Expeditions
Each Expedition is hosted by Chris & Monique Fallows who’s passion, knowledge and love of the wildlife in the area makes this the most personalized and educational trip on offer, with a limited maximum of 8 participants to ensure the best viewing potential.
2011 Expedition
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If you are a serious shark lover and if it is a life’s dream to experience the Great White Shark, then the best way to do this is to book a longer stay.
October/November 2006 SHARK BYTES
Dear Shark Lovers
We had completed this same trip 3 years previously and had been delighted to come across Oceanic white tip sharks. (Carcharhinus longimanus). Oceanic white tips are one of the most heavily impacted shark species when it comes to longline fishing and in the Gulf of Mexico they are considered 99% depleted and that depletion has taken place basically in the last ten years!
It is a very difficult shark to find nowadays and almost all die-hard shark lovers would tell you that this is one of the most desirable sharks to see.
Before leaving on the trip this was the species that I most wanted to see. My experience from our previous encounter with the oceanic white tips was that they are very bold sharks and are certainly not afraid to give a close look and a test bump to see what you are. Also for the last 3 years we had been wondering if it was a fluke that we had come across them and were very eager to see if we would have the same luck this time round.
Once we had set up the chum line we only had to wait a little over an hour for our first shark which turned out to be a silky and was shortly followed by the biggest blue shark that I have ever see. It was just under 3 meters (9 foot) and a mature male surrounded by a troupe of pilot fish. When we work with the blue sharks in Cape Town we find that when a blue shark arrives at the boat it usually stays the whole day. Well, out on the sea mount this blue shark had other ideas and after 5 passes his curiosity had been satisfied and we did not see him again.
After the silky did not stay around and the blue shark was not interested we were just waiting for something exciting to happen. A short while later I spotted a new shark coming up our chum line. It was a big brown shape and as it came closer and closer I started to see glimpses of white patches on the dorsal and pectoral fins. That was when I started to get excited but I still could not bring myself to say that it was an oceanic white tip in case I had made a mistake! So, my description came out as “Its Him, It Him, it’s the one we want!”. It was one of the best moments of the trip knowing that we had waited so long for this and had traveled so far and had become successful. We ended up with two Oceanic white tips on that day and just had an unbelievable time diving with them and observing them from the surface. To really add a cherry on the top we had the most sociable dorado (mahi mahi) of all time with us while the sharks were there and this beautiful fish would often light up at the sight of a scrap of bait and dart in and grab it in front of a perplexed shark.
We chose to make the most of our opportunity of being on the sea mount and that night left bait in the water using big overhead lights for observation. Within 20 minutes we noticed a new species of shark for the day and at first thought that they were Galapagos sharks. On closer inspection we noticed that they were slightly different. We are now 90% sure that these were Big nose sharks (Carcharhinus altimus). Not much is known about them other than they are the often caught as by catch on deep pelagic longlines. They were very excited with the bait in the water and displayed some interesting behavior amongst each other that seemed to be clear body language of dominance displays. I am pretty sure that we are now amongst very few people worldwide that have had the chance to observe these sharks alive rather than dead on a longline hook.
The next day we followed the same procedure and although we lucked out with the oceanic white tips we attracted another two different species of shark from the day before. One of them was a large mako of just over 2,2 meters (8 foot). We knew that there was a small chance of seeing a mako but I certainly did not expect it! Like the blue shark the mako was not interested in hanging around and stayed just long enough to get a glimpse of him. A long lull of sharks followed and towards the end of the day we were rewarded with a very bold, large Dusky shark (Carcharinus obscurus). Chris immediately got in the water when it arrived and initially had to fend the shark off numerous times before the shark decided Chris was not its usual prey species! Both Chris & I had not seen this species before in the water and I was surprised, and saddened, to read now that the females only become mature at 17 years old and their gestation period is a lengthy 16 months. For this reason it makes them one of the most vulnerable species for exploitation.
