In the morning I am crossing the Atlantic, the start of a long journey to hopefully some excellent oceanic whitetip shark encounters in the outer Bahamas. So I thought it was time to start a thread in the build up to this trip as the group slowly meet up and depart with Jim Abernethy on the Shear Water on Saturday morning.

I doubt that there will be many updates during the trip, but hopefully there will be a few things to report as we meet up and build up to this trip. I'll do my best to keep a diary on board and post it all up on my return, in a similar style to the last one.

I know that these threads are very useful for those thinking of joining these unique JASA trips in the future, and I always enjoy the banter when we are in West End marina in the Bahamas and instead of talking we are all busily communicating with each other through wetpixel.

Fingers crossed for a good turn out from the sharks, pigs, iguanas etc. For those coming - looking forward to seeing you/meeting you in West Palm Beach.

Alex

Hi Alex,
Looking forward to meeting you. Will be coming on the trip. I just got a 10-24mm which fits the zoom and focus gear for my 12-24mm (Seacam), for which I am eternally grateful. Got a polecam custom-made by Scubacam (Singapore) to try out too.

Marcus

All the way across the pond for oceanics Alex. Whats wrong with Egypt ! I am only jealous.

Hope you all have a great time and get the shots you all want. Keep a distance from the pigs in case they have they flu.

All the best Stew

In Florida now! Did our first dive of the day today - 2 hours 10 minutes at Blue Heron Bridge. Myself, Nick, Claus and Barbara went with Laz and were joined by Jimmy - who was dropped off by Brian from the Shear Water. It was funny to say hello to Jim underwater. Went for lunch after.

Good variety of critters about, long-arm occies, many seahorses etc. I'll post some images when I have downloaded them.

Alex

Just rub it in, Alex, as Jim has just cancelled my June trip on Shearwater!

Tim

In the end, jet lag caught up with me and I didn't have time to post any photos last night before bedtime! Here are a few from yesterday - mostly found thanks to Mr Laz.

All shot with D700 + 60mm AFS. Subal. Inon Z240s (kindly lent by loftus - who had to work and could not dive with us, yesterday)

First sight of a Caribbean Long-arm
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CLAO out and about
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Eyes bigger than belly - octopus scavenging fish
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Nearly there
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Snapper caught on a discarded fishing line:
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Laz to the rescue
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Free!
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Mating horseshoe crabs:
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Jawfish with eggs
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Another great dive at Blue Heron Bridge.

I really like diving here - not only for the long, slow, shallow, critter filled dives - but also there seems to be a nice social spirit among the regular divers here. Laz was chatting to lots of people both before and after the dive. It really is the local social spot for divers.

Alex

p.s. Sorry to hear about your cancelled trip, Tim. You should book onto one of the Wetpixel ones for 2010 - I am sure that you can register an interest through the Travel link above.

Cool shots: especially the Limulus, an arthropod for which I have a peculiarly soft spot.

Tim

A little behind the scenes of the doctor at work/play:

That's so cool, Laz.

Cool to see thanks for posting guys! Great to see Alex photographing the jawfish and snapper, then seeing them in the video.

Cheers
James

All safely aboard and in the Bahamas! Ready those pigs and sharks!

Laz -- that jawfish shot was awesome!

When you get back to the bridge after the trip, get some footage of Alex with his hand in the sand at night. HELLO, bobbit worms and bristle worms!

Laz, nice work with the fish rescue.

Scott

If that doesn't get'em the stargazer's 50 volts will. I've had them bump the bottom of my Subal while I cruised real low to the ground. Thank goodness for the insulating plastic handles on the metal housing!

About an hour away from WPB; thought I'd post a teaser.

Great Jeff, what a thrill!!!

I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more from y'all.....

Best, Carol

Back in West Palm Beach now. Most of the boat is diving at Blue Heron Bridge right now. Sadly I am not - having put my back out (ouch) a couple of days ago. We're not allowed ashore either - until we have cleared customs in the morning - but the gang are still out there getting the shots.

Don contemplates a night dive.
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Martin gears up.
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Claus and Barbara head in.
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Everyone else gets ready.
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Alex

Diary posts coming soon.

So to back track a little here (sporadically - given my back pain and travel plans) is the trip diary - I'll add some images if the connection allows.

Day 1

Under sunny skies we joined the Shear Water on Saturday morning. And finally the gang was united.

