Abi's Deep Dive

About bull sharks….

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Carcharhinus leucas

TYPE: Fish

DIET: Carnivore

AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: 16 years

SIZE: 2 to 3.5 metres

WEIGHT: 90 to 220 kgs

Bull sharks, great whites and tiger sharks are the three species most likely to attack humans.

Bull sharks get their name from their short, blunt snout, as well as their pugnacious disposition and a tendency to head-butt their prey before attacking. They are medium-size sharks, with thick, stout bodies and long pectoral fins. They are gray on top and white below, and the fins have dark tips, particularly on young bull sharks.

They are found cruising the shallow, warm waters of all the world’s oceans. Fast, agile predators, they will eat almost anything they see, including fish, dolphins, and even other sharks.

*National Geographic

Last year when I was in Mexico I got to hear about a yearly event when pregnant bull sharks come close to the shore in Playa del Carmen before moving on to give birth. The season starts in November, people comment on social media that they have seen a bull shark and then over the month the numbers in the area increase so that you are almost guaranteed to see them when you dive. I left Mexico in September last year, and was so envious of the friends I’d made who were still in Mexico when the sharks arrived; the photos and videos of these majestic creatures swimming right past them diving were breath taking. The experience was added to my bucket list and I have been waiting to gave the opportunity to go. We started hearing that the sharks were here this year and as only one of my housemates had been diving with bull sharks we were all keen to book a trip together!! There is a man called Hector, in Playa del Carmen, who runs dives with sharks, the dive is really well set up as there is a mooring line which you follow down 25m to the sandy bottom of the sea, then a rope is pinned down along the bottom which you follow so it keeps you low in the water. Divers line up along the rope bodies resting on the bottom, all facing the same way and Hector feeds the sharks in front of you. You stay under for 25 minutes then head back up a line for a safety stop of 3 minutes at 5 metres which allows you to off gas nitrogen reducing your risk of decompression sickness. We knew all of this but still when the day came for us to dive with bull sharks we felt completely unprepared!

I had organised the trip with my Mexican friend Sarai and her company Buceo Xtabay who I thoroughly recommend if you are in this part of the world. Luz Maria who started the company is a biologist who worked for many years studying local marine life here, when I did a whale shark dive with her last year I learnt so much about the area as well as whale sharks and other creatures we saw like the manta rays. It was a beautiful day and Sarai took our little group of 5 to Playa to meet Hector and get in the water. We were so excited, and nervous and chatted excitedly all the way.

We got to Playa, quickly kitted up and got onto the boat. Water temperature was 27 degrees but as we would be staying still we had all worn wetsuits to stay warm. Hector gave us a full briefing including things like keeping your arms tucked in as someone had held a camera up and a shark went in  for a nibble thinking it was food! The boat trip was quick, the bull sharks are not far away from the coast, so we didn’t have long to wait. Hector and his colleague put chainmail over their wetsuits and prepared the fish to feed to the sharks, and a guy called Larry who is originally from LA but fell in love with the marine life in Mexico came with us to take photographs. A quick backwards roll into the sea and we were ready to descend. Visibility was about 20 metres and we could soon see a couple of bull sharks circling as we went down the mooring line. It was so exciting!!

We all got into position and immediately were surrounded by so many fish. It was stunning, grey trigger fish, bar jacks and more crowded around knowing that food was here.  Southern sting rays swam past so close to us that their wings brushed us, I have never seen them so close and it was amazing to see their faces in so much detail. Then the sharks arrived. They are so beautiful, moving slowly through the water with their little eyes scanning around them moving their head from side to side to get a better picture (due to the position of their eyes they have an area right in front of their nose that they cant see and they only see in black and white so look more for changes in light). The sharks circle around, and even though their eyesight isn’t great, it feels like they take everything in. I kept thinking: don’t flinch it makes you look like prey, don’t stick your arms out or make sudden movement like a mantra the briefing went around in my head, but when a shark got near all thought ceased. They are absolutely huge!

We counted six sharks, each at least 2.5 metres of muscle. Hector gets to know some of the sharks that come for an easy lunch, but he didn’t recognise any of these apart from one who has a hook caught in her lip, a horrible reminder of the negative impact humans have on these majestic creatures. I could really see how people end up working so closely with these magnificent creatures. Despite the rows of razor sharp teeth, and their ability to kill us in seconds, they seemed to respect the fact that Hector was there to feed them and didn’t pay us much attention, just the odd glance and getting very close, sometimes going right over our heads well within reach. Being in their vicinity was truly magical. The fish didn’t seem bothered by their presence until when they got in between a shark and her food and she snapped her jaws at them, they all moved out of the way fast!

At one point we had sharks behind us and in front of us, and I was trying to get a good photo when I felt a bite on my hand, an inquisitive trigger fish had come in for a taste and drew blood from my finger. They have sharp teeth! 

Thankfully that was the only bite we experienced during the dive! We had 25 minutes surrounded by sea life, as we stared in awe of these incredible creatures, it was magical. Knowing that we were diving with one of the most aggressive shark species in the world, and seeing them interact with each other and Hector was unforgettable. It didn’t feel long enough when it was time to leave them and surface. We all ascended on the line as instructed and started our safety stop. Paused in the water like this at 5-6 metres I looked around into the blue. The light was beginning to fade above us, and the sea was getting darker. Looking down I saw the sharks ascending with us, circling the mooring line, I was very aware that we were just dangling into their world and that if they wanted to, in an instant, they could grab us.

Hector had a long pole to deter them from getting too close but I am not sure it made me feel much safer! After a long three minutes we surfaced and got back on the boat all full of smiles and stories of how close the sharks got, what we saw, how many teeth we could see when they opened their mouths wide, and how they showed the inside of their gills. The sun was going down, and whilst we headed back to the shore I thought of those mothers to be and wondered what they made of us, small creatures who drop in to feed them, gaze at them in wonder and then have to surface due to the poor design of their flimsy bodies.   

Credit to Larry at Camera and a Shark for the following images…