Dive Review of Bahamas Master in
Caribbean (General)/Bahamas

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Bahamas Master: "Close Encounters with Lots of Sharks !!", Mar, 2023, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 101 reports with 63 Helpful votes). Report 12376.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This dive trip aboard the Bahamas Master was from February 27 thru March 8 out of Freeport, Grand Bahama. The schedule required an overnight stay in Fort Lauderdale on the way out. After boarding the vessel on 2/27, we motored down to Bimini Island for our encounter with Great Hammerheads. We spent 3 days with the hammerheads along with several large nurse sharks and a juvenile tiger shark. We had several very close encounters with the hammerheads along with the experience of “petting” nurse sharks. The lone tiger shark would quickly come and go. We also dived a couple of wrecks and did a reef dive. On 3/2, we did not have much action for hammerheads, so the cruise director advised that the winds would be increasing and suggested that we should move north to Tiger Beach. He failed to tell us that the dive area around Bimini was more protected from the weather than Tiger Beach. Bimini would have calmer seas and probably would have allowed us to dive on 3/3. So the evening of 3/2 we motored up to Tiger Beach. The morning of 3/3 greeted us with strong winds and high seas. As a result we we not able to get into the water for 1 1/2 days. We resumed diving the afternoon of 3/4, missing about 6 dives. The crew attempted to makeup for some of the lost dives by adding extra dives to the schedule. During our 4 1/2 days of diving at Tiger Beach, we experienced many, many very close encounters with several very large tiger sharks. There were as many as 8 tiger sharks on a single dive. We also enjoyed lemon sharks, bull sharks and Caribbean reef sharks. A large great barracuda also hung around to pick up the bait scraps. A tiger shark named “Spicy” momentarily took my camera rig in her mouth a couple of times. Fortunately, she quickly released it leaving only teeth marks in the float blocks. She also pulled the fiber optic cable out of the housing. Another diver was not so lucky. Spicy took his camera rig by the dome port releasing it a few feet away. Unfortunately, his acrylic port now has Spicy’s teeth marks embedded in it. The dives with the sharks generally lasted 45 minutes kneeling on the bottom. The 16 divers on the trip were divided into 2 groups. In order to secure the divers into the sandy bottom, a lot of extra weight is required to be worn. For example, I would normally be using about 6-8 pounds of weights. For the shark dives, I was wearing close to 30 pounds. The sharks dives were in shallow water; at Bimini, in about 40’; at Tiger Beach in about 25’. So with shallow depth, a sandy bottom and sunny conditions, strobes and video lights were not really necessary. This made for lots of video clips and photos. At times the photo ops. were a bit frustrated by the stirred up sandy bottom and also by the ubiquitous jacks surrounding the bait box. The reef dives were done via a “live” drop and pickup that required all the divers entering and exiting the water at about the same time. So it is really just a very large, guided group dive. One cannot take any real time for photos or go at one’s own pace. The Bahamas Master is a relatively small-ish live-aboard. I had a single cabin with very limited space for clothes and other stuff. In addition, after boarding and unpacking, luggage is stored below deck making it a bit inconvenient to retrieve anything later. The shower and toilet are in the same small space. So one can literally shit, shower and shave in the same little room. (Be sure to toss the TP on the bunk before showering.) All meals are served buffet style with made-to-order eggs for breakfast. No pancakes, waffles or pastries were offered. Food was plentiful but lacking variety and not what I would describe as savory or flavorful. The meat dishes were often over-cooked. Beer, wine and spirits were available on a honor system. The dive boat has an interior camera room with limited space. There were several large camera rigs on this trip so this area was a bit cramped. This is also where camera and strobe batteries are charged. The dive deck has limited space for cameras on some narrow shelves and atop the boat’s freezers. The Bahamas Master staff and dive crew were always very friendly and helpful. The dive briefings were very thorough with an emphasis on safety. The dive team was very skilled at handling multiple sharks. I never really felt anxious although literally within inches of some very large tiger sharks. It was a great trip; a vey unique experience. Lots of very close encounters with some very large sharks. It does get a bit repetitive so for me it is a “must do once” type of dive trip.
Websites	Bahamas Master
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae
Closest Airport	FPO	Getting There	In order to make dive boat departure, had to overnight in FLL on the way there.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp	76-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive times were a strict 45 minutes per group following a very tight schedule.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	See Above.

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Dive Review of Bahamas Master in Caribbean (General)/Bahamas

Bahamas Master: "Close Encounters with Lots of Sharks !!", Mar, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Bahamas Master in
Caribbean (General)/Bahamas