Shear Water Crew:
Jim – Canons (all been round the clock many times) and Sea & Sea housings
Brian – Canon 50D, Sea & Sea.
Don – Canon 1DS Mk3, Sea & Sea
Mike

Guests:
Alex – Nikon D700, Subal. D2X topdside.
Jeff – Nikon D700, Subal. D200 topside.
Nick – Nikon D3X, Aquatica. D3 topside.
Marcus – Nikon D200, Seacam. D3 topside.
Claus – Canon 50D, UK Germany.
Barbara – non-photographer.
Jarret – Nikon D300 (RIP), Subal. Borrowed cameras from Jim, Brian and Don!
Martin – Canon 10D (a late replacement), Ikelite.

I’d seen a few of the gang in the days running up to the trip. Two days previously I’d dived the BH Bridge with Laz, Jim, Nick, Claus and Barabara. And the previous day I’d been with Nick and Jeff at the loftus beach house in Daytona for a pool/uw studio shoot, which was tremendous fun. I even bought a boat. The MY Swine Flu, as she was named, a small inflatable craft that proved indispensable for ferrying cameras ashore for pig and iguana shoots.

Day one was a travel day. We left West Palm Beach crossed the Gulf Stream cleared customs at West End, Grand Bahama and steamed to Nassau and down into the Exumas. The weather was not kind and the Shear Water soldiered onward through heavy seas, or “mountains” as they became known on board...

Day 2

The calm anchorage in front of pig beach was a welcome sight for all on board as we pulled in a little after lunch. Not only would it provide a rest from the waves, but it would also be our first chance to unleash our shutters and bag some piggy pix.

The stormy conditions did not provide ideal photographic conditions with grey skies (a sat-phone message informed us we were battling against tropical depression “Anna”, a name that caused a fair few jokes on board).

But before we could photograph the pigs we had to get the cameras to land and this is where MY Swine Flu came in. She was duly inflated – note how her colour scheme matches the rest of JASA fleet – and loaded with the dry cameras. In fact SF proved so popular that she actually made two trips to shore – one with cameras and one with bait for the pigs.
Photographing pigs swimming in the ocean is one of the most surreal and enjoyable experiences in the world of underwater photography. I have photographed the pigs here before, but many more have been born since my last visit – there are now seven. Jim also has a new secret weapon for tempting the pigs, a tip passed on by Douglas Seifert. Peanut butter – which works best if smeared on top of your dome port shade.

An explosion of enthusiastic energy. Jim and pig enjoying the peanut butter on his port shade.
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The pigs adore it, even more than the apples we have brought for them – they can often be too keen for food and that I learned that I had a new top speed in back peddling, which thankfully was slightly faster than the voracious swine could swim, most of the time. There is, however, a downside to peanut butter. Pigs, as you might expect, are messy eaters, and their delicate pink faces are soon smeared with the brown stuff.

We stayed until late afternoon and then made a quick dive at Thunderball Cave before sunset. Only a couple of us, jumped in, but I really loved this site. It reminded me of some of the shallow dives in Raja Ampat with sponges and gorgonians growing right to surface of an undercut limestone island. The cave through the island was also beautiful, but light levels were getting so low that I was up at ISO 1600 on the D700. I’d love to come back to this spot in the middle of the day - it is a fantastic wide angle site.
That night we slept as we steamed overnight to the shark spot off Cat Island, dreaming of Oceanics.

Thunderball cave (interior)
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Alex (AKA Happy Feet - because of my continual marching in an attempt to straighten my back)

p.s. Jeff's post above kind of removes any suspense as to whether our search was fruitful.

Pig

Here are some shots of the gang with the pigs. Taken by Martin and Jim - captions by Martin. Part 1:

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Alex

Part 2:

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Alex

Sounds like a fine trip, I hesitate to ask but what did Jarret manageto do?

Paul C

Who cares about sharks. Pigs rule. Deliverance references are much funnier than Jaws references. I've never laughed so hard at a Wetpixel post.

Some swine updates

LOL! These are great!

Sow-ry to hear about your back, Alex... perhaps you hurt it while "piggy-back riding" that poor animal?!

Can't wait to see some oceanic shots.

Speaking of Oceanics ....
Besides the teaser of the juvie, GIVE!!!
John

Yes, we got what we came for...Oceanics. We had anywhere from 3-9 Oceanics in the water every day, Mon through Thursday. The outbound crossing was rock and roll, really rough. First Oceanic day was pretty rough as well, only on Tuesday did we get some sunshine and reasonable conditions for some reflection shots like I posted initially.
So here are a few more pics.
Day one this poor shark hung out with us all day - a hook and a bullet hole for her troubles.



