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July• 2018 | 69

in part to make sure it wasn’t too

hungrywhenwedid.Allofthiswas

OKwithmeuntilIreachedthebot-

tom and immediately had to fend of

theirsttigersharkI’deverlaideyes

onall360kilogramsofit.

ThewayDebradescribeditlater

thiswasjust‘Sophie’beingcurious

and friendly. “Shelooovedyou” De-

brasaidbecauseofalltheattention

Sophie paid me during the dive. At

thetimeIwasn’tsure.

But after watching how Vincent

andDebrahandledthemoverthe

nextweek’sdives–caressingthem

afterfeedingthemafishsteering

them gently away when it was time

forthemtomoveon–itbecame

easy to see the sharks in a very be-

nignlight.Notoncedidtheymakea

sudden or aggressive move towards

anyone; they moved slowly and

deliberately swimming in large loops

andthencomingonaglidepathto

thefeedingbox.Ifeltsurprisingly

safe in their presence.

Most of the tiger sharks at Tiger

Beach are habituated to divers used

tobeingfed.Buteventheonesthat

aren’t familiar with the routine gen-

erallyarenotdangeroustodivers.

Tiger sharks are ambush predators

relyingonstealthandsurpriseto

catch their prey.

AtTigerBeachyou’renotblindly

paddlingorswimmingatthesurface

like most attack victims. You’re down

at the sharks’ level presenting your-

self as something other than prey

and reasonably safe.

However there are videos of near

missesatTigerBeach–inoneatiger

goesafteradiver’slegandin 2014 a

diver simply disappeared.

Withjawsandteethdesignedtocrushandshearhardobjectssuchasturtle

shells a tiger shark can aford to bite irst and worry about edibility later

PHOTO: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC