Sunset at Geiymiskih Fannu beach
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to travel to the Maldives to dive with tiger sharks. A self-confessed shark nut, my immediate reaction was an emphatic yes! I’ d only ever seen one tiger shark previously, a fleeting but memorable encounter in the Red Sea some years ago, when a huge shape came towards me from the inky blue depths.
My first thought at the time was:“ Wow, that’ s one big shark, what the heck do I do?”. Fortunately, I had my camera with me. It’ s a pretty big chunk of metal and glass, so I naively reasoned that if I placed the camera between me and the shark, I was somewhat protected. I got one shot, a very grainy, dark shot of a shark-shaped creature, but it did pique my interest in the animals. Having holidayed previously with the specific goals of diving with blue sharks in Cornwall, threshers in Malapascua, oceanic white tips in Egypt, bull sharks in Cabo and huge schools of many species of sharks in Socorro, I hadn’ t ever encountered another tiger, and I felt it was about time I addressed that. My journey would take me 33 miles south of the equator in the vastness of the Indian ocean, to one of the world’ s most productive shark hotspots.
Tiger sharks are apex predators of tropical seas, feeding on a wide variety of prey
PHOTO: PASH BAKER
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