April 2011.
I left Madrid for the Bahamas to embark on the "Dolphin Dream" with a clear objective: to spend 12 hours underwater surrounded by sharks. The intention was not only to dive with sharks but to interact with them and to corroborate what I already thought: we divers are not their prey. For this I needed to spend some time, not only during the day but also at night, a time when, as I'm sure you know, they are more active, aggressive and "hunters".
Although in normal trips I always have a little nervousness just because of the beginning of the trip, this one, as it is logical, I have a "special" nervousness. I wonder... Will I be able to hold on? Will the sharks get too nervous? Anyway, I will only be able to give those answers when the time comes?
Why Tiger Beach?
The choice of the place was easy, I already knew Tiger Beach and I knew the possibilities of being able to reach my record while being accompanied, at all times, by sharks. For those of you who do not know it, this diving area, located in the vicinity of Grand Bahama, is characterized by its depth, no deeper than 6 meters, sandy bottom and an almost 100% chance of sharing the dive with dozens of sharks.
First contact.
The first contact, due to the logistics of the trip, had to be at night and it turned out to be one of the most complicated. I had already lived this experience and it was not dangerous for me, although I could not convince any member of my team to go in with me. Jorge "the kid" and, from that moment on, a member of a team that had not even considered it before, accompanied me and together, we shared one of the most "disturbing" experiences I have ever had underwater. For the first 40 minutes, the dive was calm: eight lemon sharks and a tiger shark surrounded us. But suddenly, we began to notice increased shark activity. More appeared, they were nervous, faster, collided with us, "rammed" us with no intention of attacking but "marking territory"... Jorge was hitting them with his stick to persuade them to come closer, I put the camera between them and my body... what was going on? We discovered that one of them was carrying a piece of fish in his mouth, we couldn't believe it! From the boat they were baiting... It was time to get out before they got more nervous and mistook us for their competitors for food or worse, their prey. The boy gives me an ascension signal. Being a bit away from the ladder, I grab him and pull him to it. He climbs up first, I wait and climb up within a minute.
I've never seen a shark so nervous in my life, it was... exciting, but... we got away with a lot. In less than 36 hours, my entry point will be the same as tonight's, as they say "buen rollito!
A bit of Wrangling (bait dispute with sharks)
We wake up in the same place, Tiger Beach. The first dive we do is a bit "light" compared to last night, so we talk to the captain and ask him to put a bit more bait.
With his consent, his dive masters start wrangling the sharks. This practice consists of putting a fish head on the end of a line to attract the sharks more directly to the boat.
Before long, a huge tiger shark approaches the Dolphin Dream. It must be almost 4 meters long. At that moment I put my camera in the water from the deck (holding it with my hands) to try to get good pictures of the tiger fighting for the bait. It gets so close, so close, that one of its attempts bites my carcass. impressive! I have had the shark's teeth just a few millimeters from my hand. I assure you that if I ever decide to sell my video equipment, I will add an "extra" for the marks left by the teeth of that tiger shark.
Testing the equipment.
Less than 24 hours before the big event, a beautiful day dawned and I took the opportunity to prepare and test the equipment I would use for my adventure: two side tanks with regulators; the main tank from which to breathe with the Ocean Reef mask, drink and communicate with the boat and my companions; adequate "ballast" to "anchor" me to the bottom with the semi-dry under which I would wear a Sharkskin to protect me from the cold during the 12-hour dive, etc.
In a short dive I could check that everything was working perfectly: I was talking, drinking and could move easily with so much equipment... all that was left was to wait for the time to pass and the clock to strike 6 in the morning.
The great day.
April 20: The big day arrived. I woke up at 5 am. An energy bar, a fruit juice and a few minutes of solitude on the stern of the "Dolphin Dream" facing the "dark" sea to become aware of the patience, tranquility and energy that I had to "charge" to venture into what awaited me. 12 hours was going to be a long time.
Empezaron a aparecer los compañeros con los que iba a compartir las primeras horas y nos dispusimos a equiparnos. La idea era que yo estuviese, en todo momento, acompañado de dos personas, que irían alternándose cada hora haciéndose el relevo y llevándome cargada una de las botellas laterales, además de bebida energética para mantenerme hidrato. De los dos miembros de esa pareja, uno se encargaría de hacer fotografías o video, y el otro de cubrirnos “las espaldas” vigilando el comportamiento de los tiburones. Los tigre son animales extremadamente peligrosos y muy curiosos, se acercan mucho e incluso intentan tocarte con el morro, por eso, cuando buceas con ellos, debes estar siempre atento y tenerles, en la medida que te lo permita la visibilidad, siempre localizados y controlados.
