Sleeping sharks

We are in the Bahamas and we are going to dive with sharks, the ordinary Caribbean Reef shark (Carcharhinas perezi). Before we have dived one week with Jim Abernathy on de M/V Shearwater and we are used to lemon sharks, reef sharks and even big tiger sharks. I am not blasé, but I have the wrong kind of self-confidence and a feeling of: nothing can happen to me...
Well, we will see about that!

Christina:
We are going to feeds the sharks, both my buddies are wearing a kind of iron suit, made of small metal rings. The suit is so heavy; they do not need any weight. The suits are also very expensive therefore there are only two. That means I have to stay at the distance, I am not supposed to swim around and certainly not get any closer. These severe instructions are coming from Christina Zenato, dive instructor with the Unexso (Underwater Explorers Society) diving school at Grand Bahama. Christina is a small person of Italian ancestry. Her suit is too big for her; she makes it fit with ducktape, real handy! Also her air hoses are protected with metal wire similar to a shower hose.

Shark feeding:
I do not contradict her, because she is the shark feeding lady. I admire her already. This respect is going to grow, as she not only lures the shark with bait, also as soon as a shark swims straight at her, she grabs the shark nose gently and starts stroking with her metal glove. The shark stops swimming, it seems like it falls asleep and she drops it gently in her lap. Sometimes the shark stays in trance for several minutes. This is an unknown phenomena and it has a name: tonic immobility. During first dive (we make 4 in two days) Christina grabs the shark with one hand by the back fin and the other by the snout and lifts it up and walks it over to us, it was a real present! My buddy starts stroking; I am more focused on taking pictures. Now she is here, I have a sleeping shark in front of me, this is my chance....

When Christina is feeding, it is very busy around her: sharks, jack and big snappers. They all swim around her, afraid to miss a bit of food. But as soon as a shark offers itself and goes in trance, she drops the bin with bait, sits down on her knees and holds the shark. All the fish go in a 'quiet' mode and swim slower and in bigger circles. They know very well, there is no feeding now...

Tonic immobility
It is fascinating to watch, even after 2 days I don't get bored. Still it is not enough and we tease her to try harder: can she also put a shark upside down, with the tail up? Yes, as a typical Italian she accepts the challenge! As the shark is bigger than she is, it towers over her head! This is the Aha moment!

After the dives I have a lot of questions for her:
Q: I only see female sharks, are there also male?
A: There are a few male sharks, but not many compared to the female population.
Q: Do they go somewhere else to mate?
A: They usually go to more shallow, secluded, mangrove areas and mate there.
Q: Is it always the same sharks?
A: Most of them, yes. I have started a dive dairy with notes about numbers, behavior, weather, moods, all of that. And next week I am starting with photographic cataloging of the sharks to prove that there is a basic population with a few different ones through the year.
Q: Do you sometimes see pregnant female sharks:
A: Yes, for sure, you can see them on the dive, especially when the term is coming to an end.
Q: It is said on television Tonic Immobility has some thing to do with mating?
A: No our tonic has nothing to do with mating, which in sharks is not gentle. That’s what makes the tonic I do so incredible. I do not force the sharks; they just come gently and let themselves be pet. There is no grabbing, biting, holding and twisting…
Q: What is t.i. exactly?
A: Nobody really knows. I call it “sensory overload”. I have not found it in the books and there is very little literature about tonic in general. I have observed in my sharks that they are still very alert, totally aware of things going on around them.
Q: How do they get the wounds?
A: Some wounds are mating bites. The male bites the female to keep hold of her as they do not have any hands to insert the claspers and mate. The female shark skin is thicker and tougher then the male. Fishermen leave behind hooks and lines. Sometimes the hooks and lines dig deep into the skin and cause infections. One of the worse wounds I saw caused by it was a line was creating a dig into the animal pectoral fin. I removed the line and the wound healed in two weeks.
Q: Do they sometimes fight?
A: No they do not fight like other animals. Females pick the males to mate by testing their strength and resisting the mating attempts till they find a male that can hold them and push them in deeper water. I have seen sharks go into frenzy and biting at everything trying to reach for a wounded prey, in that instance they might bite each other, but I have never seen major damages caused by those bites.
Q: This tonic immobility is always with female sharks?
A: No, I can obtain tonic with males, but it is few and far between.

There is a shark with a hook in its mouth; the fishing line is trailing along the body. Christina tries to get the shark in tonic, to get the hook out of its mouth. But this shark is not willing and avoids the hands that try to help her. We feel sorry for this animal, but unable to end the suffering. Who likes fishermen?

As I was not allowed to swim around, I had ample time to observe what was going on. There are several sharks with cuts and bruises. Sometimes they come close to me, as I sit in their route, but they do not show any interest in me. I probably do not smell nice. Around the corner, somewhere behind me is a green moray underneath a rock, my only company!

Cornered
At the end of the dive I swim in a relaxed way behind the ‘metal suit divers’, on the way to the anchor line. All of a sudden there are 3 reef sharks, circling around me. They look me straight in the eye and are getting closer and closer. My adrenaline level is rising and I am hesitating what to do? Just continue swimming and ignore the big (up close they look a lot bigger)? Of shall I make a threatening movement with my camera? Or would that incite an attack? What do I do against 3 sharks? Where are the others? Why am I alone? Is there nobody to save me? I decide not to panic, not to do anything crazy. Just continue swimming, like I enjoy the unwelcome company… Just look back into the cold eyes, Jim already taught me never to show fear: impressive behavior is one of their methods... and it works, I arrive at the anchor line unharmed. The tree of us go up together. Later I tell Christina what happened to me and I admit I felt uneasy and a little ‘cornered’. She says I must have swum in the scent of the baitfish; that is why I got the unexpected attention.

The first weekend, after I come home, I see Christina on television, she is really famous! And I feel honored I was diving with her…