Species: Blue Shark.
Location: Faial Island, Azores. 2013.
Upon arriving at the dive site, a few hours boat ride from Faial Island, I became acutely aware that I had based my entire reason for this trip on this dive – no pressure Blues (please, please, please, show up)!! Given that the water was a couple of degrees cooler than it normally is at this time of year and that a group of divers just a few days prior had drawn a blank, I admit to being quite surprised when a shark arrived after around 10 minutes of the chum going into the water. The chum – a primarily sardine waste-based mix, was necessary given the vastness of the location (slap bang in the middle of the Atlantic) and the depth’s utilised (we were in a “shallower” area that bottomed out at 200m).
My next fear was, having been assigned to dive in the second group; would the shark(s) stick around for more than an hour without getting bored of looking at neoprene-clad bubble-makers? When my turn came to get into the water, I was delighted to realise that not only had the sharks stayed, but more had also arrived and their initial shyness had been overtaken by a bold curiosity! The Blues are an intensely beautiful, graceful shark, my time in the water with them was second to none, this is hands down the best shark diving I have done to date! I have often been asked what my favourite shark is, my answer was that I found it impossible to choose between the Blue and the Tiger shark, well Tiger’s I’m sorry but the Blues are edging it!!
Given the fishing pressure, for their fins and meat, that the Blues are currently under, I felt both privileged and overwhelmingly sad being in their presence.