had never seen nurse, lemon or bull sharks. I am glad to see that Beqa Adventure Divers supports the local community and environment. To encourage the upkeep of Shark Reef, a daily entry fee of Fijian $20 is charged to all divers and paid directly to the villages of Wainiyabia and Galoa, who own the customary fishing rights to Shark Reef. All food used for the Big Fish Encounter is provided by Fiji Fish, a local fish processing company. Each week between 800kg and 1000kg of fish scraps are reintroduced into the food chain to feed the fish and sharks of Shark Reef. There are a number of dive operators in Pacific Harbour but only Beqa Adventure Divers and another dive operator is allowed to conduct the shark feed (albeit in different locations).
We set out to the Shark Marine Reserve with a full boat, including two Japanese guys who were making a film for Japanese television (maybe I will be on TV!), and started our first dive at 9.30am. The divemaster threw in a couple of huge slabs of fish, which immediately attracted swarms of giant trevallies. We then got into the water and descended to 30m where the shark feed began. Hundreds of giant trevallies and other fish (red bass, grouper, sergeant majors, fusiliers) circle the feeder in a mad frenzy and then the nursing sharks (about 6 of them) come up to the bin and dig their noses in to get the fish. I had my own video camera, so I was allowed to film quite close to where the feeding was taking place. I didn't feel scared, as the feed is well controlled (provided you don't start flapping your arms about or grab any loose food, otherwise the trevallies will go for you). After 17 minutes, which is the maximum bottom time allowed at 30m before you enter into decompression diving and have to do mandatory safety stops, we then surfaced to 10m where the feeding continued. Again there were large swarms of fish, white tipped reef sharks, black tipped reef sharks and grey reef sharks. After another 20 minutes, we headed towards the surface. The shark feed was really good. I have never seen so many fish in one small area.
The second dive took place an hour later at 16m. We sat on a ledge just behind the feeder and giant bull sharks came and took food from his hand. There were about 6 bull sharks and they are quite scary - they cause more deaths than any other shark. One of the crew told me that on the last few shark dives, the bull sharks have been getting a bit aggressive, so the feeders have had to punch them on the nose to keep them in line.
We did two more shark dives on Friday and Saturday and each time there was no shortage of excitement. The biggest grouper I have ever seen - about 1.5 metres in length also came up to be fed. On the final 30m shark dive on Saturday, the nurse sharks and a lemon shark were about 1m away - they aren't aggressive but they do get quite curious. A Russian guy on the dive tried to grab the shark as it swam past (Russians always like touching the animals when diving). On the 16m dive, a lot of reef sharks were circling about a couple of metres above my head - luckily I had my video camera for protection! A big fat female bull shark which has been around for 5 years took some food out of the feeders' hand and then circled back to him for more - such that he had to dive for cover. Even though the visibility wasn't that great, I did get some great video footage and some pictures (see above - bull sharks and trevallies).
We set out to the Shark Marine Reserve with a full boat, including two Japanese guys who were making a film for Japanese television (maybe I will be on TV!), and started our first dive at 9.30am. The divemaster threw in a couple of huge slabs of fish, which immediately attracted swarms of giant trevallies. We then got into the water and descended to 30m where the shark feed began. Hundreds of giant trevallies and other fish (red bass, grouper, sergeant majors, fusiliers) circle the feeder in a mad frenzy and then the nursing sharks (about 6 of them) come up to the bin and dig their noses in to get the fish. I had my own video camera, so I was allowed to film quite close to where the feeding was taking place. I didn't feel scared, as the feed is well controlled (provided you don't start flapping your arms about or grab any loose food, otherwise the trevallies will go for you). After 17 minutes, which is the maximum bottom time allowed at 30m before you enter into decompression diving and have to do mandatory safety stops, we then surfaced to 10m where the feeding continued. Again there were large swarms of fish, white tipped reef sharks, black tipped reef sharks and grey reef sharks. After another 20 minutes, we headed towards the surface. The shark feed was really good. I have never seen so many fish in one small area.
The second dive took place an hour later at 16m. We sat on a ledge just behind the feeder and giant bull sharks came and took food from his hand. There were about 6 bull sharks and they are quite scary - they cause more deaths than any other shark. One of the crew told me that on the last few shark dives, the bull sharks have been getting a bit aggressive, so the feeders have had to punch them on the nose to keep them in line.
We did two more shark dives on Friday and Saturday and each time there was no shortage of excitement. The biggest grouper I have ever seen - about 1.5 metres in length also came up to be fed. On the final 30m shark dive on Saturday, the nurse sharks and a lemon shark were about 1m away - they aren't aggressive but they do get quite curious. A Russian guy on the dive tried to grab the shark as it swam past (Russians always like touching the animals when diving). On the 16m dive, a lot of reef sharks were circling about a couple of metres above my head - luckily I had my video camera for protection! A big fat female bull shark which has been around for 5 years took some food out of the feeders' hand and then circled back to him for more - such that he had to dive for cover. Even though the visibility wasn't that great, I did get some great video footage and some pictures (see above - bull sharks and trevallies).
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