Where:
I still remember the first time I saw a shark on a dive. With visions of the entertainment industry version of sharks in my head – it was frightening and exciting at the same time. Curiosity got the better of me and as I came to learn the important role sharks play in the ocean, I realized I wanted to see more. That has led me to places like Galapagos and Socorro to dive with sharks and try to bring home images and stories about these amazing creatures. There’s something special about being in the water with a group of sharks watching them in their environment. Beqa Lagoon in Fiji is another of those special places to observe and learn about sharks.
Located in the South Pacific, Fiji has over 330 islands which are famous for rugged landscapes, beautiful beaches, stunning coral reefs and abundant marine life. Vita Levu is one of the two larger islands and home to the capital city of Suva and the international airport in Nadi. On the southern shore of Vita Levu is the Beqa Lagoon which is consistently rated as one of the top shark diving opportunities in the world. It was the chance to observe several shark species in one location and spend time photographing vibrant soft corals that drew me to Fiji.
Fijian culture and sharks:
The Fijian people have a deep cultural connection to sharks. According to local legend, one of the Gods, Dakuwaqa, takes the form of a shark. For this reason, most Fijians do not eat shark meat, as they fear they may anger the Gods, leaving them without protection from other sharks in the ocean. For generations, fishermen returning to Viti Levu would throw fish heads into the sea, as an offering to Dukuwaqa.
The subject of tourism based on visitor engagement with marine life is a challenging one. There are easily as many success stories as there are instances of unethical interactions that at best somehow alter the natural behaviours of the marine life in question or at worst result in harm to either the marine life, the visitor, operator or all three. The success stories have some consistent themes:
- Safe and ethical treatment of marine life
- Safety for operators and visitors
- Benefits to the local economy to offset the inevitible changes in local practices to protect/preserve or enable the interaction;
- Oversight of and studies to measure impact and benefits over time.
With a stated mission to protect, conserve and educate, Aqua-Trek began diving out of their location in Pacific Harbour and in 1999 formed the Aqua-Trek Fiji Shark Conservation and Sustainable Tourism Program. Their close work with the Fijian government and local villages to protect reefs in Beqa Lagoon resulted in Shark Reef, Lake Reef and the barrier reef being declared Marine Protected Areas. Each diver pays a marine park fee which goes directly to education and community improvement programs. Many of the Aqua-Trek staff are from the local villages making this the first combined marine conservation and sustainable tourism program in Fiji. Recognizing the risk that shark populations face world wide from finning and unsustainable fishing, Aqua-Trek continues to advocate for a ban on the sale of shark products and shark finning in Fiji.https://www.aquatrek.com/about-us
The Dives:
Diving Beqa Lagoon was the start of a ten day underwater photography workshop with Bluewater Travel https://www.bluewaterdivetravel.com/. I will share more on the entire trip in my next blog. Our home for this part of the workshop was the Waidroka Bay Resort https://www.waidroka.com/. Waidroka Bay resort has its own dive shop on site and works with Aqua-Trek to provide the shark dives for their clients. The night before our first shark dive we had a detailed safety presentation including information on the shark species we would see and a great talk by our photography workshop leaders to help set us up to get the best possible stills and video over the course of our two days of shark dives.
Dive safety began well before we got to the dive site. To keep the divers from inadvertently looking like a bait fish, no white gear or substantially white wet suits or dive skins were allowed. Video lights (constant light) were not permitted as they could stress the sharks. I am aware that other shark dives do not permit strobes for still photography, however they were allowed here as they have not been observed to bother sharks at this location. We would be kneeling behind a small wall of rocks with instructions that we were not to stand up or raise arms or cameras above head height. Dive-masters with rounded poles which reminded me of shepherd hooks, would be behind us watching to be sure both the divers and sharks followed the safety rules.
The dive site is like a natural bowl with a small wreck and section of reef with lots of fish life and coral. Entry and exit to the feeding site was strictly controlled as it was important that we enter and exit as a tight group and staying close to our dive-masters. Once we were out of the feeding area we were able to spend a few minutes exploring the wreck depending on an individual’s available air and no decompression limit.
