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Encounter:
Big beefy bull
sharks! Sometimes just a handful but normally a dozen or so large female bull
sharks attend the feed which takes place in 80 feet of water just a five minute
boat ride away from Playa Del Carmen's main beach. The record number of bull
sharks stands at 26 which must have been a chaotic encounter for the feeder.
Divers follow the
feeder down to the sandy sea floor and secure themselves to whatever rocks they
can find to avoid being bowled over by the strong currents which are prevalent
in this area. The feeder carries a bucket filled with fish scraps and hand feeds
the bull sharks without the use of chainmail or any other protection.
The sharks are
reliably present between November and March but they seem to be staying a little
longer each year. The visibility in the area is generally good and compared to
other bull shark feeds like the one in Fiji, there are fewer baitfish to wreck
your photos.
This is a great feed;
easy to get too, action packed and guaranteed unless the weather kicks up.
Operators:
The bull shark feed was pioneered by Jorge Loria aka 'Chino'. Chino is a very friendly guy
and a true sharkoholic. He is the owner/operator of Phantom Divers in down town
Playa del Carmen. He is in the process of developing a program that will
employ satellite tags to find out more about where the bull sharks go between
April and October.
If you want to dive
with bull sharks among a group of shark fanatics, try booking a trip through
Shark Diver Magazine. Eli Martinez the Editor of SDM now runs reader trips over
the winter to Playa specifically to dive with the bulls each day. SDM trips tend
to be a little more intense than your average 'dive trip with a shark dive
tacked on'. Go to the Shark Diver
Magazine website for more details.
Accommodation: Playa is a Mecca for divers
and other vacationers from the US and Europe so accommodation options abound in
all price ranges. For those that like an easy life there is a small and basic hotel right at Phantom Divers' shop. Contact
Phantom for more details:
info@phantomdivers.com
Useful Links:
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