I flew home to Houston for a brief turn around on Saturday, managing to do a few loads of very dirty laundry, storing my drysuit and coldwater gear, and packing for my next adventures in the Caribbean. I also had the chance to spend some time catching up with my mom and cousins, telling them about my latest adventures in the water world. This time I was smart and planned for a layover that was longer than 14 hours and the three day trip home was the perfect amount of time to rest and recuperate before heading to my next destination – Grand Bahama!

I flew into Freeport on Tuesday evening (after a few weather delays in Miami) and was greeted at the airport by my host for the next two weeks – Cristina Zenato. Cristina has been a long and avid supporter of the Scholarship Society, hosting scholars almost every year. Cristina works for the dive shop UNEXSO in Grand Bahama, having been there for over 20 years and establishing herself as a shark handler/feeder as well as an exploratory cave diver. In addition to her diving, she has been heavily involved in opportunities to spread the message of marine conservation, often with an emphasis on the perception of sharks and their role in the ecosystem. I was more than excited to be working alongside her; I knew that Cristina would be giving me much more than a good diving experience. After picking me up from the airport, we headed back to her apartment, where I would be staying with her during my trip. We spent the evening chatting away, and before we knew it, it was 10 pm and we headed to bed. I would be starting bright and early the next morning and wanted as much rest as possible before my adventures began!

Wednesday morning I headed into UNEXSO with Cristina a bit before 8 am, which is when all the dive staff meet for their morning briefing. I sat in on the meeting, getting introduced to the crew and listening to how Cristina managed her team each morning. After the quick briefing, Cristina met up with Kathy, a woman who had arranged to take the Shark Handler Course. This course is offered as a chance to give a person much more intimate exposure to the Caribbean Reef Sharks as well as furthering a person’s knowledge of shark biology and behavior. The morning started with a lecture on shark biology in the UNEXSO classroom, filled with loads of pictures and diagrams. We were also taught on how to interact with the sharks when in the water with them, going over what to do and what not to do, especially focusing on our body language and movements while feeding the sharks. I am by no means a shark expert and I learned a lot about them during that 4 hour session. After a lunch break, Cristina and I headed back to UNEXSO for the afternoon shark dive Cristina would be feeding on, with a group of about 10 divers sitting and watching. We loaded up on the boat and as we pushed away from the dock, Cristina began her briefing to the guests, going over what was going to happen and what to expect in great detail.  I was excited to be going out on this dive– it had been so long since I’d seen sharks, and to watch them being fed by and interacting with Cristina was an entirely new experience. We arrived at the dive site, Shark Junction, and geared up, then hopped in the water and ascended down the mooring line. There is a small wreck at 45 feet on the sand floor and the safety divers had us lined up in front of the wreck, shoulder to shoulder, kneeling in the sand.

Moments after everyone was adjusted in line, Cristina descended down to front and center, dressed in Neptunic chainmail and carrying the plastic feeding tube. She removed her fins and the dance began. She walks backwards at a confident, steady pace, working her way from one end of the line of kneeling divers to the other, then turning around and heading back the other way. She starts by just walking with and gently petting the sharks, who at this point, have congregated in the area, starting to swirl in a rhythmic pattern around her as she walks. It is absolutely mesmerizing to see the relationship between Cristina and the sharks, the way they move around her, her quiet confidence amongst them, and her interaction with individual sharks she recognizes and knows. Shortly, she begins feeding, which raises the pace of movement a bit. Reaching into the feeding tube, she grabs a mackerel and waits with her hand and fish just inside the tube. She watches the sharks, honing in on one, and when it is in the perfect place, she quickly brings the fish out of the tube and right in front of the shark’s nose, where it swallows down the fish and swims right on past. I was amazed at this dance, the fluidity of it all and the way she could perfectly position the fish for the sharks to eat up. I was also taken aback by how close the sharks got to us – Cristina paced up and down only 10 feet away from the line of divers and the sharks swirled all around us, occasionally bumping us with their fins or passing just over the tops of our heads.