By the end of our stay we had tallied up 7 different species of sharks including 2 species that Chris & I had not encountered before. It turned out to be the most successful part of our trip but without hindsight the allure of Bassas da India was calling us and all too soon we left this extremely productive area.
Bassas da India is perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It is home to virtually untouched marine life and the turquoise blue water of the inside of the atoll can be seen reflected in the clouds above miles before arrival.
As beautiful and mysterious as it is, it is also unwelcoming, harsh and dangerous. My feeling is that humans are not welcome here but getting to stay for a short time as we did we are allowed a very small glimpse into the treasures that she holds but no way is she willing to give up her secrets!
Many people have met their maker here and there are 60 recorded ship wrecks in close surrounds but in the region of 100 wrecks are rumored to be closer to the truth. The most famous of these is the Santiago from the 1700’s. An interesting but shocking account was written by the few survivors where gross accounts of cruelty and inhumane acts took place. Needless to say I was well aware of the amount of lives lost at Bassas da India and I gave thought to the many souls I know have perished here.
We have heard accounts of large Tiger sharks seen by treasure hunters in the 1980’s and it was one species we were aiming to come across.
We did not see tiger sharks on our last visit 3 years ago but had seen healthy numbers of both silvertip sharks (C.albimarginatus) and Galapagos sharks (C.galapagensis). It was no different this time round and we were very encouraged to find high concentrations of large galapagos.
With these animals diving is tricky to saw the least. Both species are bold and curious making it ill advised to dive when more than 4 or 5 sharks are around at one time, especially in a baited situation. These sharks are found primarily on reef edges and drop-offs meaning that we had to anchor close to the rim of the atoll in order to find them. The Atoll is 11 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter and as the Atoll empties and fills completely on each high and low tide tremendously strong currents are produced. This makes diving with the sharks difficult and dangerous so we found our opportunities to spend time in the water with the sharks minimal.
However it was not only the sharks that we had to worry about. On our first day we almost immediately had the pleasure of the company of a medium sized Potato Bass (large grouper). It sat under our boat the entire day. It was only towards the end of the day that it obviously felt it had a good opportunity to advance to the bait. At rocket speed it propelled itself upwards from 15 meters below, managed to grab a large piece of the bait, and shot back down again at similar speed. Nothing like a bit of light hearted comedy in the middle of the ocean!
We had no success with any tiger sharks close to the Atoll so to try something different we did a number of drifts from the edge of the Atoll into deeper water. We still did not have any luck but got a number of surprising results.
We managed to attract what we are confident was an adult male Java shark, also known as a Pigeye shark (Carcharhinus amboiensis). We are not aware of many people who have actually dived with Java sharks and we also have not seen any photos of a live one. So, be sure to check out photos of the month for this one (albeit a lousy shot).
We found the shark to be fairly shy so it was difficult to get close to it and it continuously gave way to a silky shark which was present at the same time.
Earlier in the day we had a badly injured silky shark around the boat. This unfortunate shark had at some point in time swum into a rounded packing strap. The strap is now caught around its gills and cutting into its flesh as the shark grows. Large clumps of goose barnacles were also growing on the strap hurting the shark further. We had no opportunity to remove the strap and it is doubtful that the shark will be able to survive this eventually. It is interesting to note that some years ago we observed a white shark in the same dire situation. We think that these packing straps are discarded off ships or fishing vessels at sea and are used to keep boxes of bait tightly packed.
A more pleasant surprise is that we had a visit from a beaked whale. Yes, a beaked whale! The whale was only about 6 meters (18 foot) long and was uniformly brown. It was definitely a case of him curious as to what we were and he popped up about 80 meters off our boat. So far we have been unable to identify it but hope to hear back from a whale expert that we know soon.
Two last surprise visitors came in the form of 2 wahoo’s (game fish that are supposed to be the fastest of all fish). Unfortunately they were not as interested in seeing us as we were them and all two soon they were gone.