Here's Jimmy trying to get the hook out



Success



Tuesday some sunshine



Wednesday a little rough again



Thursday we had one with some 'bling'



And Friday, on the way home, besides the pigs, hung out with some good looking iguanas

Just an update on the lack of updates. I have had treatment on my back today - and have to lie down! Its hard to type with laptop balanced vertically on my stomach!

Here's an oceanic:


Alex

Alex the photos and captions were great, I'm now going to have to schedule a stop at the peanut butter cleaning station!

Jeff - Whoa!!! The last 2 White tip photos are just awesome!!! I want to know how you got the photo of the White Tip God descending from the clouds!!!!

ROTFLMAO, that's way too funny, Alex talent spotting during a dive holiday... Excuse me while I clean the coffee off my keyboard...

Day 3

We awoke at Cat Island and outside our anchorage we could see the heavy swells of the open Atlantic, hopefully home to our oceanic prize. To be honest most people/boats would skip diving in such hefty seas, but having travelled for 2 days to get here, we decided to brave it.

The Shear Water pitching in the heavy seas:
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We had breakfast (thankfully delicious in case we tasted it twice) before sitting down for our shark briefing. As regulars on the Shear Water will know, Jimmy’s shark briefings on board are never brief. They are filled with all you need to know to have as safe, enjoyable and photographically productive experience as possible.

Different species of sharks certainly behave very differently, and Jimmy went to great lengths to explain the very bold nature of the oceanics, who will bump and investigate anything they encounter in their ocean domain. Particularly, if the object is at the surface and in the case of a person has not seen them coming. We were told that it was imperative to always keep eye contact with all the sharks, and continually point out to other divers any shark you think they have not seen.

I had seen oceanic whitetips in the Red Sea, but in all honesty it is rare to see one there that is larger than 6ft (2m) and most are in the 4-5ft (1.5m) range. In the Red Sea they still have that classic Oceanic trait of being very confident and will swim right up to you. The first few times it is very unnerving because it is so different from the shy nature of most sharks around divers. I guess this is what led Cousteau to call the Oceanic Whitetip the “most dangerous of all sharks”. Anyway it was an exciting prospect to have the chance to dive with large adult oceanics, most that they see here are in the 9ft (3m) range.

This was now Shear Water’s 11th trip targeting oceanics (a goal that they had only failed once before on my last trip to this area, which was a bit late in the year) and as such they have developed a pretty good system for finding and keeping the sharks. Dives are conducted just a few metres below the surface around a few crates of bait, suspended from black floats. Jim had initially used standard white floats, but the sharks ate them. The black ones they ignored.

By mid morning bait was deployed and not long after we had sharks. The bait had actually drifted up over the continental shelf and there was a collection of dusky, silky and Caribbean reef sharks. People decided to jump in (most had been on board for 2 days and hadn’t dived yet) and it was a chance to get used to this unusual method of diving. The water was beautifully clear and the bottom (about 150ft, 50m) was clearly visible. Sadly Oceanics weren’t, so in the early afternoon we recovered the bait and steamed back out to deep water. We had drifted about 5 miles in the current, underwater , drifting with the bait, as a diver you are oblivious.

We redeployed the bait in the middle of the afternoon, but with the rough seas apparently worsening, we decided to call it quits at about 4pm. Then we saw her. Returning to the float we were delighted to see a beautiful 3 metre oceanic circling it. My first impression was simply how big she was. Wow. A really impressive shark.

Given the conditions I initially decided not to dive. It would be fine underwater, but getting in and out would be hairy. But as more and more of the group jumped in, peer pressure got to me. What if the weather was even worse tomorrow. In I popped.

Jim and Claus with Oceanic:
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Sadly the rough conditions had one casualty. Jarret’s D300. Preparing to slide in from the swim step, Jarret was swept off by a large wave and in the process his Subal housing dragged across his legs, rotating the port off and totally flooding the housing. D300 + 10-17mm RIP. Quick reactions from Claus rescued Jarret’s rapidly sinking port (a fisheye dome costs about the same as a camera and lens).

