We have just made it back to Cat Island, one of the out islands of the Bahamas for the start of our 2015 Oceanic Whitetip Shark diving season. The over 300 mile journey here was nice and smooth, with great weather on the water and some incredible sunrises and sunsets!

Just after arriving back on the island, the whole crew was greeted by all our friends from years past. It was great to see everyone’s excitement that the “shark people” are back! A few of the folks even asked why we have to leave every year.

Although we wanted to rest after a few really busy months at Tiger Beach and in Bimini, it was hard to contain the excitement for seeing the oceanics again. Just staring out from the beach at that incredible blue water that surrounds Cat Island and knowing the Oceanics were out there swimming around, we just couldn’t wait.

We spent only a few minutes deciding which location to go check out first. We returned to one of our favorite areas from seasons past and started to setup the chum. Within just a few minutes of getting the bait in the water, we spotted to first shadow making it’s way to the bow of the boat. Only seconds later, a second shadow and this time the dorsal fin broke the surface, leaving no doubt that we had oceanic whitetips with us! It was such an incredible feeling.

By the time we got suited up to enter the water, we had 5 different Oceanics swimming around. Getting back in the water felt like coming home. We’ve been so used to nice shallow SCUBA dives with sharks at Tiger Beach and Bimini that this seems so different. The water is deep and the color and visibility are like no where else. Before leaving the water, we had 7 different Oceanics (6 female and one small male), and a few of them had been with us last season. Can’t wait to go through the rest of the photos and add the other sharks to our ID Book.

Needless to say, we’re so excited to be back on Cat Island with the Oceanics and looking forward to the start of another incredible season here. This marks our fifth year out here and we’re excited to share it with some great friends that are headed this way in 2015!!

We’re sad to leave Bimini but super excited to return home to Cat Island for the beginning of our Oceanic Whitetip Shark diving season. We’ll be returning to Bimini in January of 2016 for the hammerheads once again. Click here to learn more about our oceanic whitetip shark diving.