It was incredible to be so close to these gorgeous animals, staring into their eyes as they swam by and feeling completely comfortable with them so close. After about 15 minutes, Cristina managed to gently caress one of the sharks to sleep, then gently picked the shark up by nose and dorsal fin and moved her close to the divers, where we could reach out and stroke her skin. It was amazing to be able to touch a living, wild shark in the open ocean and once everyone had their turn, she let the shark wake up and swim off with the others. After a few more minutes of feeding, Cristina waved goodbye and headed back to the boat, while we had a few minutes to search in the sand for any shark teeth that may have fallen out during the dive. We then headed back to the mooring line to do our safety stop and clambered back on the boat. I was on cloud nine after such an amazing dive and so were the rest of the divers. Everyone was chatting away about what a cool experience it was and how it allowed them to see sharks in a new perspective. After putting away gear and talking a bit more with guests, I headed back to Cristina’s apartment for the evening. It was a perfect first day in the Bahamas – Cristina got me right into things and I was ready to learn everything I could from her and the people I would meet during my trip.

Thursday I woke up nervous. I was nervous about feeding the sharks. I had seen how graceful and elegant Cristina did it, but she has over 20 years of experience and as much as I’ve seen sharks while diving, I’ve never interacted with them on such a personal level. We arrived at the shop early in the morning for the staff meeting, then loaded up the boat we were using for the day. Kathy arrived shortly and we all hopped on board and slowly motored out to the dive site. The whole time, Cristina reviewed important things to keep in mind, things to focus on and what to expect. After tying up to the mooring, we slowly geared up in the Neptunic chainmail and after a few more reminders, Kathy and Cristina hopped in the water and I waited on board with the captain, Donlop. After 45 minutes or so, the two ladies surfaced and climbed back onto the boat. Cristina debriefed the dive with Kathy while I slowly finished gearing up for my chance to hop in. My time had come and I was nervous and excited all at once. We quickly hopped in the water and made our way down the descent line. It was interesting to dive in the chain mail. It’s quite heavy (about 20 lbs) and rests on your body/shoulders in a different way, and you sink like a stone with all the weight. Upon reaching the sandy bottom, we removed our fins and began the dance.

Cristina walked right by my side, each of us holding the feeding tube. I started by just slowly pacing up and down, watching the sharks, letting them move around me, letting myself relax and breath and get in the moment. After a little while, Cristina encouraged me to start petting the sharks. You have to confidently reach out at a shark swimming up to you, being sure to place your hand on top of their head, not in front of their nose, which is where you place the fish to feed the sharks. We walked back and forth alongside the little wreck in the sand, reaching out to pet sharks, just letting ourselves be immersed in the flow. Cristina would occasionally remind me to stand up straighter, stop looking down, or simply relax a bit more and the more I walked, the more comfortable I became. She asked if I wanted to feed and I handed her the feeding tube, thinking that I wanted to see from this new perspective how she did it. So as we continued to walk, Cristina started to feed the sharks and it looked very different when standing by her side. The sharks didn’t look like they were bombarding her all at once – it became much more rhythmic and pattern-like and I began to see it more as an organized movement then the free-for-all it had originally seemed to be. While Cristina was feeding and petting, I let myself just let go and relax among these beautiful predators. It was magical to be surrounded by these graceful animals and feel their calm energy, letting it calm me and letting myself enjoy and smile and appreciate this dive.  After a few more minutes, Cristina turned to me and held out the feeding tube. Feeling empowered by Cristina’s confidence I stuck my arm down the tube and grasped the mackerel by the head. I looked out, observing the sharks as they swam towards me. I remembered Cristina telling us how we should pick one shark and follow it, if it swims to you and is in a good position, you can feed it. But don’t look at all the sharks at once, for it will just be confusing and overwhelming. I found my shark, about 10 feet away. I followed it with my eyes as it meandered closer and as it got just a few feet away, I whipped the fish out and placed it right in front of the shark’s nose. Chomp! Just like that, the shark nabbed the fish and swam right on past. Eyes wide with excitement, I looked over at Cristina, who smiled at my through her regulator and nodded her head. I kept walking, looking and petting sharks. I reached my hand down into the tube and grasped the last fish. I watched and focused. A few sharks I singled out swam close but were in bad position to feed, so I let them go by. Finally, I locked my gaze on a shark and as it came towards me I pulled the fish out in front of the nose and a happy shark swallowed the fish down. I looked over at Cristina, who was smiling again. I motioned that we were out of fish and we spent a few more minutes petting the sharks who slowly circled around us. We eventually headed back to our fins, then began our ascent to the line, completed our safety stop, and climbed back on the boat. I was grinning from ear to ear like a goof, so energized by my dive. We took a nice surface interval while Cristina spoke more with Kathy, going over what to expect for the second dive. After a little break, the two ladies suited up and hopped in the water. I would only be doing one dive today because of time restraints, so while the second dive was underway, I stripped out of the chainmail and broke down my gear. I couldn’t stop thinking about the dive I just had – recalling the feelings of peace and relaxation I had amongst the sharks as well as the feeling of power and confidence I had when I fed the sharks. It was a complete shift from my feelings of hesitation and nervousness that morning.

