epic tiger shark diving expeditions
  • Home
  • Shark Diving
    • Tiger Beach Bahamas
    • Oceanic Whitetip
    • Great Hammerhead
    • M/V Thresher
  • FAQs
    • FAQs
    • Know Before You Go
  • Blog
    • Bahamas Shark Diving
    • Shark Species
    • Photography
    • Conservation
    • Community
    • Shark Diving Reports
  • About
  • Contact

Oceanic Whitetip Shark Diving

2015 Season Ends
  • Oceanic Whitetip Shark and Pilot Fish cat island bahamas
  • oceanic whitetip and great hammerhead shark diving bahamas
  • oceanic whitetip sharks cat island bahamas shark diving
  • oceanic whitetip shark pilot fish cat island bahamas
  • whitetip shark diving on cat island in the bahamas
  • oceanic whitetip shark cat island bahamas shark diving

Goodbye Cat Island…until 2016

Jun 11 2015
0 Comment
Epic
Bahamas, cat island, oceanic whitetip, oceanic whitetip shark diving, shark diving

Cat Island has always been a very special place for us! It’s one of those far away, sparsely populated and undeveloped islands in the central Bahamas. While Cat is just a 45 minute flight from Nassau, it’s worlds away. You won’t find any big resorts and no casinos on the island, but it’s home to some amazing things. The reefs and walls off Cat Island show of some of the Bahamas healthiest marine ecosystems. The drop off is steep, dramatic, and virtually unexplored. But for us, diving with the oceanic whitetip sharks is the major draw. Both incredibly reliable and incredibly rare, the oceanics aggregate around Cat Island each spring giving you your best chance to see this species flourish! They’re here in numbers, the majority of the sharks are female, and a good percentage of them are pregnant. We do see males throughout the year, but only a handful of individuals. We get to see the same oceanics whitetip sharks year after year, and meet new ones on any given day each season.

oceanic whiteitp shark heals from wound

Bolt heals with amazing speed

This year, we saw some of our favorites back again and met a few really cool sharks. Our oldest shark, Bolt, came back yet again. She appears to be the oldest oceanic whitetip we’ve seen on Cat Island. Not only has she been back to Cat year after year, she was also documented by the BBC off Cat Island back in 2006. Last year she was pregnant and this year she did not seem to be. She moves slow and her eyes appear darkened or “rusted” around the center while all the other oceanics have very light colored eyes. She gets her name from the lightning bolt marking on the right side of her tail fin. The lower part of the marking actually wraps under the tail and can be seen slightly on the left side. This year, we saw her suffer a large but superficial wound on her right flank. Looked pretty concerning at first, but after seeing her heal up so rapidly, we were amazed at how she just “shook it off”.

We saw another dozen or so repeat sharks from previous seasons. There were 4 males this year, and one of them was the largest male we have seen, by far. Typically, the males seem smaller and younger. He was even larger than the average female.

We also had incredible encounters with a variety of species. Drifting in the blue always give you the chance to see something surprising. We started off with a great hammerhead, tiger shark and blue marlin in just the first week! Throughout the season, we were lucky enough to see several blue marlin, mahi mahi, tuna, a blue shark, silky sharks, reef sharks, nurse sharks, dusky sharks, blacktips, and even dolphin! It’s like drifting through space.

We had our hopes up to come across Atlas, the dusky shark from the 2014 season. Atlas was recovering nicely from deep wounds caused by a rope he got stuck in. You can read more about Atlas in our blog. Unfortunately, he was a no-show this year, but we wish him well and hope to see him again.

We’ll miss Cat Island, but already have our sights on the 2016 season! We’ve started filling the calendar and hope to see some of our favorite sharks, and you! Learn more about our oceanic whitetip shark diving trips on our site.

BACK TO TOP

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

Popular Posts

bahamas tiger beach shark diving

Day Trips to Tiger Beach Bahamas: Shark Diving Experience

90 Comments
tiger beach day trips

Tiger Beach Day Trips: Shark Diving in the Bahamas

39 Comments
shark senses ampullae of lorenzeni

Shark Senses - How Do Sharks Hunt Their Prey?

23 Comments

Recent Posts

  • Featured Filmmaker: OceanShutter
  • Shark Feeding Controversy
  • International Shark Attack File: 2021 Summary
  • Shark Feeding Ban Proposed for Florida Keys
  • Hammerhead Shark Evolution

Newsletter Sign-up

Slide Get started on your life-changing adventure today. Join Epic Diving for the best Bahamas Shark Diving. Visit the world-famous Tiger Beach Bahamas, dive with Great Hammerhead sharks, or drift in the blue with Oceanic Whitetips! Contact US TIGER BEACH Oceanic Whitetips Great Hammerheads epic tiger shark diving expeditions © EPIC DIVING 2023 Privacy Policy Terms of Use