by Lazaro Ruda

May 10-15th, 2003

The morning began like all previous ones. Awaking around 7:30am, I lazily made my way out of my cozy top bunk. Hoping no one was up to see me with my Buckwheat morning hair; I sneaked my way to the restroom and made myself presentable. I climbed up the stairs and my eyes began to glare at the variety of fruits, breads and juice awaiting our consumption.

As everyone slowly emerged from their sleeping quarters to the dining room, we sat at the breakfast table like a group of pirates ready to declare mutiny if we were not fed. Diving all day long and swimming with Dolphins had a way of opening out appetites. Of course, Chef Frank was quick with spatula and pan to sedate our anxiousness.

Fully suited and ready for our first dive of the day, anticipation filled the air and a delicious breakfast filled our stomach. One by one we entered the water. Floating on the surface I could see the tan-colored reef below me. Slowly descending to 80ft., as the light from the sun hit the reef, some of the splendid colors of the reef exploded in my sight.


Photo compliments of Mike Oelrich ©2003

With my video camera in hand, I pressed the record button and slowly spun around taking in the whole scenery. I floated in midwater mesmerized by the life around me. Along the top of the reef, delicate-looking gorgonians rippled in the ocean blue current. Tiny fish swam in a tight-knit school dashing from coral to coral. Above me I watched in awe--as if it was my first deep dive--the huge column of water surrounding me. Suspended in this vast liquid I watched my fellow dive buddies slowly descend upon the reef.

I moved along the labyrinth of reef as though I walked through a beautiful garden. Hanging from the large coral mounds were corals painted in all the colors of the rainbow. Sponges in every color and shape imaginable intertwined the overhangs. Large mounds of hard corals stood motionless with their polyps retracted eagerly awaiting night to fall upon them in order to feast on the plethora of microscopic creatures being swept in the current.

Along the way a cavern-like section of the reef beckoned me to explore it closer. As I carefully swam through it, for a moment I ceased breathing in order to avoid trapping air in the corals above me. Meanwhile I slowly moved horizontally along this swim-through taking in as much detail as my mind would allow. Upon exiting, with much relief, I expelled the build up of carbon dioxide inside my lungs. A huge column of air bubbles temporarily blocked my vision as they exited from my regulator.

On my slow ascent up the anchor line I stopped at 15 feet for a safety stop. Once again I took joy in the clownish acts of pretending to walk a vertical tight-rope or swing from my knees like an acrobat in the circus. Playing along with me was Dave Haas and Jimmy “Dah Fish”. With much delight we spent the next couple of minutes in this joyful act playing as if we were a group of children in a playground.

Click here to watch a video of the dive. 6.4MB Windows Media Player File
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Back up on the boat the laughter and good times continued as we motored to our next dive destination. A dive spot called MiniWall. Like all other reefs we had visited, this reef was adorned in the grand spectacle of Mother Nature’s design. With visibility exceeding 100 feet, I looked down on the reef upon entering the water. Making my way through the canyon-like coral mounds, I stopped frequently to capture the colors of the reef, to become spellbound as the rays of the sun played on the deep blue ocean water, or watch with much delight as many species of fish swam alongside the reef.

After a while of swimming around the deeper end of the reef, I ascended towards a sandy area in the middle of the reef where a huge aggregation of conchs covered the bottom. I carefully approached a number of conchs and quietly whispered something in their ear. To my delight and astonishment, I watched this group of conchs assemble like a marching band and acknowledge my request. From that moment on, my fellow divers knew of my special gift of communicating with conchs.

Note: No conchs were hurt in the making of this film.

In less than 5 minutes all signs of this underwater graffiti disappeared as the conchs dispersed in all directions. In the middle of all these clownish acts I attracted two creatures that seemed tickled by the spectacle – Dave Haas and Jimmy “Dah Fish.” We spent the rest of our bottom time combing this sandy area. From a watchful distance I could see a pair of Yellowhead Jawfish observe our every move.

As I approached for a closer look I noticed that there was a male Jawfish carrying eggs in its mouth. Excited to hopefully get a photograph, I quietly settled in the sand waiting for it to emerge from it burrow. Meanwhile its buddy who was just behind him tantalized me with midwater displays. My patience unfortunately never paid off as I had to soon leave back up to the surface but not without once again taking part in my acrobatic acts at 15 feet with the rest of the gang.

