Wetpixel: Bahamas Sharks & Dolphins trip report. July 2008

Jim later told me that I was in the wrong place on the reef so it was all my own fault

would be nice if somebody could post some "rules" to avoid own faults :-)

would be nice if somebody could post some "rules" to avoid own faults :-)

As I said in the report the JASA shark briefing is anything but brief. And much of the advice is specific to the various species. Plus the way that JASA conducts dives. So rules would not be that applicable for other areas and styles of shark dives. And if you go on JASA you will get the full briefing.

I would also imagine that the same shark species would have different behaviours and thus safety considerations in different places depending on their dominant prey items. In the Bahamas tigers feed a lot o turtles, ambushing them at the surface. Therefore one big no-no is never to be at the surface. In RSA people seem to regularly freedive with tigers without consequence Presumably because they hunt in different ways.

That said Mark's mistake was to get downstream of the bait (which would not be a good idea on any shark feed - although many make people form a circle around the feeder) - so he was in the bait slick between the food and the tiger. As the current shifts it is easy to be caught out. The lesson for being safe is to be mindful of the bigger picture when you are concentrating on the shark coming towards you. Of course, Mark suffered nothing more than a raised heart beat, so it was probably a good way to learn this lesson.

Alex

In RSA people seem to regularly freedive with tigers without consequence Presumably because they hunt in different ways.

Eh... depends on who you ask and know...

I've been on a JASA trip before (Tiger & Great Hammers trip) and am off again in December. Last time I had a little point & shoot but I'm now looking to upgrade to an SLR (prob a Canon 40D).

I may not be able to afford many lenses by that time, but if anyone had to take one lens for underwater use on this trip, what would it be?

I'm personally thinking of getting the Tokina 10-17 but would welcome comments / suggestions.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Ben

I've been on a JASA trip before (Tiger & Great Hammers trip) and am off again in December. Last time I had a little point & shoot but I'm now looking to upgrade to an SLR (prob a Canon 40D).

 

I may not be able to afford many lenses by that time, but if anyone had to take one lens for underwater use on this trip, what would it be?

 

I'm personally thinking of getting the Tokina 10-17 but would welcome comments / suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Ben

I agree, if I had to choose one lens, it would be the Tokina 10-17

Being downstream of the chum is bad for so many reasons. Its just gross to have the chum streaming from your strobe arms. While its good for attracting sharks, you can't help wondering if they are looking to take a bite out of the camera. And, for what it is worth, if >I<wait TOO long to press the shutter release, I wind up with a blurry eye.... I guess I lack the nerve to focus properly.

Taken with the Tokina 10-17 at 17mm.

10-17 No doubt at all.

Also the focus will be an issue with a P&S, with shutter lag etc.

These sharks may not look as if they are moving very fast but any shutter speed slower than 1/160 is tempting the blur devil.

Paul C

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say a quick word of thanks to Wetpixel and all at JASA for this amazing week.

Back in the office and finding it hard to readapt.

Greatly enjoying all the pictures and Alex's extensive report.

There is no doubt Jim and his team have been the most professional, welcoming and enthusiastic group I have ever been diving with.

I am currently importing all 13h of video to my computer and will be posting edited videos soon.

Should have a first taste up tonight for all to view and download.

Look forward to diving with some of you again soon.

Chris Rubie

Hi Chris,

Nice to meet you up here.

Looking forward to your video - am still downloading my images from the week!

Paul C

Ok

Here is a short trailer of my videos to come.

Just a quick post with light editing, but does revive memories.

Hope you like it.

You can view it on my site in medium quality :

http://gallery.me.com/chrisrubie#100096

Or on Youtube in low res :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B721dSwnoLI

Chris, great footage... you just made my morning out here (in Asia). Tigers, Lemons, and Dolphins... excellent!!

And my whole day here. What a superb piece of work. (Can you call that work?) Thanks Chris, beautiful! Thanks to all the folks for sharing such a great trip!

Steve

Senor, you need to quit your job.... first you want to go for 3 weeks on the Ocean Safari then 1 week on JASA.

