Tiger shark video, Bahamas

:: Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 @ 11:51:10 pm

:: Tags: Photo, Travel, Video

UPDATE If you are looking for tiger shark videos, I have posted a medley of the best footage I have, compiled from longer clips.

This is my first trip shooting video (trip details), and while we’re docked here at West End for the evening (running away from bad weather), I thought I’d try uploading a little video snippet. The uploaded video looks pretty bad and it almost pains me to share it this way, but… what the hell. :)

We’re at the end of a line hanging from M/V Shear Water (live-aboard dive vessel), in a 2-3 knot current (really ripping). The tiger sharks in this video are between 10 and 14 feet long, and you can see bull sharks swimming around in the background. I got out of the water shortly after this encounter — I was really at my limits here. From the video, it’s not apparent how big these sharks are, and we could barely keep ourselves on the line! I remember thinking (when I jumped in), “hmmm. i wish I had a tether for this new camera system…” ;)

If you can’t see the movie below, you can see it at YouTube or at Google Video. Or, you can download a much better version thanks to bandwidth provided by Wags.

See more shark images at my travel page (specifically, check out Bahamas, French Polynesia, Galapagos, and Guadalupe journals).

I’m shooting with a Sony Z1u in a Light & Motion Bluefin HD housing, which has been wonderful so far. It took two dives to get the trim weights set properly, and I already feel at home in the water with it. The housing is stable and nearly neutral, underwater, and (obviously) I’ve shot much more stable video than represented above. :)

Photo of me, by Alex Mustard

By the way, Adobe Premiere Pro has crappy export features for the web. I exported Quicktime H.264 and then uploaded to YouTube, which further crappified the video. I’m also on a slow connection at the moment. So… apologies for the poor video quality!

| Popularity: 8% | West End, Bahamas | link | trackback | Mar 14, 2006 23:51:10

:: 9 comments (rss)

1. posted by stchatterbox on Wed, March 15, 2006 @ 4:37 am

   Eric, the quality isn’t that bad. Are you nervous when taking this video in front of these “monsters”??

2. posted by echeng on Wed, March 15, 2006 @ 8:26 am

   I normally don’t get nervous when I’m around sharks, but I was this time around. :)

3. posted by eric on Wed, March 15, 2006 @ 8:59 am

   wow.

   well personally, i always experience the greatest anxiety when asking them to sign the release form for the video. i mean it’s only polite to offer to place the pen between their teeth.

4. posted by Jim on Thu, March 16, 2006 @ 4:19 pm

   What, no sound? You need big menacing roars. ‘RAWWRRR!’ something like that. Cause we all know sharks sound like that and that sound waves move rilly awesomely through water.

   Uh… yeah. ;)

5. posted by Dave P on Fri, March 17, 2006 @ 12:32 am

   Very cool. They looked interested in you. I’m curious why this experience was more unnerving vs. being bumped by multiple sharks during a feeding…was it just the size of them?

6. posted by Marty on Sat, March 18, 2006 @ 4:18 pm

   Very cool, I can imagine they’re easily twice as big in real life. A bit scary especially when you see one of them roll his eyelid back getting ready for a strike?

7. posted by echeng on Sun, March 19, 2006 @ 10:32 pm

   Man. You guys are going to LOVE the video I got on the rest of the trip. I’ll upload as soon as I sleep, go through customs, fly home, and have a suitable internet connection. :)

8. posted by echeng on Mon, March 20, 2006 @ 10:28 am

   Here we go! more videos here. I also have footage of bull sharks, which i’ll post when i have more time!

9. posted by martys on Mon, March 20, 2006 @ 11:25 pm

   PLEEEASE bring these to Palau with you!

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