There was a time when the mention of shark diving in Britain would have raised
a few eyebrows. Not any more: in July, the first tourists went on a caged
shark dive in Cornwall and this week an eight-foot porbeagle shark was
pulled out of a fisherman’s net off the north-east coast.
But go diving off the coast of Britain and most days you’re unlikely to see
more than the odd turbot - and that’s if the visibility gets above five
feet.
Which is why I was tempted by an Edinburgh-based shark dive that not only
guarantees multiple shark encounters, but promises a 10-foot sand tiger
shark, a species that’s more at home off the coast of South Africa and
southern Australia.
But then, how can you miss it when you’re sharing a tank the size of an
Olympic swimming pool, with it, and 80 or so of its closest shark chums.
The dive is part of the Shark Awareness Course, a one-day course launched by
the Deep Sea World aquarium for divers who want to learn more about sharks.
The PADI-recognised course seeks to dispel the image of sharks as man-eaters
and teach divers how to dive safely around sharks, understand their
behaviour and meet one… close up… which is where Tinkerbell comes in.
The incongruously named shark is the aquarium’s star attraction. At ten-foot
long she’s a fully mature sand tiger shark, who coolly circles the tank like
a gangster cruising his turf in a meandering Mercedes. Her exposed rows of
three-pronged teeth make for a savage appearance that belies her apparently
unaggressive attitude (her teeth are unsuited to large prey, unlike the
triangular razor teeth of the Great White and she’s not considered a threat
to humans, although the possibility remains).
The class is run by Grant and Chris, two PADI dive instructors who work at the
aquarium. They’re shark-and-dive enthusiasts so the delivery of the lectures
ahead of the dive is both impassioned and informal, with plenty of
interaction, particularly from Bruce and Greg, two dive devotees who get all
the questions right. During the first lecture we learn about shark biology
and Chris straightens out a few shark myths.
“The myth that you can kill a shark by stopping it or dragging it backwards
does have some truth in it,” he says. The reason is that most species of
shark needs to keep swimming to force water through their gills and filter
oxygen from it. I’d not heard this myth, but in my eyes the more pressing
question is how you’d get hold of the shark in the first place.
Chris accepts that it would be tricky to grab a shark by the tail, as their
skeleton is made of flexible cartilage, rather than bone, so they can "turn
on a sixpence". Even Tinkerbell could, he says, despite the hefty belly
she’s carrying, owing to being waited on fin and tail by the doting aquarium
staff and their buckets of mackerel.
Another myth is that a stab in the eye or punch on the nose is the best course
of action in a shark attack. “Yes, they are very sensitive areas for a
shark,” accepts Grant, “but how you’d get your punch in before you lost your
hand is the issue.”
Myth number three; that a drop of blood will send sharks into a killing
frenzy. “Just not true,” says Grant. “It’s a completely alien smell to
sharks, they will only react to fish blood, only a rogue shark that’s bitten
a human before might recognise the smell.” And finally, the one about how
they can smell fear. “They can’t actually smell fear,” says Chris, “but they
can sense it.” Electric pulses emitted into the water by movement are sensed
by sharks, so they will be aware of a raised heartbeat.
Now we’ve busted the myths it’s onto the best bit of any biology lesson – the
sex bit. Living in a glass tank may mean free food for Tinkerbell and her
friends but it also comes with the downsides of goldfish bowl life – a
sex-life more heavily documented than Paris Hilton’s.
Female sharks avoid sex because it involves a bite from a male shark whose
undercarriage, depending on the species, can be barbed and hooked, owing to
the need to cling on and copulate on the move (to keep respiring). Murphy
and Patch, two of the aquarium’s other sand tiger sharks, have been
photographed in various trysts but the stork hasn’t visited yet. “You can
see by the bite marks on Murphy that it’s not too promising – he needs a bit
more practice,” says Grant. But he adds reassuringly: “Sex is one of the
first things to go if sharks are stressed, so it shows that they’re happy
here.”
After lunch there’s a dive briefing and a walk through the 112-metre glass
tunnel at the bottom of the tank, where we get our first sight of
Tinkerbell. “She’s at least a third bigger than that in real life,” says
Chris of the hulking shark, “the glass makes them appear smaller.” Gulp.
The 40-odd minute dive is the highlight – the aquarium’s wreck and kelp may be
fake, but it really feels like you’re walking on the seabed as you clumsily
make your way around the tank. It’s only three metres deep but the buoyancy
of our dry suits means we have to carry hefty weight belts to keep us on the
bottom. Of course, there’s also the surreal experience of the children’s
faces pressed up against the glass tunnel peering up at you from the dry,
but it’s not a distraction when there are 2,000 sharks, rays and fish around
you.
The four sand tiger sharks are mesmerising – their up-turned slightly bloodied
noses (from crashing into the tank furniture) give them the appearance of
ragged bruisers who’ve earned their place at the top of the food chain. But
there’s more to see. The aquarium has two angel sharks, ambush predators
that bury themselves in the sand leaving just two eyes exposed.
In the tank Grant has to stop me from stepping back onto one of them and we
gather round as he tickles their backs, keeping his hand well away from the
front-end as he’d warned us previously that they react instinctively to
potential prey. Grant coaxes them out of the sand – they're about three-feet
long and shaped like a large catfish, but they soon get bored and re-bury
themselves.
The rays, on the other hand, adore the attention. Like dogs they love being
stroked and although I’m only brave enough to tentatively touch the ray’s
smooth white underside, Grant is playing with one of the undulate rays,
which has an elaborate, almost Aboriginal pattern across its back.
The tunnel offers an insight into the briny depths but inside the tank you see
so much more. The camouflaged angel sharks would be tricky to spot unless
you’re in the water with them, then there are the giant edible orange crabs
that scuttle out of rocks with their large claw stuck out as a warning. The
only place we don’t go is “The Abyss”. It’s the dark hole in the aquarium
that dips to six metres, where even the sharks don’t venture, and is home to
a female eight-foot conger eel. “She’s not very sociable,” says Grant. “Does
she have a name?” I ask. “No”.
After 50 minutes time is up, and a bit of me is relieved – I loved the shark
encounter but found the abundance of fish a bit claustrophobic. In the sea
fish tend to scatter when a diver gets too close but here they are
accustomed to divers, and once a large dogfish had brushed past my leg and
an inquisitive wrasse nudged my mask, I was happy to get back to dry land.
NEED TO KNOW
The one-day Shark Awareness Course costs £175, including lunch and the rental
of diving gear, although you can use your own. The next available dates are
September 17 and October 29. You must be a qualified diver to do the course,
and your last dive should be within six months of the course date.
Unqualified divers can also have a shark dive experience. The day includes
basic training and costs £145 including entry for two spectators.
Contact Deep Sea World for more details.
For more information about active breaks in Scotland, go to www.visitscotland.com
, and for information about Scotland's more indigenous wildlife, go to www.visitscotland.com/wildlife
