Tiger Sharks! | JONATHAN BIRD'S BLUE WORLD

On an expedition to the Bahamas, Jonathan encounters dozens of Lemon sharks while trying to film a Tiger shark. But finally a Tiger shark arrives and you won't believe the incredible encounter Jonathan has with this enormous, hungry animal. This video was originally posted in 2012 in SD but this is re-uploaded in 720/60p.

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The Tiger shark…one of the world's most feared and dangerous sharks. It patrols the shallows of tropical oceans looking for a meal.

My adventure begins when I board the Dolphin Dream in West Palm Beach, Florida. This boat will be my home away from home for a week.

We begin our journey by crossing the Gulf Stream on a course to the Bahamas. It's an 8- hour journey across some very rough water.

It's 55 miles of open Atlantic Ocean between Florida and the Bahamas and it can get pretty rough out here.

Captain Andy drives the boat through the swells all day to reach West End, Grand Bahama, where we go through customs and then continue to a secret spot called Tiger Wreck.

We anchor the boat securely. We will sit here for the whole week, looking for sharks.

Next we begin chumming. The boat's freezers are full of bait because we need a lot of fish to bring Tiger sharks to the boat.

Within an hour, sharks start coming to the boat.

This is incredible. We've only been chumming for about an hour, and there's already more than 20 lemon sharks around the back of the boat. And I've got to go in!

I'm wearing a black wetsuit, black gloves, and even a black hood because underwater, skin looks like fish, and the last thing that I want is for a sharks to think my hand is a piece of fish that it can eat, so I have to go this length to make sure that I have no skin showing.

Lemon Sharks are everywhere.

You can tell that these are lemon sharks by their two dorsal fins which are nearly the same size.

They call them lemon sharks actually because they have yellowy skin and it really has nothing to do with lemons.

There are also many fish around the boat that are also attracted to the chum.

With so many sharks and fish around, the sharks even get a few live ones.

Although there are no Tiger sharks, I had a fantastic dive full of excitement. I head back to the surface for a rest.


STAND-UP
Tiger sharks are nocturnal, which means they are more active at night. So it makes sense that if I want to find tiger sharks I should go diving at night. There's really only one small problem with that—it's dark!! Oh well…Here goes. (Jumps into water)

NIGHT DIVE
I descend towards the bottom and switch on my video lights.

On the ocean floor, gorgonian sea fans sway in the current. Then, out of the darkness comes a shark!

She comes up and makes a few passes by the bait, cautiously keeping an eye on me. For such large animals, Tiger sharks seem a lot less aggressive than you might expect. It’s as if they carefully consider each step, trying to decide if it is safe.

Finally she comes right up to a piece of bait and takes it away!

The shark is also interested in the chunks of fish that have fallen to the sand.

As the sharks go by, I take the opportunity to compare the two species.

There are several differences between the Tiger shark and the Lemon shark. Besides the different type of dorsal fins, the Tiger shark also has a broader, flatter head, and the distinctive “tiger stripes” for which they are named.

The sharks seem interested in my video lights. Even though they are not being used during the day, the white housing of the lights probably looks like a piece of fish to the sharks, and they often come up to closely investigate them. Occasionally a shark takes a test bite out of the light, and if I don’t see it coming, takes me by surprise.

I’m not prepared for a large Tiger shark to come in after my video light though. She keeps coming, closer and closer, then as she tries to bite it and I try to keep it away from her, we spin around on the sandy bottom, like two dancers. She eventually pushes me into the bottom and gets a hold of my light. There is nothing I can do about it except use my camera as a shield and hope she doesn’t eat the whole thing! When she is satisfied that the light isn’t food, she turns and swims off…and I’m glad she does! That was a little bit too close for comfort, and that is the reason we wear dark clothing and gloves when we swim with sharks. If that had been my hand, I would be in serious trouble right now.