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Moorings
Blackbeard Cruises, along with Bimini Undersea Adventures and Sea Fever, were the first to install moorings on dive sites in the Bahamas. Dan Doyle of the Sea Dragon recently developed a mooring drill that uses scuba tanks. Using it, we are able to install a mooring in 30 minutes, allowing us to install a mooring while you are making a dive. Each of our boats has one of these drills, so we hope to have moorings on most of our sites by next year.
9 Day Cruises
Each year we operate two 9 day trips, one in late January and the other in late November. These trips depart Miami for Nassau on Saturday and then return to Miami by Sunday morning a week later. In addition to a night in Nassau they will dive, weather permitting, the Bimini area, the Berries, Andros, Exumas and Nassau.
Ballet of the Loggerhead
Passenger Rick Murchison captured this graceful dance of a very old loggerhead turtle while diving with us October 18-24th, 2003. Divers enjoyed a curious exchange with the prima ballerina and Rick got it all on tape for us to see. Pirate's Lady passengers as well as Morning Star and Sea Explorer passengers see turtles each week in the western Bahamas.
Table Manners: The Grazing Habit of Sharks
What exactly is it that makes a hungry shark salivate? Here are some actual examples of the food found in the stomachs of various species: Nurse Shark - Prawns, lobsters, cuttlefish & sea urchins. Bull Shark - Pieces of shar, ray, shads, crabs, mackerel and the fin of a porpoise. Tiger Shark - Head of a porpoise, a small hammerhead, a large turtle. Mako Shark - A number of bluefish. Hammerhead - Mackerel, dephalopods, crabs and various other crustaceans.
It may be of interest (and comfort) to know that, due to the design of their jaws, sharks must feed upward, and so are generally not a threat to submerged divers. Surfers, however, are another story. (By Kelly Black in Arizona Diving News)
To those unfamiliar with the day to day patterns and behavior of shark, it seems almost unfathomable that anyone would willingly put oneself close to them. This, however, is precisely what our passengers do every week. Since we started shark dives in 1992, there have been no incidents of customers being bitten. There are no records of divers being bitten in the Bahamas other than those that were that tried to grab or touch a shark, were spearfishing or were hand-feeding sharks. While the Cat Ppalu doesn't feed the sharks, we do the dive at a spot where the sharks are fed, so you will see plenty of sharks.
While humans are seldom at risk from shark attacks, sharks are under serious threat from humans. Shark populations have suffered large declines because of humans. The demand from Asia for shark fins traditionally used for making soup, has led to the slaughter of many sharks by fisherman. The fishermen remove the fins and discard the rest of the body. A typical shark takes 3-4 years to reach sexual maturity at which time she gives birth to 1-4 pups per year. Less than 25% of these pups reach sexual maturity. If something isn't done soon to protect sharks, their decline may become irreversible. Shark feeding dives in the Bahamas have helped educate people about the threat sharks are facing. Several years ago after long-line fishermen slaughtered over 50 sharks, the Bahamas passed laws outlawing this practice. Recently the Bahamian government has moved to establish no fishing zones around many of the feeding sites.
Whale Stories
On an August 1994 trip the Sea Explorer and a group of passengers from Ontario, Canada led by John Vigars were thrilled to have 11 Orca Whales swim alongside the vessel for over an hour. According to the Miami Seaquarium it is extremely rare for these whales to be sighted in this area.
In February 1996 the Morning Star on a trip out of Nassau to the Exumas had a Sperm Whale swim with the boat.
Did You Know?
Did you know the Fountain of Youth is located on South Bimini?
Did You know that there are more groupers than people in the Bahamas?
