Roatan. The Shark dive

I'll just cut to the chase, the sharks.

A few words about the dive site itself. A small plateau about 3mi off shore right at the edge of the continental self ends with vertical drop of 3000+ feet. A small patch of sand about 70 feed across situated between the abyss and a coral formation that protects from the current (and sharks if the decide to snick up from behind). Now about the sharks. They are all (or rather mostly) females of gray reef sharks (the black tips) about 7-10 feet long. The males are significantly smaller about 5-6 feet. Females are usually calmer then males. The dive shop that organizes the dives has a monopoly on shark dives on the island. They found the site about 9 years ago, they made the sharks behave certain way, they got the rights.

Shark dive is a highly organized "мероприятие", not the usual free for all. The divers descend along the mooring line then lined up against the coral wall facing the abyss. The sharks feeder begins shaking his
noise maker while banging a bucket with a few pieces of fish against the bottom. Sharks started to appearing in a few minutes. It was impossible to pinpoint the exact moments when the sharks came. They just slowly materialized from the blue. Soon 6 sharks were circling in front of us. So far it didn't feel much different then Brooklyn Aquarium. Obviously the sharks were familiar with the routine. Then the feeder opened the bucket and threw it in the middle of the sandy patch. The sharks jumped at the bucket like dogs, quickly swimming away and back. There used to be a pat-moray eel living at the site. One day he was first to make it to the open bucket. Sharks simply ripped it apart.

Once the feeding frenzy way over the sharks started to slow down. Now we were allowed to leave the wall and swim around the sharks. I didn't feel any anxiety or so I though... But according to my pressure gauge I was sucking air like there is no tomorrow... :) My dive buddy Andrej and I tried to keep away from the rest of the group, a bunch of obnoxious Frenchmen. We swam at the fringes of the site where contact with the sharks seemed to be less polluted by the crowd.

As I previously mentions most most of the sharks were females. One male appeared right after the bucket scene. Usually males keep away from people. They are more nervous and aggressive then the females. This one guy (with half face missing) was quickly pacing around looking pretty anxious. I hovered 5-6 above the bottom. It was the best way to watch the sharks. Some would swim right at me turning away at the last moment or swimming right above. I'd turn on my back letting the shark swim right above me belly-to-belly. They were so close...