This was not the end of Jarret’s ordeal. His portless housing, now full of water was very heavy and he was sinking. Stressed and distracted he finned hard and the commotion immediately attracted the shark. Capt Brian immediately spotted the risk and positioned himself between Jarret and the shark, while Jarret climbed back on board. It was amazing how the shark instantly picked up on it.

Although Jarret did not have a spare camera, it was not the end of his photography as Jim, Brian and Don lent him their cameras at various times to allow him to get some images.

After an eventful day we returned to our anchorage, hoping for easy conditions on Day 4.

Good description of a hectic day Alex. Definitely challenging conditions, made more challenging by the considerations related to diving with Oceanics. On my first dive I had overweighted myself like I did at Tiger beach, wanting to be able to drop quickly below the surface. Needless to say in these conditions, trying to stay at 10-15 feet depth, I was bobbing like a yo-yo. Easily fixed on the next dive though with my normal weight setup.

Thanks,
Yeah, I thought the effect of the rough surface was pretty cool too. Looks cool in B&W as well.

Day 4

First light revealed that the weather was at least improving. Although it was probably fair to say that the only way was up. The sky was still overcast and the sea still rough, but at least the wind had dropped considerably. So there was swell, but the surface texture smoothed off making it more attractive for photography.

We steamed out into deep water and deployed the bait, quickly attracting a pair of Ocenics. The thick cloud was thinning too and begging to show patches of blue sky. Perhaps this was the Bahamas after all. The two sharks stayed with us all day and the improving conditions meant that everyone really started to bag quality images.

Breaching Abernethy
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The more inquisitive of the pair was an oceanic with a damaged mouth, presumably from fishing hook, that left it permanently gaping on one side. Nick gave the shark the nickname of Jimmy Cagney, which stuck despite her being in a female. In fact all the oceanics we saw during the trip were females. Jimmy arrived in the morning very thin, and by the evening had a bulging belly. We weren’t really feeding the sharks, most of the bait crates remained full until the end of the week, but from time to time the JASA crew would pull out the odd piece if the sharks’ interest seemed to be wavering.

JC in the morning, top, and afternoon. This shark looked very thin when she arrived, possibly struggling to hunt with a damaged jaw, but left suitably swelled (rather like me when Jeff took us to Texas De Brazil in Orlando!).
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Jim first heard about the oceanic whitetips in this remote area from sports fishermen, who reported regularly loosing the fillets of hooked fish. The sharks here have learned to associate sport fishing boats with an easy meal and at times seemed more interested in the sound of the Shear Water’s engines than the bait. It was pretty obvious that the Oceanics are not universally loved by the fishermen. Which I am sure explains Jimmy Cagney’s jaw and also the bullet hole in the back of the Oceanic we saw the previous day. During the week we saw only two other boats in the area, both fishing, and they seemed pretty happy that we were keeping the sharks occupied.

The boat was always an attractant to the oceanics. I used it regularly as a background to give images more depth. D700 + 17-35m @ 17mm +3 dioptre. 1/80th @ F11. ISO 200.
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I worked through 3 lenses this day. Starting with the Sigma 15mm + 1.5 teleconverter, before switching to a straight 16mm fisheye and then finishing the day with the Nikon 17-35mm with +3 dioptre. I got my preferred shots with the rectilinear zoom, although this may have had more to do with the fact the sun was out by the afternoon, when I used it.

There was much debate on board as to which lenses made the sharks look best. The straight fisheye (or Tokina 10-17mm @ 10mm) tended to tadpole the sharks (big head, small body) a bit too much when they were very close to the port (the oceanics were continually attracted to the shiny domes, particularly if you back peddled slightly as they came in), but this lens was the best for opening up space to capture their big blue oceanic environment. The wide rectilinear definitely made the sharks look less heavily built than the fisheyes, which we most concluded made them look a little weedy- not complementary for such imposing subjects. The favoured compromise was the 10-17mm towards the 17mm end, or on full frame cameras a standard fisheye on a 1.4x or 1.5x teleconverter. Marcus also experimented by correcting his fisheye shots for distortion in the computer, which arguably produced the best of both worlds.

Nick and Jeff catch their breath after another exhilerating dive.
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All in all an excellent day.

Nice pics guys. My first time with Oceanics and their boldness makes for good photographic opportunities! Here are some more pics. Marcus.
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Excellent shots, Marcus. I really like how you have captured the in your face nature of the encounters. Really conveys the feeling of those dives.