Back up on the boat we delved into lunch like a pack of Hyenas. The excitement stirred as we listened to Anna debrief us on our next dive – El Dorado. As the boat motored its way to this special spot, the photographers and videographers nervously moved about the boat like a group of ants. We changed batteries, changed film or unloaded a full gigabyte of photos and meticulously prepared all our underwater filming equipment. For this was one dive we wanted to be ready and prepped for.

With the boat arriving at the spot, everyone quickly took their seat in front of their scuba equipment and quickly prepared themselves for the dive. The anticipation grew and the adrenaline levels were beginning to reach critical mass as we waited for the okay to dive. With a few last words (hopefully not literally), I dove into the water with my camera in-hand. As the bubbles cleared and I looked at the reef 50 ft. below me, they suddenly became noticeable – SHARKS!! Lots of them too! Approximately 15-20 Carribean Reef Sharks circled the reef and rose to greet us. Around us they cautiously swam – maybe not as cautious as I was at that moment. Being it that this was my first true multiple shark encounter dive, my heart raced as I watched these powerful and majestic creatures circle within a couple of feet of me.

We descended towards the sandy bottom and encircled a patch of reef like a group of campers around a bonfire. After the initial shock of having sharks swim around me from all directions faded, my mind snapped back into gear. Knowing that I would have numerous chances at getting some spectacular photographs of these animals, I spun around metering the water around me. I watched around for areas free of other diver’s bubbles and made a mental note to get some photographs when the action began. I snapped a couple of photographs of the reef to dial in the exposure just right and adjusted my strobes to better accent the shark’s gradient color line.

A few minutes passed and suddenly the large group of the sharks that encircled us disappeared. As I looked from a far I could see Anna in her bright yellow wetsuit dangling a small plastic milk crate with pieces of dead fish about 6 feet below her. Behind her was the large group of Caribbean Reef Sharks calmly following like a puppy behind its momma.

As she placed the bait-crate in the center of the reef, the sharks began to circle it in a calm, almost slow-motion manner. A group of sharks continued to follow Anna as she slowly drifted midwater away from the crate. Something enticed them to get a little closer to Anna and a couple of them began bumping into her (without biting). Anna descended towards the sandy bottom and the sharks swam away.

In a very calm manner, the sharks came in around me at arm’s distance in the direction of the bait-crate. I looked around me and I could see everyone busily enjoying every millisecond of the experience. Strobe lights fired in quick sequences and video cameras tracked the path of the sharks in all directions.

I looked towards one of the areas I wanted to photograph the sharks and I waited as they slowly glided across the area.

Meanwhile the action was slowly increasing its pace as more sharks came in close. In every direction I looked there were sharks swimming.

As I continued to watch the area I was photographing, I could see a Queen Angle fish slowly making its way near me and as it almost approached the perfect spot to photograph it, I exhaled the words “Come on.. come on.. come on.. Where are you shark?” when he suddenly appeared..

Flash! The strobes fired and my face lit up as I watched the photograph save on the memory chip of my digital camera with both the shark and queen angel in frame. “WooHoo,” I expelled in bubbles! I turned around to capture some photos of the sharks without any scuba bubbles in the background. All the while sharks swam around me in a slow fashion on their way to and from the bait-crate just a few feet away.

After a just a few minutes in the water with these majestic creatures, years of hearsay dissolved from my mind. All those fear-inducing Shark Week documentaries I watched on TV, all the overhyped press reports of malicious shark behaviors and ridiculous shark movies seemed like nothing more than a media plot to increase their ratings at the shameful loss of life of millions of sharks by uneducated, gung-ho shark wranglers.

Watching these apex predators circle around me at arm’s length (sometimes closer) without feeling nowhere near as threatened as I have at times by man’s best friend, I couldn’t help but feel pity for these poor creatures.

For they have been targeted by the true apex predator of the world – humans – deemed as malicious animals that threaten the very existence of man. Instead, like all wild (and some tame) animals, it was apparent that caution and respect was all it took for us to coexist together.

I watched in sorrow as these beautiful animals glided past me and I thought how heinous an act it was to know that all around the world they were being killed in spite or immorally massacred to acquire their prized fins.

As I ascended towards my safety stop, I looked down upon them and prayed that one day my children and their children would have the opportunity to experience the awe inspiring sight of one of nature’s grandest creation. For their existence is so rightfully deserved in a world belonging to all living creatures, not just humans.