We had four dives with the sharks at Beqa Lagoon and I had put a lot of thought into my goals for those dives. Not surprisingly one of my goals was to get as many images as I could of individual sharks with an uncluttered background, well lit, minimal backscatter you know – the perfect image. I also hoped to be able to capture some shots that told the story of the experience showing the variety and number of sharks and how divers were organized to keep the sharks and divers safe.
This was more challenging than I’d expected due the number of sharks and smaller fish all waiting for an opportunity to sample the bait, the volume of particulate in the water and trying to avoid lighting issues with strobe lights from photographers near me flashing at the same time I was shooting. Even though its been months since this trip, I am still going through images and will continue to post them as I work through editing. These dives also reminded me that in the right conditions (or challenging conditions!) sometimes ambient light is your better option.
These dives exceeded my expectations for the number of sharks and our ability to observe them at a close but respectful distance. Throughout each dive the sharks made enough passes that you could start to identify them individually and observe their various markings and scars. I saw a few with hooks or leaders in their mouths. As long as they do not interfere with their ability to feed, these will usually corrode and fall out. Despite the size of the marine protected area, sharks are highly migratory leaving them at risk of fishing operations outside of the protected area.
While I had plans for the images I wanted to capture, there are times when you simply have to put the camera down and observe and appreciate what is in front of you. Sharks or their early ancestors have been on earth since long before dinosaurs and it was roughly 150 million years ago that the shark species that exist today began to evolve. I found that I wanted to take time to simply watch and appreciate how long this species has lived and evolved and reflect on the important role they play in our oceans. And then one of the would do something cool and it would be time to pick up the camera again.
Need to know:
This dive takes place at 85 feet (26 meters) which requires close monitoring of decompression limits. The action can certainly increase your respiration rate too! Anyone considering this dive should be able to manage task load, maintain buoyancy and be able to stay focused on and follow direction of the dive-masters. Unlike other dives on this trip, I didn’t experience any current at all on the shark dives however we had particularly calm weather both days.
This isn’t an active dive so you can’t count on movement to help stay warm. I wore a 5 mm wetsuit and was comfortable whereas others were happy in shorties and skins. On this dive, I added 2 lbs extra weight as I preferred to dive heavy. Other than the restriction I noted above regarding white clothing and gear there is nothing else special (outside your chosen camera gear) that I feel is needed for this dive.
Camera Tips:
As for my camera set up. I was using my Canon R5 which is a full frame mirrorless camera in an Aquatica Digital housing. https://aquatica.ca/ I was using an 8 ” dome port and two Ikelite DS 160 strobes on manual. Initially I had planned to use my 8-15 fish eye lens. I found after the first day it was too wide for the action and how close I was relative to other photographers. With the fish eye, I found it hard to get my strobes wide enough and angled enough to avoid backscatter. Yes, you can crop most any image (or fix in post) and while Canon’s fish eye is a fantastic lens, I wasn’t happy with the quality of images what I was getting. The second day I switched to my 16-35 and was much happier with the results. With that lens I find I have more flexibility in positioning my strobes. That said, others swear by the fish eye so perhaps the issue is with my technique?
How to visit:
Fiji Airways has great options departing Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Flying from Toronto, it was an easy two legs flying first to Los Angeles with a short layover then overnight to Fiji. While Fiji airways has a great inflight experience, they are very strict on carry on baggage. With a 15 pound limit, its impossible to bring much in the way of camera gear with you in the cabin. They will weigh your bags to don’t feel you can “hide” weight in a back pack. What that does mean is loading the plane is quite civilized and I had no problem finding space in an overhead bin.
Flying into Nadi International Airport, Waidroka Bay Resort provided a shuttle service for the roughly two hour trip to the resort.
Wrap up:
This trip really reminded my of what draws me to diving. The colours and textures of the world below the surface – the chance to spend time with marine life and the chance to continue learning. The opportunity that comes from spending time with sharks and do my small part to support the shark conservation efforts in Fiji at the same time was a win all around. Fiji has so much to offer both above and below land and I can’t wait to go back. Watch for my next blog where I share my experiences from diving Fiji’s beautiful reefs and some of the best soft corals in the world.
