SHARKS, SHARKS, SHARKS...

I remember that my first impression of Walker's Cay preceded by several years my visiting it. Thumbing through a copy of one of the US diving magazines, my eyes alighted on a spectacular picture of dozens and dozens of sharks swirling over a sandy bottom. My interest was awakened not least because of the sheer number of sharks but also because of the variety. Given that this dive resort is located in the Bahamas, I expected the sharks present to be Caribbean Reef Sharks and not much else. But a closer look at the image showed a mixture: there were the expected Caribbean Reefs Sharks and, not surprisingly, an occasional Nurse Shark. But there were also Blacktips. There are two different species of Blacktip Reef Shark (as opposed to the Indo-Pacific Blackfin Reef Shark) and it was hard to tell
from the photograph which species was present. As an underwater photographer with a special interest in shark photography, my curiosity was aroused. The basic problem with photographing sharks is finding new species to photograph: there are the standard sharks divers encounter on tropical coral reefs - such as the Caribbean Reef Shark of the western Atlantic or the Grey Reef Shark of the Indo-Pacific. And then there is a brick wall.
A couple of years ago at the London Dive Show I spotted the Walker's Cay's stand decorated with spectacular images of swirling sharks. Even more exciting was the breathtaking image of a Great Hammerhead swooping down to snatch a piece of bait. Decent photographs of Great Hammerhead sharks are about as common as decent photographs of the Loch Ness Monster. Standing in front of the photograph was the photographer: the affable manager of Walker's Cay's diving operation, Gary Adkison. We were soon immersed in conversation about his local shark population. Sure enough both species of blacktip attended his shark feeding dive. An occasional Bull, Lemon, Great Hammerhead and even Tiger Shark had
been known to put in an appearance.
When my publisher, Peter Vine of Trident Press, suggested a diver's identification book on the sharks of the Caribbean, there was no doubt as to the first port of call: Walker's Cay.
The island of Walker's Cay - a mere 100 acres - supports a good hotel with fine food and, if my memory serves me right, an impressive variety of rum punches. The coral reefs that surround the island are standard Caribbean fare. But the outstanding feature of Walker's is, of course, the sharks and I would be hard pressed to imagine a more impressive shark dive anywhere.
The arena where the sharks are fed is a spacious, sandy area enclosed by lofty bastions of coral. In fact this area of reef is probably the richest in the Walker's neighbourhood. When, about ten years ago, Gary Adkison and his business partner Barry were discussing how they might feed their sharks so that divers could observe them, they very much wanted to get away from the hand-feeding macho scenario at other resorts. They did not want divers to have to huddle on the bottom with their hands tucked in to their sides lest an over-enthusiastic shark decided to
nibble. Instead they designed their famous chumsicle: this is a frozen bin-full of fish parts floated off the bottom in the centre of the arena. The result is that the sharks focus their attention exclusively on the food source and ignore the divers who are free to sit on the bottom, or, better still, swim around the chumsicle (a twenty foot safety distance is enforced) and observe the feeding sharks in their majestic splendour. And splendid it certainly is as up to a hundred sharks of various species circle, swirl and compete for the food. Many have been tagged: these sharks are the subject of on-going scientific research and the opportunity to observe them regularly has thrown new light on aspects of shark social activity. While I was there, Dr Erich Ritter, a behavioural ecologist specializing in sharks, discussed the tantalizing insights into shark behaviour that the Walker's Cay population had allowed.
The safety record at Walker's is exemplary: no injuries ever to thousands of divers year after year, despite their being surrounded by large, feeding sharks. So counter-intuitive to the media is this record that the press just cannot believe it and are ever eager to blame Gary and the Walker's Cay shark feed for any shark incident in the local area. While I was there a spearfisherman hunting some 15 miles from Walker's speared a grouper in front of a 7 foot Caribbean Reef and had his arm savaged as a result. A section of the US press virtually blamed Gary Adkison for the accident, despite the fact that it was Gary Adkison back at Walker's whose first aid and rapid evacuation of the victim back to Florida saved the man's life. The victim's last words to Gary 'I screwed up...' went, of course, unreported. Instead, Gary was responsible: he was feeding sharks that were therefore being trained to bite humans. Gary's dry riposte summed up the insanity of the accusations: the attacking shark must have removed its tag, sneaked 15 miles away to find a spearfisherman and bite him, only to return to Walker's, replace its tag and resume its best behaviour.
Every week Gary Adkison gives a talk to divers on sharks and on the immense conservation problems that they face. As a director of The Shark Trust, an organization fighting the same uphill battle here in the UK, I find his enthusiasm and concern for these animals uplifting. And Gary's conservation battles with the Baha
mian government mean that the Walker's sharks are now protected - an all too rare victory for sharks.
I will certainly be returning to Walker's. Bull Sharks gather in the shallow winter waters. And Bull Sharks are high on my list of species to be photographed and studied. There is also the barman's Rum Punch Special Number 3 that I never sampled (I only got to Number 2). Who knows: if I survive the hangover, I might even get my Great Hammerhead shot.

... AND MORE SHARKS!

Having survived all 10 of Mical the barman's rum punch specials, I can report that Walker's Cay has been elevated on my list of top shark sites around the world to the number one shallow water shark location I know. And by shallow I mean snorkeling depth. In the winter months the Bull Sharks appear. I counted as many as 15 on one day ranging in size from about 6-8 feet and in weight up to perhaps 450 lbs.

The Bull Shark is rarely encountered underwater and is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous of all sharks. And yet I spent many hours daily in the water swimming with these bulky, magnifi

cent beasts and not once did they show any aggression towards me. On the contrary, their natural inclination ws to be timid and it was only by feeding them that they would come in close enough to be observed. Blacktip, Nurse and (large) Lemon Sharks also put in an appearance.

It seems to me that Walker's Cay is something of an oasis of sharks and a superb location to introduce divers to these magnificent animals.

(Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch will be escorting two Divequest Shark Week Specials in February 2001. For more details contact the Divequest office.) Other reports from WALKER'S CAY, BAHAMAS: (2)

Other reports from The Caribbean