Tiger Beach
Tiger Beach
In the Bahamas and accessible from West Palm Beach in Florida by liveaboard or by one or more day boats out of the Bahamas, Tiger Beach is not actually a beach, but a shallow area frequented year round by tiger, lemon, nurse sharks with common or seasonal visits by hammerhead and bull sharks.
Hammerheads may be present December through April. These are typically dives with bait boxes, chum and occasional shark feeding. Many have negative or mixed feelings about using bait to attract sharks, but that is how most all of the operators do things there. So these are not serendipitous encounters, but essentially staged (or baited) encounters. That said, for underwater photographers or shark enthusiasts, it is hard to beat the clear water, shallow light-filled dive sites and close views of some fairly large 10-15 foot tiger sharks, 8-12 foot lemon sharks, and good-sized bull and Caribbean Reef sharks.
Attracted by fresh caught fish in bait boxes, the sharks swim right up to divers situated near the bait boxes. Often they will nudge underwater camera housings or nip at video lights. On a rare occasion they may “grab” a camera and swim off, generally dropping the metal or plastic housing after determining that these are not desired menu items.
Time to Go
From December to March there is a decent chance to see one or more hammerheads close up along with the tiger, lemon, Caribbean reef, nurse and bull sharks.
One can dive here year round though the hurricane season broadly is considered June through November with higher risk between August and October. For more info on hurricane frequency and risk check tripsavvy.
How to get there
I happened to travel with Jim Abernethy on the Shearwater. Jim is super knowledgeable about the sharks and was involved in fostering Tiger Beach as a dive destination. Dolphin Dream is also a popular boat operator that comes highly recommended. Eli and Martinez Martinez of SDMdiving also lead trips to Tiger Beach every year. Both Shearwater and Dolphin Dream leave from West Palm Beach. Most people go on liveaboards but some operations like Epic Diving offer day trips from Grand Bahama Island. Tiger Beach is not actually a beach but a shallow area about 20 miles from the West End of Grand Bahama. If you are an underwater photographer who wants to spend 4-7 days diving with these incredible sharks, I would recommend going on a liveaboard.