I am doing a Master in Holiday Management . Right now we are booked for a Cocos/Costa Rica trip in february (three weeks), and we are about to book for a JASA one in august (1.5 weeks) and we also need at least one week for uwp competitions (on one of which we got a prize of a week in Baja California that still do not know when we will have time for ). And in 2010 we will try to do sardine run expedition ...

Ok

Here is a short trailer of my videos to come.

Just a quick post with light editing, but does revive memories.

Hope you like it.

 

You can view it on my site in medium quality :

 

http://gallery.me.com/chrisrubie#100096

 

Or on Youtube in low res :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B721dSwnoLI

I really enjoyed your video. Thank you for posting it!

Chris, that was truly fantastic. I am grinning ear to ear. Played beautiful in "large" format expanded on the 30" monitor. I feel like I was there. Once I show that to Colleen I know that this is going to be the next trip we take after Indonesia in 2009. Heck, she may force a trip before then....

As for you photographers caught on tape, why didn't I see your eyes to the viewfinder? Looked like a lot of people were shooting blind, just sticking their cameras out and hoping for the best while they kept their eyes on the prize. I assume Chris had his eyes to the viewfinder to get such beautiful footage!

Hi Chris,

As everyone else has said your vids are great. Really bring the trip back to life for me. I'm still dreaming of sharks a week later and of course working on my calendar to see when I can go again.

David - part of the safety briefing is to not look in the viewfinder for too long at any one time and to keep your eyes on any Tiger that is around. The other thing is that you are also told to keep upright and if the shark is right next to you to shoot low you have to hold the camera low. Jim A is the master of not looking in the viewfinder and just shooting from the hip. As the week went on we all started emulating him.

Chris was the lucky one with a lcd screen on the back of his housing so no tiny viewfinder to squint through !

Mark

One of the golden safety rules is don't get stuck in your viewfinder. Good to see that there is plenty of video of us doing the right thing!

Alex

One of the golden safety rules is don't get stuck in your viewfinder. Good to see that there is plenty of video of us doing the right thing!

 

Alex

I suppose it makes sense. I think I'd be afraid to block my vision swimming with the tigers. I guess you just have to give up composing the shot and hope you capture something interesting. I tried shooting from the hip a bunch of times with the reef sharks but I can't recall if I actually got any shots that way!

YEah, the trick is to aim for the body and not the head. If you aim for the head, you get lots of shots with the tail cut off and too much space in front of the shark!

Well I am not Eric - but have just come back from the Wetpixel/JASA trip last month.

 

That lens is good - take also a 50mm or 60mm lens for some neat portrait shots of sharks.

 

We mostly had great ambient light and you are shallow mostly so strobes only provide a ‘fill’ and are often at 1/4 or 1/2 power.

 

Take a spare sync chord - they are always a weak link and you have no ‘pop to the store’ option..

 

If you are a group arrange to take a spare set of regs & hoses - there was no spares on the boat as Jim had been ‘tidying up’.

 

If your dome is acrylic then a Novus kit is a good thing to have to hand anyway.

 

Enjoy - it is a great trip.

 

Paul C

Good Info. Paul....Thanks!

 

I would guess the TTL converter could also be a weak link...should I invest in a dual sync cord as a spare and shoot in manual in case the TTL converter takes a ‘dive’?

 

Mike

Posted by sealifeprints on 08/13 at 05:53 PM

Well Mike just about anything is a candidate weak link.

For the sharks on the sand you don't need TTL, in fact I have never used TTL for anything myself.

One of my strobes died on day 2 and I had to get along with just one for most of the trip, so maybe I should have had a spare strobe!

Your best bet is to have an idea of what you might do - before you need to do it.

Paul C

I have finally been able to get some images up from this trip. While I was a away in the Bahamas, my desktop computer had an encounter with a vase of flowers. Well specifically the water in the vase of flowers...

Anyway this is the first gallery I have made with the new computer and Photoshop CS3 (I hadn't upgraded on my old Mac) and they look slightly dark to me. I am not sure what the problem is, because the high res images, that I have sent out recently have all been fine.

The Gallery Info page is here, and it has links to the gallery of images.

Alex