Bahamas Question

  • Really? I lived in Nassau for 3 months. I dove 2-3 times a week and every dive I saw sharks, sometimes as soon as I'd get in the water from the beach in 10ft of water, on the north and south coast. They'd attack fish I shot and take fish off my float. I don't mind shooting fish with a sling, but I don't feel comfortable having to deal with sharks with a sling. Risky place to dive with or without a speargun IMO.

  • I spear around once a month in Bahamas. Have seen many many sharks in the outer islands of all types and sizes. Been buzzed many times with fish on the spear. Have seen very few off Nassau recently. Just got back from a 5 day trip spearing around Nassau (4 of us). Between all of us we saw 1 Reef shark. Plenty of Nurse but nothing really else.

  • I was in nassau in march and only saw one shark out deep that ate a tuna we had on H&l. They all gravitate to the tourist feedings now on the one side of the island.

  • Ya man. I was beach diving from Clifton pier and came upon a cage sitting on the bottom, didn't understand what it was doing there until weeks later. Some people on a boat saw me diving and asked what I was doing, when I said spearfishing they looked like they thought I was crazy. But what a nice place to dive and spear. So rich with life and pretty wrecks at just the right depth.


    Googling for pics of Clifton pier I stumbled on this article http://sharkattackmonitor.wordpress.com/tag/clifton-pier/.


  • Really? I lived in Nassau for 3 months. I dove 2-3 times a week and every dive I saw sharks, sometimes as soon as I'd get in the water from the beach in 10ft of water, on the north and south coast. They'd attack fish I shot and take fish off my float. I don't mind shooting fish with a sling, but I don't feel comfortable having to deal with sharks with a sling. Risky place to dive with or without a speargun IMO.


    Dan, you are ballsy for using a float in Bahamas. A little too hectic for me mate.

  • Ya man. I was beach diving from Clifton pier and came upon a cage sitting on the bottom, didn't understand what it was doing there until weeks later. Some people on a boat saw me diving and asked what I was doing, when I said spearfishing they looked like they thought I was crazy. But what a nice place to dive and spear. So rich with life and pretty wrecks at just the right depth.


    Googling for pics of Clifton pier I stumbled on this article Clifton Pier | Shark Attack Monitor.


    http://sharkattackmonitor.file…_human_remains2.jpg?w=450


    I had heard so many stories of Clifton. Locals and divers had both told stories of monster sharks including Tigers prowling that area. Had never dived it until this last trip but saw very little. I dont know if it was the weather or something else but was acctually quite void of life.You are right, great depth with a lot of great structure.

  • Ya man. I was beach diving from Clifton pier and came upon a cage sitting on the bottom, didn't understand what it was doing there until weeks later. Some people on a boat saw me diving and asked what I was doing, when I said spearfishing they looked like they thought I was crazy. But what a nice place to dive and spear. So rich with life and pretty wrecks at just the right depth.


    Googling for pics of Clifton pier I stumbled on this article Clifton Pier | Shark Attack Monitor.


    http://sharkattackmonitor.file…_human_remains2.jpg?w=450


    That is Hectic!!!!

  • I didn't have a purpose made float, so I used whatever I could find, must've been a 2L soda bottle. After reaching shore with just fish heads on my stringer and not even feeling a tug, I switched to an inner tube with a cooler stuck in it. It had too much drag. My 2nd outing at Clifton pier after discovering the wall, keep in mind this is swimming out from the beach and not having a clue what this area is used for. I thought the wall was just great as there was fish traffic along it. The very first fish I shot (with a sling) was nice size, so he took the shaft to the bottom, I was going to play him from the top with the line nice and easy I thought. Instantly out of the gloom of the wall 3 sharks converged on the fish. It happened so fast I didn't know what to do. Looked like a three tailed monster writhing on my spear. I never swam backwards so fast and hard in my life. On subsequent outings I'd only go as far as one wreck that I knew was about 50 yards from the wall.

  • Hardcore! Yes, unfortunately it has obviously changed quite a bit. There was also a fair amount of garbage in the water around the pier.

  • Really? I lived in Nassau for 3 months. I dove 2-3 times a week and every dive I saw sharks, sometimes as soon as I'd get in the water from the beach in 10ft of water, on the north and south coast. They'd attack fish I shot and take fish off my float. I don't mind shooting fish with a sling, but I don't feel comfortable having to deal with sharks with a sling. Risky place to dive with or without a speargun IMO.




    you might as well go drop kick a hornets nest and a killer bees nest at the same time floating your fish in the bahamas.

  • Well I had no idea of the situation there. My only previous spearfishing experience has been in Cuba and there sharks are very rare to see diving from shore. The Bahamas stint was about 10 years ago.


    Chalk it up to a learning experience :thumbsup2:

  • It's depressing to see how much our Ocean can change in 10 years. What is it going to be like when our children are in the water??

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