The First one I ever saw
Well, I have been diving for a year or so and had never had the pleasure of seeing any type of shark until July this year.
In late July there had been reports of Tiger sharks in the straits of Tiran in the Red Sea, but they had not interfered with any one diving there. Well, that is, until my dive buddy and I dropped in on Gordon reef.
Now there are Tigers in the Red Sea, but by the accounts of most guides and instructors who had been out there many years Tigers are something of a rarity in the Northern Red Sea. The purpose of our dive that day was specifically to spot the Tigers. We had a couple of guides with us (Barry and Alex) and Barry was very keen to spot the Tiger (he had never seen one in 10 years of diving). So christened as "Barry's Tiger Hunt" we dropped in two small groups. My buddy and I and a few others with Alex first, Barry and his group 5-10 mins later.
At the corner of the reef where the current began to pick up well I saw my first Shark. One big Tiger 4 meters plus and one smaller one at about 3 meters. They did a swim past (as expected) but then turned and started to come in towards us from about 20 meters away (very unexpected).
Now for those who have not seen how fast a shark can cover distance - well holy sh*t they can move bloody quick. The big Tiger was amongst us in a split second from being 20 meters away and spent the next 2-3 minutes attempting to remove one of our group away from the group (a smallish but slightly fat girl). All the shark succeeded in doing was following right behind her fins. Had she any sense about her or had seen the shark following her things might have been different. Her buddy swam to the reef and so did she before she then saw our striped friend and quite frankly - p*ssed herself. Being the hero that I am seeing this unfold in front of me I had already decided that the Tiger's unhealthy interest in us required no further investigation. I swam to the reef the facing the shark I decided to get out quick (i still did a safety stop though)
Ah you say doing a safety stop whilst a hunting tiger is in the water is stupid perhaps. Not so. Thankfully the Sharks interest was now taken up with the fresh bunch of divers swimming past (Barry and his group). We tried to signal him but he simply waved back as we watched the shark twitch its tail once and arrive directly in front of Barry and his group. We exited the water.
From Barry's account when he and his group eventually got back on the boat the Tiger and the smaller one kept charging the divers. Most of Barry's group made it to the reef and were collected by the boat - Barry and another guy (Adrian) spent the next 10 minutes being circled by the brute.
The moral of the story to you Barry - be careful what you ask for you just might get it.
Interestingly, by the time we got back to harbour having radioed in our story every one was talking about the Tiger incident. There were no boats on Gordon for a few days after that. Funnily, I kept being told about this bunch of divers who had been attacked on Gordon reef and I was constantly needing to set the record straight. It got worse on my flight back to the UK with many divers recounting the story of the Tiger incident to me (as if they were actually there) at which point I would usually (but not always) correct them.
The story took on epic proportions in a matter of days. The story recounted by others not actually there the sharks were much more vicious and bigger than the ones we saw. I can only assume there was another group of divers with another boat on the reef that day which amazingly none of us on our boat every managed to see at the reef or in the water.
Very funny indeed.
My very first shark encounter. Not bad at all.