Athough the Bahamas lack the splendid colourful reefs of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, they do have one big promise for the UW photographer: an abundance of big sharks. Moreover, thanks to responsible baiting of sharks it is possible to encounter in the Bahamas almost any type of shark on a specific location. This means that the chances of actually meeting a bull, tiger or even the miraculous great hammerhead on your trip have become better and better in recent years.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the great hammerhead on Bimini. A shark that I had missed on my earlier trips to Tiger Beach, which is not so far from Bimini. The organiser Neil Watson Jr. and his team take very well care of the sharks as well as their visitors. Apart from some variation in the weather, diving conditions were excellent.
I'm therefore glad to post here a link to some recent pictures of the GHH from last weeks visit.
It turns out we were there around the same time... I was out with Joe Romeiro the week before.
Great pics!
Groet,
Vincent
What a coincidence! Great spot dont you think? Cheers Al
We are planning a trip right now -- I can't wait!
Great pics. Can you guys recommend the dive center you guys used? Thanks.
Great pics. Can you guys recommend the dive center you guys used? Thanks.
There are two good operators: one in Neil Watson jr (located in Bimini Sands) the other is Epic diving (located on Cat island).
Best time is Jan-March.
what camera and lens combination did you use? what were generally the camera settings?
Some of the pictures when looking greater than just thumbnails are unsharp. I am asking this not as a critique but will go soon to the bahamas for the closup encounters with the Longimanus (Cat island). thanks
what camera and lens combination did you use? what were generally the camera settings?
Some of the pictures when looking greater than just thumbnails are unsharp. I am asking this not as a critique but will go soon to the bahamas for the closup encounters with the Longimanus (Cat island). thanks
what camera and lens combination did you use? what were generally the camera settings?
Some of the pictures when looking greater than just thumbnails are unsharp. I am asking this not as a critique but will go soon to the bahamas for the closup encounters with the Longimanus (Cat island). thanks
The sharp ones are all taken with Nikon D7100, Tokina 10-17 and Ikelite strobes. I always checked the eye and teeth of the ghh at 100% magnification for sharpness (e.g. see the eye of nrs 1, 17 and 24). The settings are shown below the Flickr pictures. The pics taken with Olympus EPL5 and Panasonic 8mm (e.g. nrs 15 and 18) were taken with natural light, and show unsharpness of teeth and eyes of the shark. But nice warm colours. More distant objects are OK. It could be a focusing problem, or a that the shutter speed was a bit too slow. I took the Oly (without strobes) together with the Nikon (with strobes) with me, and switched between cameras, leaving one camera on the sand. With the Oceanics you will be close to the surface, so yo could also try filter shots and leave the strobes on board. Better use fast shutter speeds (min 1/125) then. Have fun!
Such beautiful sharks! Well done on the pictures, gotta love those big eyes!
Such beautiful sharks! Well done on the pictures, gotta love those big eyes!
Really nice...I think you just sold a bahamas trip
Our trip there was awesome as well. Neal Watson was great to dive with. I might mention that the hammerheads aren't the only photo opportunity there. The reef sharks and shallow water wrecks are also great.