After still having no luck with the tiger sharks we had one last area to try. This flatter area proved to be far more productive in terms of numbers of large galapagos sharks. It got to a point where we had 25 plus sharks around the boat and as it was impossible to snorkel on the surface with them. We then made a slightly crazy decision to go down to the bottom (12 meters, 36 feet below) and observe from there.
It was not the best idea we ever had with multiple highly charged Galapagos and sivertip sharks competing for bait.
Upon getting to the bottom we discovered a very powerful surge making it virtually impossible to stay comfortable in one spot. We also found that the numbers of sharks had swelled to around 30 different individuals. The group that were not diving, and that remained on the boat thought that it would be in our best interest to bait the sharks as heavily as possible which resulted in the sharks becoming even more excited. Apart from the sharks all sorts of other fish species had been attracted and there was just mayhem below. I observed two large Potato Bass fighting so badly that the more dominant fish had the other one pinned on the reef and was continually attacking it!
It had become so uncomfortable below with the surge that we had to return to the boat but that also meant ascending into the mass of excited sharks above us. We decided that no safety stop was necessary. Rather the safety aspect of the dive consisted of fending sharks off left, right and center! Alls well that ends well…I suppose!
Our last day at Bassas da India did not yield a tiger shark but we did have a brief visit from a large scalloped hammerhead shark. This brought our total count of shark species of the trip to an impressive 12 with 3 of those being sharks that Chris & I had never seen before. In a small way I am glad that we did not see the tiger as it gives a reason and motivation to return in the future.
Leaving Bassas da India I thought that our trip had come to an end but bad weather gave us one last surprise. To hide from a coming front we sheltered in the port of Inhambane in Mozambique. There is an area here by the name of Tofo which is one of the best places in the world to dive with Manta Rays and Whale Sharks. Chris and I made the most of our opportunities and got to dive with both species.
Again we had never seen either of these species and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to free dive with these gentle giants. Doing so with up to 15 other people was something new to us and made us realize just how spoiled we usually are to have sharks to ourselves pretty much wherever we go.
But, it is an easy trip to do and if anyone wants to do this I would recommend contacting Tofo Scuba www.tofoscuba@teledata.mz and Liquid Adventures liquidadventures@gmail.com.
Incidentally both operations are doing their best to stop longlining so by supporting them you help as well.
If you are looking for a friendly host and good food while in the area try Dennis at www.barralighthouse.com.
Whilst we were in Tofo we had an interesting chat with the whale shark researcher who had 2 weeks before our arrival encountered a large female white shark. White shark Research worldwide is showing that white sharks are traveling great distances that no one thought likely. This makes it even more imperative to have worldwide protection for these sharks. It’s not much good if the South African population is protected in South Africa but can then be killed when they swim into Mozambique waters.
We have yet to return to Cape Town and as I type we are being pounded by strong winds and torrential rain (not every day is a bed of roses on the ocean) so I am not sure what shark encounters are in store for us there but I will be sure to pass them on in December.
While on the subject of not knowing what is next, we would be so grateful to any of our readers who may know of any shark species in their areas that they think we would enjoy diving with or just seeing. We love the small ones as much as the big ones so any localized population you think we might enjoy and you would be willing to share with us would be great. A couple we would really love to see are any species of sawshark, zebra sharks, great hammerheads, wingheads, Atlantic weasel shark or any endemic shark you might know to occur close to your home. No place is too far or remote to see a shark!
There is a wide variety of photographs from our trip on Photos of The Month so we hope that you will al enjoy looking at some of the sharks that I have spoken about.
For our British readers be sure to watch the BBC’s Planet Earth program this Sunday titled “Shallow Seas”. The white shark segment was filmed with us and we know that they shot some very exciting footage. You may also be interested in looking at still photographs that were shot by Chris during the shoot. You can do so on our website on the “Planet Earth Prints” page.
Lastly anyone wanting to purchase items from our website for Christmas is advised to do so shortly so that it will reach you in time.
Until then,
Best wishes
Monique Fallows
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