I notice that I am in the split level image twice! Once below the shark - those are my Scubapro split(!) fins below the pelvic fins of the shark. And I am also above the water standing up straight (those were the days) on the starboard side of the bridge, next to Jimmy! No wonder i got so many good images!

Alex

Thanks Alex, that's what the Oceanics are most of the time..in your face! Or the back of your head if you're not looking. And thanks for giving the game away! I didn't realize you were in it twice. Yes, that's a composite shot. I didn't have a good over and under in the same shot so I merged two photos together as I showed you on the boat.

I settled once again on my 10-17 with 1.4TC on the D700. As Alex mentioned, mostly at the 17 end. I think the distortion is well controlled at this end, even close up, and being able to zoom out when things get tight, may save the shot. The 17-35 was OK, but not quite as responsive and focus tolerant as the 10-17 in close and tight situations, and as my shot of James Cagney shows, not without distortion very close up. Nick felt the same way about his 14-24, and settled for his 16mm after the first day.

Yes, up close and personal, characterizes these guys, but have to admit, very well behaved, and never felt threatened. Particularly the hooked guy and James Cagney, really seemed like puppy dogs, enjoying our company.

Tokina at 10mm (14mm)



Tokina at 17mm (24mm)









Nikon 17-35 at 17 of James Cagney

Jeff, thanks for bringing up the subject of lens choices. I split my time between the 10.5mm and 10-24mm and haven't really paid attention to the differences yet. I just bought the 10-24 before the trip and hadn't used it much yet. Looking back at the images I posted and therefore liked, I was surprised that 5 out of the 6 were taken with the 10-24mm (at 10mm). Only the 5th image was taken with the 10.5mm. Thus I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of the 10-24mm DX lens.

Thanks Marcus. I did not realize you had the 10-24, I would have liked to look at it. Glad to see it worked well underwater. Did you use it with a diopter? How close did it focus? I think your shots do show some 'thinning' of the shark close up. Probably a matter of preference, as to how one wants to depict the animal, or how someone sees them being best represented.

Looks like you guys had a great time out there in the high seas. Some really cool shots there. I really like your half in half out shot Marcus.
I hope your back sorts itself out Alex,

All the best, Stew

Oh No Alex...........!!! Did you have to mention those, panty waisted split fins!

Hi Jeff. No I didn't use a diopter. It focusses closer than the 12-24 in air; 24cm vs 30cm. Yeah there is some barrel distortion but less than for the 10.5. Nothing that can't be corrected by software. Personally I think that the advantages of reducing the water column far outweigh the distortion.

While my pics pale in comparison to those of Jim, Alex, Marcus and Jeff, it was a great trip. As Jeff mentioned, blue water diving/photography is very different than at Tiger Beach. Being neutral is key, and because Jim is not shy about telling you the surface is a bad place to be, being slightly overweighted is natural. All in all, it was a fantastic week, notwithstanding the weather. We saw everything we came to see, and more. Jim was Jim. The crew was fantastic - I might have even gained weight due to Mike's cooking (no mean feat!). It is a long trip to/from the main dive sites, so anyone signing up for the trip must realise that 4 days are effectively "travel days", and while the crew does a great job of trying to break things up (pigs, iguanas, dolphins), these are non-shark days. I'd also say that I was very glad to have done Tiger Beach before and gotten somewhat acclimatised to large sharks. This particular trip would have been more nervewracking if I was a total shark newbie!

Thanks to Alex for leading the trip, and JASA for (another) trip of a lifetime!

Hey guys. I'm on Shear Water now waiting to leave on a private charter to the Bahamas (non-Wetpixel). There are remnants of the past guests everywhere -- stories, images, still-labeled cups.

We're doing something different this time. See if you can spot the differences.

The difference is private charters get creme brulee for desert instead of m&m's?

Phil

Have to admit; we heard a few details, like the 'flying boat'.

I was signed up for the canceled June trip and have signed for the July trip. It is really useful to read about and see photos of the trip. It sounds great and the water should level out by late July.
It is amazing.

Yes you are likely to have better weather, though not guaranteed of course. More importantly, the length of the crossing and travel distance for a summer trip for dolphins / Tiger Beach etc is much shorter. We essentially had two days on the out trip getting pounded. I used a Scopalamine patch for the first time, and was very glad I did. Others on the boat were not so lucky. Diving is different as well, as Martin said, the Oceanics being out in deep water

Ready to fly!




The lama is excited!!

Yeah, I don't know where the creme brulee came from, but I'm not complaining.