Epic footage of 700 sharks feeding at night at Fakarava, French Polynesia

This half-hour documentary about the Gombessa IV expedition to Fakarava is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It features what is likely the most exciting hunting-shark video ever captured, and also will give you a glimpse into the sort of dedication that is required to get it. I watched it by playing it on my iPhone and using AirPlay to mirror to an AppleTV connected to a big display. It’s worth the effort it takes to watch it on a big screen.

I was with Laurent Ballesta and the Blancpain-sponsored team during part of the Gombessa II expedition in 2014 (much of the footage in the documentary looks to have been shot during Gombessa II), and it was an honor to get to hang out a bit with the team while we were there.

Also interesting is the Gombessa IV video blog. It features mostly Laurent as a talking head as the team visits Toau and Apataki, but it’s a super raw look at the day to day realities of expedition life.

The video above is a YouTube playlist I made with 9 of the 10 episodes; the series on YouTube is missing Episode 8, but you can find it directly on the Blancpain website.

During that 2014 trip to Fakarava, I shot a video of the 700 sharks in the pass:

Also available are a few photos from the trip.

Finally, this is sort of historical footage by now, but here’s a video of me, Douglas Seifert, and Ron & Valerie Taylor diving with sharks at Apataki in raging current in 2005: