BEST ANIMAL DAY EVER! Today I went free diving with sharks on the day of a solar eclipse. They were hot and spicy, teeth and fins everywhere! They are not aggressive creatures, but I was swimming around a large group of them near the bait crate, and I was able to maneuver around them while they were in a bitey scavenging mode in ways I never before imagined. We spotted the largest lemon shark I’ve ever seen today, probably almost 11 feet in length! She was definitely pregnant with a large litter of pups too! She was so pretty to watch cruise around and just own the waters. On another dive this morning we saw two big bull sharks and a large gorgeous sandbar shark that swam right over to us and was quite the model.
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…Interact with them! By far the most exhilarating day of my life was when I went shark diving with these elegant predators. There were at least 8 lemon sharks swimming around me at a single moment, I mean like in my face checking me out. I was swimming in circles trying to keep my eyes on them so they wouldn’t think they could find an easy way past my defenses. In all honesty it got hairy because I got swept by the current into the flow of chum, but I surprised myself with how well I handled a more predatory response from multiple sharks in very close quarters. But as soon as I realized they were all on top of me because I was getting riled up and excited, I quickly pieced together this caused them to be as well. I then calmed myself down and slowly swam outside of the chum and they followed me to see where I was headed. They came up to check me out, and then lost interest. Lemon sharks and other sharks can sense your electromagnetic field with sensors on the face called ampullae of lorenzini. These can pick up electromagnetic signals that your body gives off, which can be intensified by an accelerated heart rate. Sharks are finely tuned to pay attention to this because an increased heart rate means an animal is stressed and is therefore, an easier animal to kill. This comes in handy when all you ever do, all day, every day, is try to find a single fish in a vast open ocean that’s being overfished by people. I’ve never thought about sharks as an animal I had a deep passion for and that all changed after that day, now I cannot get enough of them, we need more! Thanks for this epic photograph and perspective @gatorboys_chris