Back up on the boat the exhilaration of an hour dive swarming with sharks brought smiles to everyone’s face. We shared our photographs, shared each others stories and relived the dive on TV as we watched the videos that were just taken.

With sunset just a couple of hours away, the boat anchored at what was to be our next dive – The Swim Throughs. After an exhilarating dive with the sharks I had decided to pass up on this dive in return for a little R&R. We had settled on doing a night dive at this spot and I was hoping to save my energy for the night dive.

A few minutes after some of the divers had descended onto the reef, I was having a conversation inside the boat with Anna when she noticed something happening outside. She went outside and within seconds I could hear her screaming, “We’ve got Dolphins!” Like a jolt of lightning I raced outside and could see a couple of dolphins breaking the surface. Anna screamed, “Get in the water, Laz! Hurry up!” As I quickly donned on my freediving fins, mask and snorkel and splashed into the water, I raced towards the bow of the boat where we had last seen them. Suddenly they appeared! Four spotted dolphins were eagerly circling me in a very playful mood. My heart began to race, the smile on my face grew to exaggerated lengths and I took a gasp of air through my snorkel before I twirled towards the bottom. They swam around me and twisted and turned…

About 45 ft below me I could see the divers and I did everything in my power to grab their attention but to no avail. I continued to swim with the dolphins and could hear them vocalizing.

Chirps, whistles and clicks abound!

As I continued to swim and play with the dolphins, they would twist and turn, buzz me or occasionally wink at me for attention. Had they known I would swim with them for the rest of my life (if I could) then maybe they wouldn’t have tried so hard. As the pod suddenly split up I knew one of their good friends must have been nearby…

Anna was here to make sure we gave these dolphins a run for their sardines. Like a flock of birds flying in a v-formation, the dolphins swam around us..

And after photographing a pair of dolphins above me..

I took one look down to find another one of my main-mammals swimming nearby...

Apparently all the commotion -- or was it their keen scuba diving skills -- attracted the attention of Tony and the rest of the divers below..

Now the dolphins had plenty of people to play with and they took advantage of it as they buzzed around everyone. At one point all four dolphins regrouped together and slowly swam in a v-formation on the surface. With my hands at my sides and my legs kicking as hard as I could, I slowly inched closer and closer to them from behind. Almost magically the pod opened up as to accept me in the group and the next few seconds of swimming in the center of the v-formation with the dolphins just inches away from me quickly made it to the top list of amazing moments in my life. For a few seconds I didn’t feel human. Even though my legs were working as fast as they could to keep up, my body felt as if it was standing still while the ocean around me pushed me in the direction I wanted to go. After that experience I couldn’t help it but stop for a minute or two to regain human consciousness.

With over an hour and half of swimming with them and a camera with no photographs left, I continued to swim along with the dolphins. At one point the pod split up into two and as I followed alongside two of them all by myself. Suddenly they both disappeared and thinking they had left for good I began turning around towards the boat. As I could barely make out the bottom of the reef from the fading light of the sunset, a particular pair of silhouettes were very distinct. For I had attracted two reef sharks who were now swimming in circles below me on the reef. After previously spending an hour with them on the reef, I wasn’t too concerned about them as I swam back towards the boat. Suddenly as I was a couple of feet away from the boat, the pair of dolphins reappeared. Mike had removed his scuba gear and was now in the water snorkeling too.

As we played with the dolphins, we suddenly looked towards our left to see that one of the reef sharks was rising towards us to investigate us further. Right at that moment, like a scene from a Hollywood movie, one of the dolphins in the pod rocketed straight towards the shark and rammed the shark on its side. Mike and I looked at each other wide-eyed with our jaws dropped down as far as they can go and all we could do was nod our head. We quickly popped our heads out of the water and simultaneously said to each other, “Did you see that?!?!” We’ve heard of moments like this but to actually experience it first hand left us dumbfounded.

We continued to swim with the dolphins for close to two hours and as they finally left and I dragged my poor soul back onto the boat, a part of me hoped the dolphins wouldn’t return today for 99% of my energyless body would have jumped back into the water and done it all over again.

Needless to say, after a scrumptious dinner or three, my body finally went into total shut down and what was supposed to have been some time to relax before the night dive was twisted and turned around by the likes of four playful dolphins and one amazing encounter.

Day 5 - Click Here

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