 

Friday was a new day and I was feeling much more empowered by my dive the day before, as well as having spent another evening getting to know Cristina better and feeding off her confident energy. The morning was dark and stormy, and as we got into UNEXSO to start the day, nearby thunder and lightning gave us reason to postpone the morning dive for an hour to let the weather pass. The last thing you want to do is be dressed in chainmail on a boat in the ocean in the middle of a lightning storm. At ten o’clock, the storm had passed and we loaded up on the boat and headed out to Shark Junction. Cristina briefed Kathy on the new goals for the day and when they arrived at the dive site, they geared up and hopped in without much fussing around. I waited on the boat with the captain, chatting and getting to learn more about life as a dive guide in the Bahamas. 50 minutes later, Kathy and Cristina surfaced and while they had their surface interval, Kathy decided that her last shark feeding dive would be postponed until Saturday, as she had guests from her dive shop in Seattle coming in and wanted to feed in front of them. With this new change in plan, we nixed my dive for the day and headed back to the shop in time for lunch. Cristina had a friend, Eddy, coming in that afternoon so I hung out at the apartment as Cristina picked him up from the airport. When Eddy got in, we ran to grab a coffee and chat, then headed to a beach to splash around for a little while the sun was still in the sky.

Saturday was another day of diving! Because the shark-feeding dive wasn’t until the afternoon, I spent the morning getting to know Eddy better. Eddy is a long-term friend of Cristina’s, who was born and raised in the Bahamas, worked at UNEXSO for several years, has worked on a variety of coral restoration projects and is also an underwater photographer/videographer. We were originally going to hang out with Cristina as well, but at the last minute she had to help with the dolphin experience dive, so had to work for the morning. After relaxing at the apartment and sending some emails and editing photos, Eddy and I grabbed a quick lunch in the Port Lucaya Square, and I headed to UNEXSO for the afternoon dive. I met Cristina on the boat. She was busy getting Kathy ready for the upcoming dive, so I got my gear set up and chatted with the crew and some of the guests. When everyone had loaded up on the boat, we slowly motored out to Shark Junction. Cristina once again gave her thorough briefing to all the guests, explaining to them what they should expect and how they should act underwater. After a 15 minute ride, we had reached the site and everyone geared up and got ready to hop in the water. One by one we splashed in and worked our way down the line and over to the small wreck, where we kneeled in a line, shoulder to shoulder. Moments later, Cristina and Kathy descended in front of us, removed their fins, and began to walk. Cristina stood back as Kathy paced back and forth, petting sharks to start and eventually starting to feed a few.

After about 10 minutes or so, Cristina took over the feeding and spent the rest of the dive in the beautiful dance with her babies. After another 10 minutes or so, she finished up the feeding and headed back to the boat while the rest of us divers searched for shark teeth then came up for our safety stop.  On the boat, Cristina debriefed the dive, congratulating Kathy on her work well done feeding the sharks, and we headed back to the shop. Eddy had cooked dinner for us that evening and we ate early, as I wanted to join the night dive and Cristina had to go back to the shop to monitor the dive.  I had a blast on the dive – we dove on a small wreck called “Papadoc” and the amount of reef life we saw at night was incredible – basket stars, sleeping fish, octopi, and so much more!  It was a week packed full of adventures, and my time in the Bahamas could not have gotten off to a better start.

One of the lessons I learned quickly after just a day with Cristina is her mantra “The harder I work the luckier I get.” Cristina explained to me that she often has a lot of people say to her “Oh, you’re so lucky to work with sharks and dive for a job and live in the Bahamas!” (or things along those lines). She told me that she’s started replying back “Oh yes, the harder I work, the luckier I get!” And she couldn’t be more correct – Cristina has worked hard and sacrificed so much to pursue a life she loves, but people often don’t see the work, just the end results. To have her constantly repeating that saying really made an impact on me – when it comes down to it in life, the people we see as “lucky” for having such “perfect” lives have actually worked and sacrificed much more than we will know to achieve that life. The best way in life to be lucky is to work your butt off to achieve the goals you want, not stand back and hope someone will hand you the things you want. It is a simple enough lesson, but one that I realized I need to take to heart each and every day as I reach towards my own personal goals.  It had barely been 5 days, but the amount I had learned from Cristina had been much more than I expected. I was beyond stoked to see where the rest of my time with Cristina would take me.