Another horrible thing about scuba diving they don’t warn you about is how early you’ll have to get up. Not being a morning person, this is absolute torture for me. But, after a 8pm bedtime to factor in a night of proper sleep and an inhuman wake-up call, I showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the dive centre the next day.
And how worth it that 3:30 wake up was. The visibility was about 10m but nothing could hide what we were seeing…
Not one hammerhead.
Not two.
Not five.
Not ten.
Hundreds. Literally hundreds and hundreds of schooling scalloped hammerhead sharks!
We hit the jackpot! About three minutes in, the divemaster (also well aware of my hammerhead hunt by this stage) vigorously pointed out something. I couldn’t see it so I just swam as fast as I could in the direction he was pointing, despite this being the last thing you should do when you encounter hammerheads.
Then I saw it… A lone shark in the distance became clearer out of the big blue. And then all the other sharks surrounding it. At first, I wasn’t sure they were hammerheads until they began to move and turn and I saw those majestic hammer-like heads. These graceful sharks truly are astounding to see in the wild. Their fins are particularly pointed and they glisten with a silver sheen.
Just a little nibbleI hung there, stunned and weightless, and watched the school swim past. I was so in awe that I caught myself holding my breath and had to remind myself to breathe. Then, from out of the blue (literally), I felt something’s teeth graze my clasped hands. Not quite as composed as I’d like, I shrieked like a little girl and shook off whatever it was. Well, what would you do if you were looking at scores of sharks and felt something graze you?
It turned out to be a remora. There were two that were following the group and this one obviously thought I could offer safety and free passage. If you don’t know – remora (also known as suckerfish) are truly fascinating fish that, to me, look like upside-down sharks. They usually associate with specific host species and suction onto their host for a ride. In turn, they eat parasites and scrap food off their hosts’ skin. Harmless for the most part, but can be quite pesky if they’ve lost their host.
Wait, one school isn’t enough
While I was perfectly happy to see the one school and tick hammerheads off my scuba diving bucket list, the ocean had other plans. About five minutes after the first school came and went, we spotted another school moving past us on the other side. This time, I remembered to breathe, didn’t have a near-death encounter with a harmless fish, and did the happy dance I forgot to do after the first school.
But then fifteen minutes after this, it suddenly became very dark… We looked up and saw a gigantic school of hammerheads swimming above us.
I am happy to report that the hunt for the hammerhead was such a short and successful one, but the dives the next day had even more surprises in store… And we were lucky enough to get good footage! Stay tuned.
Footage by: Megan Collins
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