Fiji is famous for scuba diving, but as I run out of time on the Oceania trip, I will do the normal scuba diving another time. This time I was more interested in the Bullshark diving and thats basically the only reason I came to Fiji.
6.4.2013
Arrived in Fiji yesterday and went down to the Pacific Harbour, 3 hours from Nadi and on the south of the main island "Viti Levu". Down here is one of the two only places all over the world, where divers can watch the underwater bull-shark feeding without any cage.
From Nadi to the area called Pacific Harbour takes about 2.5 hours.
Busstation in Nadi.
Arriving soon in Pacific Harbour.
7.4.2013 - Dive with Bullsharks
First try I did on Saturday and today morning the second time. The dive was again: AWESOME - even there was again no Tiger shark today joining the party. The procedure for controlled diving with bullsharks is like that:
driving out in the open water
go diving down to 10 meters
guide opens the bucket with the dead fish
wait a few minutes
the security guard down there the second guide with a steel bar and he keeps the sharks which come too close on distance and away from the divers.
There is not only sharks, but also nice small other fishes.
Even wrecks on the way down to the feeding spot.
And this is the buffet bucket. Inside is some tuna and other fish junk that the sharks like.
Not much longer they appear out of nothing.
And a second and third and fourth ones following.
It was important for us divers to keep the camera close to the body.
A camera away from the body looks for those sharks like a piece of tuna which they get as food from the guide.
Their small eyes are observing every move.
Looking them in the eyes and on their teeth, automatically makes shrug back the camera.
They are thankfully swimming in front of us divers, sometimes they disappear somewhere else and appear right above the head again from behind.
They either seem to be very aggressive - or they ar smiling because they dont need to hunt for their food :)
The evenings are perfect to relax and get ready for the next diving day.
2nd day of Diving with Bullsharks
The next day the weather was a bit calmed down and the sun was up a bit more. The condition underwater increased and the lights became better for making photos.
This time I asked the staff and dive instructors, if I can go to the photographer’s area. That area is much closer to the happening and usually only real photographer-divers with huge cameras are allowed to go there. And actually, that makes sense. Cause the sharks cannot really differentiate between a piece of fish, with what they get fed, or my little underwater camera! So me and the other photographer with the huge camera, had our own security guard, who was armed with an iron bar to poke away the too close coming sharks and tell them “NO NO HERE”! But even with the security guy, who wasn’t able to watch out always in every direction in that feeding chaos, it was a quite special and tensioned feeling sitting there right in the middle of the dining table! These bulls are huge – and you clearly can see how aggressive and unpredictable that kind of shark is! Every other fish and even other kind of sharks down there move away, when a bull is coming to the buffet! And once they slowly move away and disappear in the blue, whereas just seconds or minutes later they suddenly they appear one arm length somewhere beside or above us divers - three times faster than they disappeared, focusing the camera with their little white eyes and show of their spiky, sharp, white teeth!
These are so called nurse sharks and they get as the other fishes, the remainings of the fish buffet after the bullsharks are finished.
Lots of those nurse sharks.
Nurse shark.
Again the nurse sharks are fighting for the remainings from the bullsharks.
Last day in Fiji, soon time to drive back towards Nadi.
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