In honor of Shark Week, we’re showcasing our experiences with some of the best Bahamas’ shark spots.
From friendly to fiercesome, you can find a range of species making their home among the 700+ Bahamian islands and cays. We’ll give you a glimpse of our experiences with them at Compass Cay, Conception Island, and in the Jumentos.
Compass Cay
The best place to get up close and personal with dozens of relatively harmless nurse sharks is located 65 miles southeast of Nassau. Compass Cay is home to a large population of these bottom feeders who prefer crustaceans, stingray and the steady flow of marina scraps over humans for snacks. Toss out a few pieces of stale bread from your boat and they’ll be swarming around in no time. You can pet them, take pictures, and even join them in the water if you’re feeling adventurous. Their skin feels like wet leather and even though they’re benign, their beady eyes and slithering motion still make them seem ALL SHARK.
You can read more about our time at Compass Cay here.
Conception Island
Only accessible by boat or seaplane and mostly surrounded by a maze of coral reef, Conception Island offers unparalleled snorkeling and fish spotting. Which, also means unparalleled amounts of shark food. This “out island” is surrounded by deep Atlantic waters (as opposed to the more shallow sandbanks of the Exumas) that run right up to the shore of the island, which provides an attractive habitat for the sharks.
It was among these reefs that Christie set a new speed swimming record when she spotted a shark less than 50 feet away. A blacktip reef shark, about four feet long, was hovering near a reef as she rounded the corner and locked eyes with it. Most likely the shark was searching for small easy-to-snag reef fish (not a skittish swimmer) so we respectfully changed our direction and continued taking in the majestic underwater show.
For more about our time at Conception Island, click here.
The Jumentos
The Jumentos are the southernmost islands of the Bahamas. They’re pure wilderness with only a few small settlements that are home to the hardiest of islanders who share their waters with the largest and fiercest of Bahamian sharks.
Down there, you’ll likely spot large hammerheads, bull sharks, black tips, tigers and nurse sharks in abundance. And often times they’re swimming right by your anchored boat as the sharks are lured into the shallow waters by all the fish scraps tossed overboard from the plethora of fisherman in the area.
While there, we spotted a hammerhead behind Kaleo and swam with a few aggressive reef sharks who wanted the fish Matt had speared. He graciously obliged their demand and swam away from his catch (i.e.; their snack). If you’re ever that far south, be sure to keep your eyes peeled while in the water as you’re sure to be sharing your playground.
Our trip to the Jumentos can be found here.
Wow, what a great post! Makes me a little nervous about swimming in the Bahamas, but I guess we’ll just have to be aware of our surroundings. Was there any place that you refused to get in the water due to sharks or other creepy animals?
Thanks for your thoughtful note, Cheryl! While we stayed aware of our surroundings and were far from risk takers, we didn’t really worry too much about sharks while in the Bahamas. For the most part, we swam, snorkeled, and spear fished without seeing any nearby and when we did, they were not aggressive enough to make us feel uncomfortable. They really are just curious of what’s in their waters. The one place where we felt uncomfortable swimming was the Jumentos as it’s a stronghold for fishermen who clean their fish in the anchorages (i.e.; baiting the waters and attracting easy feeding for the sharks). We did saw a hammerhead and black tips around our boat so decided to ferry to shore by dinghy rather than leisurely swim about. Other than that, we really enjoyed being in the water without hesitation.