Apataki, French Polynesia

Sebastien Bertaut, with grey reef shark @ apataki

I wanted to share video footage shot by Sebastien Bertaut out in French Polynesia (probably the best -- and most insane -- shark baiter/feeder I've come across). He's a pleasure to be in the water with.

Anyway, the footage is in DivX format, so you'll need a modern player (any updated player will pretty much work, but don't try to play it in IE 5.1 on the Mac ). It's 3MB, 1 minute long, and horribly compressed.

We're doing the Apataki Pass Dive, where divers shoot down the pass in the current and tuck into caves along the side to get out of it. Seb brought a little bit of bait to bring the sharks in close.

>>> download the movie now

Nice! Good to see Seb's still got it

most insane....Yea, that pretty much describes it.

Here's another shot of Seb doing what he does best, notice lack of any gloves or steel mesh, hence eric's description of crazy.

Finally the download completed, nice footage, i love that dive!

Excellent Eric! I love the way that one shark bites your strobe and you nonchalantly WHACK it out of the way. Then another one comes around the back and bites your first stage. Holy crap! I'm not sure I'd want a shark biting that close to my neck.

Cheers

James

Now I know why you guys all need metal housings!! To protect them from shark teeth.

OMG, that Seb guy is a bit of a nutter - great footage though! WOW.

How about some of your other shots Eric?

Wow, cool stuff. How full was ur suit after that?

By the way Windows Media Video 9 (320 x 240) might give you a better result than DivX and be more compatible with your audience. I do mine at 83% quality setting (VBR).

Wow, Eric, pretty intense....

BTW, I was able to play it on my mac by downloading the DivX codec.

Thanks for posting it...

Cp

Pretty fun. I had a similar thing in Rangiroa (non-baited) and of course the sardine run. Without baiting, the reef sharks in rangiroa were just arched back once we were down. Probably someone had chummed them before we arrived.

In natural feeding conditions, like in the sardine run, the bronze whalers and zambezis will still bump you to test you out (or if you're in the way). I wish I had this clip of a tiger shark taking a nip of a tank of a buddy of mine. You should hear his stories now.

Right, i think this one just about sums up Seb the best

Who is this guy!

Doesn't he need his hands??

Amazing!!!! Great!!! I love those animals, and French Polynesia is one of my top destinations.

You are very lucky to have lived that experience, thanks for sharing

Very cool footage! Nice part where one of the sharks is near your head!

stu

Abernethy is going to have to take it up a notch after seeing this guy Yikes