José Luis Huertas and Jorge "the boy" jumped into the water before me in order to record my entry into the sea and the beginning of the possible record. I jumped into the sea, grabbed my camera, waved goodbye to the team members who had gotten up early to wish me luck and started the descent. The countdown began.
And it didn't start very well. As I reached the bottom I could see that there was a lot of current and it was hard to keep still. If I stayed like that for too long, it would be all over. I put my back to it, put my knee on the bottom and started to feel more comfortable. I communicated with the surface to tell them that everything was going well and that some lemon sharks had started to show up to look around, but without showing any sign of danger. The tranquility of the night relaxed me right away.
After 40 minutes of diving, the sun gradually began to rise. It was impressive to be able to experience the change of light underwater, just for that, it was worth being there.
At 7 o'clock, the first relay came in, Alejo and Jorge. Alejo asked me questions to make sure I was ok and Jorge took some pictures. After half an hour, around 7:30, the first tigers started to arrive. Things got quite lively with their presence. At the end of this shift we had already completed 2 hours, the challenge... "was going well".
The hours went by and my companions were relieved, but the sharks were the ones that did not change. Always attentive, curious, approaching to sniff the bait boxes and looking at me closer and closer but calmly, like someone who shares a dive with his long-time partner. Sometimes they got too close and, as long as I had my camera with me, I felt "protected" but when they had to take it up to download images and charge batteries, I felt like "naked" in front of them.
A new rotation arrived, Connor Casidy and Teresa Migoya, again my camera and some more sharks. We had around us three tiger sharks and more than 12 lemons: the show was total.
The first six hours passed quickly, but the next two were the worst. Again without a camera and with few sharks "in sight" I started to feel bored (not tired). I decided to talk to the surface and ask them to bait from the boat a little, to see if they would start "the party" again and, to my surprise, they told me that Travis would come in the next shift with a box of bait to feed them underwater. While I was waiting, I started stroking the back of the tiger that was accompanying us at that moment and my partner Alejo decided to do the same. A new shared experience.
Between 2pm and 4pm I had the best of experiences. Along with Travis and the bait box, Teresa and Connor arrived. As Travis fed them, the tigers came closer and closer to us. I watched as Connor touched their mouths with his hand, and to Teresa's surprise as she filmed me, I ventured to imitate him. Without any protection because she had the camera, I don't know if he came closer to me or I to him, but I was able to get him so close that I grabbed him by the top of his mouth and was able to lift him almost a meter. Impressive! He closed his eyes and it seemed as if, for the next 5 or 6 seconds, he went "into a trance", then I released him, he gave a flipper and back stroke, and separated from me, but not too far away. I managed to repeat the scene several times and in all of them the same thing happened: he stood in front of me and "let me do it". The best of my life with sharks: "taming" a tiger of almost 4 meters.
Visibility began to worsen in the last two hours. I didn't know if the sharks had disappeared, bored with my presence, or if I couldn't see them, but the fact is that, to entertain me and pass the time, the next shift brought down some dice and a board, and we started to play some "underwater dice". Good idea, Jorge. Of course, the sharks were being watched at all times in case they wanted to "participate in the game".
In Madrid, I had calculated with the V-Planner if with a dive at 5/6 meters of 12 hours I was going to need a deco stop and although it was not going to be necessary, I preferred to spend the last hour at 3 meters, hanging from a line. A long hour but expectant and full of curiosity because at that depth I could hear the music that enveloped the whole boat and my imagination started to wander thinking about what would be waiting for me...
Finally, the surface.
When it was finally 6 o'clock in the evening, after 12 hours, I began my ascent. First I stuck out a hand and then I peered up to the surface: long and hard, but it was worth it. Everyone was in the stern applauding me, a huge sign said "12 H: Karlos, you did it" and a bottle of champagne was waiting for me to celebrate with its corkage that I had made it: 12 HOURS, UNDERWATER, SURROUNDED BY SHARKS.
Dedicated to... them, the sharks.
This record, this challenge, this feat, has not been done just for personal satisfaction, far from it. I wanted to prove that sharks are not dangerous for divers. I was exposed for 12 hours at their mercy, and they could have devoured me after studying me for so long, and, as I expected, that was not the case. They only went for what they were interested in, their food, the bait.
This is one more sign for man, the real danger to this planet, to stop killing sharks. They are not as dangerous as we are led to believe, nor are their fins necessary.
