Turtle watching with a twist

by Ellen Husain for Dive Hawaii, 15 August 2007

Visiting an underwater turtle cleaning station, Ellen Husain encounters an unexpected and curious predator. The tiger shark.

We’re in Hawaii to film the charming but benign subject of turtle cleaning stations. A nice change from the dangerous sharks we filmed last time we dived here. This is to be a pretty sequence of blissed-out turtles and light-dappled reefs. A nice feeling of harmony in nature. What could be more harmless? A pleasure to film... Or so we thought.

Mysterious shape

Day one and we're on site early to catch the turtles coming in for their morning scrub. Amazingly we see one almost straight away. A few surgeonfish move towards it, but he doesn't stop – obviously not in the mood for a clean. We wait out the morning, but ultimately nothing happens.

Next day and again there's not a turtle in sight. But 15 minutes into the dive Richard catches sight of a pale shape moving off in the blue. Scoping the area for approaching turtles I satisfy myself that we have at least a couple of minutes to see what's going on.

Like moths to the lantern we're drawn to the edge of the wall, about 20m away. The shape moves at the edge of our visibility. It looks large, but then things always do under water. It's probably just a grey reef shark or something. But as it swims nearer it becomes more defined. It's a tiger shark - unmistakable in its markings and ominous in its size.

Three metres long and bulky

Richard starts filming, but the shark disappears again. We stay peering into the blue, trying to make out shapes. Just as I think its gone, we see the shark again, this time swimming ten metres off the wall edge, and in our direction. It passes us, continuing for 15m, then turns, heading directly towards us.

A tiger shark swims towards us

It's really quite large - about three and a half metres long, and bulky. Rich is slightly closer to the drop-off, with his eye to the viewfinder, filming the shark. He doesn't immediately see that a second shark has appeared from nowhere, and is also swimming straight in our direction. Suddenly, we've gone from a quiet morning on the reef waiting for turtles to show up, to a full-on shark dive with one of the 'top-three' iffy shark species.

As Richard films, the sharks bear in on us. There's not much to do but stand our ground anyway. Swimming away might send out the wrong signals, making us look submissive.

It's impossible to determine their motives, but they are definitely taking an active interest. As the first shark bears in on Richard, the other approaches from the side. Swimming steadily towards him peering into the lens, shark one is less than a metre from Richard's camera when he realises quite how close it is. He gives a small involuntary reaction, startling the shark, and it turns off to one side. The second shark heads towards me, but as it gets closer it curves off to the side, cruising past three metres to my right.

Circling us

Both sharks circle back over the edge of the drop-off and out of sight, but they're soon back, checking us out at close range. They keep this up for a good few minutes, then disappear off over the reef.

The moment has passed, and I deliberate about what to do next. Are we in real danger, or are they just curious? There were no active signs of aggression, but most sharks don't take a blind bit of notice of divers. It's a tricky situation. On one hand, it's a stunning shark and a rare opportunity for some great footage. But on the other, it's a big predator taking rather an active interest.

A tiger shark circles the crew

Checking my dive computer the decision is made: it's time to go up anyway. Heading back to the boat we receive several more visits from our new friend, she half circles us, but doesn't come as close. I suspect this is an unhealthy interest. As we pass the cleaning station there's not a turtle in sight, and I figure we've found our reason.

Final surprise

Over the next few days, we go on to film the green turtle cleaning sequence we wanted. It's a delight to see the turtles revelling in their cleanup, as yellow tangs and black surgeonfish flock to remove the algae from their shells.

But we get a surprise when we review the shark footage: a third shark off in the distance in one of the shots. Speaking to local divers we realise we've been treated to a rare close encounter. There is a tiger shark that's sometimes seen in the area, but it doesn't usually come close.

It's not until a few days later that we learn there's been a sport-fishing tournament, and local boats have been chumming to draw in the big fish. It seems to have worked.

Ellen dives again in the ocean off Big Island, Hawaii, this time to film oceanic whitetip sharks, a predator with a fearsome reputation. Read her encounter in Survivng the oceanic whitetip shark.