Diving with Sharks at Miri-Miri

18

Diving in French Polynesia is really a fantastic activity as you have the possibility to see a lot of different fishes in amazing underwater diving spots. One of my favorite diving spot is the place called Miri-Miri, because there you have the chance to dive among a lot of sharks, and I really love this….

As soon as we arrived on Raiatea island in French Polynesia, we began the formation to get our diving license as this is an activity you can’t miss when living in a place like that. Of course, you need first to go over the little fear of going deep underwater and get familiar with the basic security rules of diving. As we’re doing this with the diving club of Raiatea (Hemisphere Sub), we always have the assurance that all the security rules are respected.

We often go to the Miri-Miri pass as there are a lot of things to see: it’s a pass between the lagoon and the ocean, and so it’s a place where you can see a lot of fishes and among them, the sharks! Mostly, these are blacktip reef sharks (around 1 – 1,5 meters long), sometimes you can also see whitetip reef sharks (1,5 – 2 meters long) and if you’re lucky even some grey reef sharks (2 – 2,5 meters long).
The first time, it’s really frightening as you can see them from the surface turning around the boat and you must jump in the water! But as the instructors told us that there was no risk, we went over our fear and jumped.
Usually we go down to 25-30 meters and follow the reef barrier. Sometimes, when the waterstream is going outside we jump in the lagoon and follow the stream towards the ocean, other times the stream is going inside, so we jump in the ocean and follow the stream towards the lagoon…

And it’s funny, because once in the water, you can see all theses sharks around you, and the fear disappears slowly. They’re curious about you and make some big circles around the diver group, some even come straight on you but 1 meter before your face they turn around…. very impressing of course and even after a few dives over there, you still have this adrenaline peak when they’re around… but in the same time it’s so exciting, and as they are in fact harmless for men (they’re well feeded, so they’ don’t gonna attack you… but of course you shouldn’t bleed or have some dead fishes hanging around your belt….) you can dive fully secure…

And I really begin to love these sharks: they’re really beautiful in the water, moving fast and with a lot of elegance, an unique face and look when they’re close to you… In the polynesian tradition, the shark was considered as a protector of the seas and was sacred. Men did always live in harmony with them and thus not seing the shark as a danger for people but as the king of the seas. And I really begin to love them….

About the galleries, I had the occasion to shoot with my 3 different underwater cameras: the Fisheye with submarine case, the LC-A+ inside the Krab and the Nikonos V camera (the best underwater camera ever…), so enjoy the shots I made while diving among the sharks at Miri-Miri! :)

Fisheye Submarine Gallery (with Lomo x-pro 200 and Agfa Optima 400)
LC-A Krab Gallery (with Fuji Press 800)
Nikonos V Gallery (with Fuji Press 800)

เขียนโดย vicuna เมื่อ 2010-03-26 ในหมวด #places #underwater #agfa-optima-400 #sharks #danger #diving #fuji-press-800 #excitement #location #fisheye-submarine #krab #shark #deep #lc-a #lomo-x-pro-200 #raiatea-island #nikonos-v #french-polynesia #miri-miri #blacktip-reef-shark

18 ความคิดเห็น

  1. cinzinc
    cinzinc ·

    ow man what a thrilling gallery and location!! awesome + woa + amazing + eye opener!!

  2. adi_totp
    adi_totp ·

    i'm scared of shark but i love the gallery! thanks for sharing,vicuna :D :D

  3. stouf
    stouf ·

    Yaaahhh !!! So intense !!! And as I commented already on some of the fisheye shots, I'm really impressed by your courage, you need to be very close to get sharks to look so big in the frame !!! And this reminds me of an internship I made with a French shark specialist who had a nice statistic about the dangerousness of sharks: For 1 person killed by sharks, you have 10 killed by elephants and 100 killed by bees !!! Nice huh !?

  4. breakphreak
    breakphreak ·

    everything is so blue! what if you'll use a yellow filter? :)

    just kidding. very brave to dive, take pictures and thanks for sharing a taste with us

  5. vicuna
    vicuna ·

    @breakphreak: true, it's blue... and as I have no external flash (besides with the fisheye with the little flash, not always enough...) it is as I see it, blue blue blue.... x-pro adds some different color but I'd like to try with a 400asa x-pro, but haven't any at home... the idea of the yellow filter could be interesting... I'll try this out one day! :))

  6. -a-l-b-e-r-t-o-
    -a-l-b-e-r-t-o- ·

    I'm watching the galleries by listening the music of Jaws

  7. lomoteddy
    lomoteddy ·

    they are so stealth, and really one of the last great predators, true hunters. Great Gallery....!

  8. satomi
    satomi ·

    Dude, this is maddness!!! I would pee in my pants (or swimsuits)...but don't tell anyone I said that:p

  9. disdis
    disdis ·

    You were not scared, were you? You are a lomoshark so they should be scared of you!

  10. zulupt
    zulupt ·

    Stunning location and gallery!!!! N1!

  11. daredeye
    daredeye ·

    superb gallery, thanks!

  12. vicuna
    vicuna ·

    Thanks for all the nice comments! :) @disdis: no, it's not really scary, perhaps only the first time, but then you see that they're not aggressive at all, so you get used to them... and when looking closely to these sharks you notice how perfect and beautiful these beasts are.... :))

  13. leela_dark
    leela_dark ·

    thx for showing us this fantastic, mysterious world! great gallery!

  14. sandkorn
    sandkorn ·

    absolutely amazing, thanks for sharing such a beautiful and thrilling location, wow!

  15. emilios
    emilios ·

    Magnificent animals and amazing gallery. Been with sharks for years. Well done!!!! They need to b protected.

  16. middernachtlopper
    middernachtlopper ·

    Awesome gallery!

  17. takezzo
    takezzo ·

    wow... these are great shots. i love diving... i must go there someday...

  18. eva_eva
    eva_eva ·

    wow~~~!!!!

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