Diving with Sharks at Beqa Island, Fiji

in Pinmapple2 years ago

I'm still counting all my fingers and toes just to make sure. I dove with seven kinds of sharks, including massive bull sharks, at Beqa Island in Fiji. The water water was clear, although photos were difficult because of the tornado of fish that hovered in the area.

The dive masters have food, which draws the sharks in. It also explains the massive schools of fish that hang out, looking for some scraps. As an underwater photographer there is almost too much to look at. You really have to be ready, because all of a sudden, the tornado of regular fish will part, and a shark will be charging through only a few feet away from you.

I felt pretty safe, partly because I know sharks, and I had a massive wide angle dome port over my camera housing. It felt like a big shield in between me and the teeth. The sharks were focused on the tuna heads that were being handed out, so I focused on snapping photos.

We did two dives here. Both were the same, where we would descend to about 50ft, then all kneel behind a line. The shark feeder would happen right in front of us so everyone had a good look. When they saw my camera (a canon 5d mark ii in a ikelite underwater housing) they brought me over the line to get a full on photo chance with the hungry sharks.

One of my favorite moments came at the beginning of the second dive. I was having some ear trouble so I hung above the group, trying to equalize for a while. As I was looking down on the group from above, I noticed a massive bull shark swimming right at them from the side. It swam a few feet over and behind them.... and they never knew. Everyone was looking strait forward and the shark swimming over them didn't make any noise. It makes you wonder how many sharks have seen me but I havn't seen them.

Enjoy the photos..

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A bull shark gets his tuna head meal. This is a 10ft bull shark about 5 feet in front of me.

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A shark with remora, suckerfish, heading towards the tornado.

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Woah! A shark appears out of nowhere.

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Again a shark appears out of nowhere, through the tornado of fish.

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When they reach a certain size, bull sharks tend to stop growing lengthwise and start getting fatter.

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This is it! A massive shark, feet above the heads of my dive group...and I'm the only one who saw it.

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This is the chaos I was shooting in!

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Cheers,
Dai Mar

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there's a shark. Aren't you afraid of diving?

I love it! When you are diving in clear water with sharks, there is almost no chance of an attack.

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Awesome photographs. Voted on behalf of the Neoxian city paper.

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Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1551.

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Wow! What an epic dive! I'm a diver but I don't know how comfortable I'd be with a shark dive like that one. Awesome photos 👏

Epic indeed! Plus, Fiji is known as the 'soft coral capital of the world'. All of the other diving there is amazing as well.

We're sailing our way from Queensland to Indonesia so hoping for similarly epic dives, just without the sharks , lol.

Where are you going in Indo? Bali? Lembeh Strait? Komodo? All incredible diving.

We sail into indo at Debut on Kei Island where we pass customs and immigration. From there we're thinking Raja Amput first. Great diving from what I've read. We'll be spending quite a long time in indo so hoping to cover alot of good dive and snorkel spots. We've dived Komodo, Gillies, Tulamben and Ahmed on Bali on previous short holidays. All fabulous. Komoda has a Manta Ray cleaning station, that was awesome to watch.

Ok, wow. I am definitely following your adventures now as well. Raja Ampat is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. It is very high on my list. If you really want your mind blown, make your way up to Salawesi and the Lembeh Strait. The muck diving there is out of this world.

Thanku and thanks for the tip on suluwesi 😁