Oceanic Whitetip Sharks and Pilot Whales

It's roughly the 2 year anniversary of this amazing experience (video below) we had here in Roatan, Honduras and coincidentally are back with the same friends who were with us that day. We did a much better job getting still shots. Unfortunately in his excitement Bruce mounted the GoPro in such a way he missed most of what happened so this is edited down to the little he did capture. Since this day, he has never again trusted a helmet mount for any rare sightings but it is still unlikely I will ever stop reminding him. 

Some of you will criticize my decision to stay in the water with these particular sharks. It's my life and I don't mind taking some risks and so far those 'risks' have helped make up for a lot of misery. I would rather live a short and interesting life than a safe and uneventful one. Of course I dispute that I was really in any significant danger in the first place but it would not have changed my decision to stay and enjoy them a few minutes. 

These sharks are rarely seen by divers as they prefer deep, open water and their numbers are down by something close to 90% in the Carribean. I have loved sharks since I was a teenager and my dad pulled us out of school to sail around the BVI's. I still recall they were much more commonly seen and now a diver is lucky to see a common reef or nurse shark. Unfortunately opportunities to see sharks of any kind are becoming less common due to the fact we slaughter anywhere from 100 to close to 300 million sharks a year. Even the conservative amount of 100 million is absolutely shameful and one more reason I would never miss a once in a lifetime opportunity like this.