John Bantin: Bimini Hammerheads
In February 2013, I went with Stuart Cove and a selected group of friends to Bimini where we had heard that people from Dr. Gruber’s Shark Lab were tagging great hammerheads (Sphyrna mokarran). We wanted to see if we could encourage these magnificent beasts to stay around to be photographed in close-up if we buried suitable bait for them under the sand.
There was always the risk that it might have represented a wasted journey but in fact the trip was spectacularly successful and resulted in a feature in Diver (among many others magazines that printed the pictures) entitled “The Next Big Thing”, which in the world of diving it certainly has proved to be. Since then many people have enjoyed a similar opportunity.
I’ve been lucky enough to be in at the front end of many diving experiences over a long career as a diving journalist. I have collected many of those that involved various species of shark and included them in an illustrated book called Shark Bytes. This Great Hammerhead adventure represents merely one chapter. Shark Bytes is published by Fernhurst Books.
Liz Parkinson swims with a magnificent male great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran). It seemed totally oblivious to the presence of people in the water and merely was persistent in the hunt for the bait we had buried.
Initially I lit the great hammerheads (Sphyrna mokarran) with strobe light but found the recylcling time of around 1.5 seconds too slow to get all the shots I wanted.
This smaller juvenile great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) seemed more curious about the divers than simply searching for the buried bait.
The bright Bahamas sunshine combined with a fast shutter-speedon the D800 enabled me to get a super clear image of this magnificent animal around 6-metres in length.
Emmy-winning cameraman Andy Brandy Casagrand IV was among those that worked on into the failing light of evening.
Marauding nurse sharks complete with escorting remoras tried to get in on the act and steal the bait we had laid. The rope was anchored in the seabed to help us keep station in the persistent current.
By partly burying my camera housing in the soft sand, I could get an unususually low angle that made the most of the steep perspective provided by the close viewpoint (around 6 inches from the eye) on this large animal as it passed me.
Beto Barbosa, the Brazilian master-baiter, acted as ring master in what was to become a great hammerhead circus. Note, the shark has no interest in the bait he holds in his hand because it is accustomed to searching for its dinner under the sand.
This big male great hammerhead with its spectacularly pointed dorsal fin gives videographer Frazier Nivens the big close-up and me an iconic photograph.