As with so many of our life-choices recently, the reason for choosing Hawaii as the destination of our first leg of the journey was sharks! During the summer of cull we met so many amazing people from all walks of life, all connected by the cause of fighting our government’s stupid shark cull policy. Although many were not necessarily shark experts, we were fortunate enough to have some real gurus involved who have made sharks their life work. Amongst those were Juan Oliphant and Ocean Ramsey from Hawaii. These guys probably spend more awake hours in the water than out and certainly have secret gills located somewhere unseen. Juan and Ocean’s lives are dedicated to shark research and conservation through education. As such they have a business on the North Shore (oneoceandiving.com) that aims to curb the fear by teaching people about shark behaviour and then getting them in the water to experience the true nature of these animals.

Our own aim was some personal therapy, to come and swim with some healthy Tiger Sharks that don’t have big holes in the head, we’ve seen enough of those to last a lifetime. Unfortunately Tigers are really rare here so you have to be really lucky to get a sighting. The focus on finding a Tiger was soon forgotten though because sharks of all species are really beautiful and sharing the water with them is such a special experience. It’s only a 10-15min boat ride offshore to get to their site. As soon as we pulled up there were sharks everywhere!

It’s not hard to understand the fear that fishermen and people who only see sharks from a boat have. When you see a pack of sharks milling about on the surface instinct takes over and all you can think is “if I fall in there it’s all over.” This is where it gets interesting because sharks don’t see us as food, unless you present as food. Once you enter the water you are another animal in the pack and there is a strict hierarchy based on size and strength. Typically the dominant members of the pack take pole position on the surface with the less dominant members further down. Should another animal show up that’s bigger than the others the pack will reorganise or in the case of a Tiger showing up the pack splits! As a human you are holding pole position so you need to act the part which is to stay calm, hold your ground and maintain eye contact with any shark that comes in for a nosey.

If a large shark decides to challenge your position it will give clear warning signals which is your cue to leave the area. Our first dive was with the Sandbars. These are very distinctive with their almost equal length dorsal and pectoral fins, from the front they look like a missile. These guys are like Jack Russels, very fast and twitchy. As soon as we entered the water a dominant male called “splitty” (due to a large split in his pectoral fin) was darting between us and checking us out. For some reason he showed more interest in me than the others and gave my GoPro camera a few bumps. At this stage there were around 30 sharks around with about 10 staying in close proximity.

Despite the number of sharks and their in-your-face nature it’s hard to feel anything but awe and appreciation for sharing the water with a predator that has reached evolutionary perfection and was already on the hunt before the dinosaurs. Over the coming days we spent many hours in the water with the sandbars and got to know some of the individuals. We soon became comfortable enough to get the girls in the water as well. Due to their size they are naturally at a disadvantage and of some interest to the more dominant sharks so we kept them close and our combined size seemed to widen the personal space bubble where the sharks would always turn away.

For the girls it was just another day in the world playground! The highlight of these dives was visiting another site further offshore where the Galapagos Sharks hang out. There are some cage diving operators who have locked down this area as their theatre of operations but between their trips we sneaked a couple of visits in to freedive with these beauties. The Galaps are noticeably bigger and it shows in their presence. Unlike the terrier-like Sandbars these guys just cruise around and often make directly for you, coming within half a meter before turning away or diving under you. The whole time they’re watching you closely and reading the play. In a way it’s more relaxing with the bigger sharks because they’re not darting in and out all the time but you’re very aware of their size and power.

Again we can honestly say the interactions did not elicit any feelings of danger, fear or even adrenalin, only calm appreciation and overwhelming happiness at being allowed to share their world for those fleeting moments. We never did find a Tiger, they are a rare animal indeed and need our protection more than ever. Hopefully we will find some once we have the boat and we’re in the Bahamas but it’s impossible to be disappointed when we have such amazing memories to cherish. A huge thanks again to Juan Oliphant and Ocean Ramsey of One Ocean Diving, what an amazing start to our journey!!! Unfortunately Ocean was away in Fiji for most of our trip but Juan spent so much time with us for which we are so thankful. Juan is probably one of the most underated nature photographers in the world and warrants a documentary just on his antics he employs to “get the shot” which include bear hugging a Tiger Shark that just grabbed his camera and is about to swim away with $10,000 worth of camera gear and a memory card full of awesome whale photos! Now the hard bit starts, trying to find our sailing home for the next few years!