Expedition leaders: Emily Spurgeon, Lily Rios-Brady and Sorantaa Bain

Crew: Anna, Emily, Erin, Gabby, Jennifer, Joey, and Nick

Introduction

A fun filled week full of sharks big and small, lots of learning, a school visit, and plenty of laughs! Read all about our week below!

Day 1

We arrived at the airport for an early flight over to Andros. Introductions and warm hellos were made while we excitedly waited to board our charter flight over to the island.  

When it was time to leave, we made our way onto the plane and took off into the beautiful morning. It was a short flight over with the group eagerly looking out of the windows as we descended onto Andros. We were even able to spot a shark and ray before landing! This seemed like a good sign for the week to come. 

A quick stop in customs and taxi ride had us at the lodge in no time. People quickly unpacked and gathered their gear for the day ahead before we convened in the main area to go through our safety briefing. Grabbing our lunches we loaded onto the boat and headed out for our first activity on the water!

The first day saw us walking people through the various jobs and positions they would hold while deploying and collecting gear, as well as what their roll would be when we had a shark. We set our drumlines in the water and anchored to wait and watch for any activity. It didn’t take long for us to see one of our buoys get tugged on, so we pulled our anchor and made our way over.

The first shark of the trip was a beautiful Caribbean reef shark which we were able to quickly fit with an acoustic tag after taking measurements. With one shark on the board so far for the day, we were hopeful there would be many more. After a couple of hours, there was no more action, so we decided to call it and hauled our lines.

Before heading in, we made a stop at one of our favorite reefs for a snorkel. This area of the reef is extremely healthy with an abundance of marine life swimming around. The group spotted countless species of tropical fish and a sea turtle during our quick dip.

Reluctantly it was time to head back in to get cleaned up for dinner. We arrived back at the lodge, cleaned up our gear and ourselves before sitting down for a lecture by Emily.

Finally, it was time for a delicious dinner and some much-needed sleep in preparation for another early day.

Day 2

We were awake and eating breakfast before the sunrise. Then it was time to load the boat and head out to a new spot this morning.

Our hope was to tag some silky sharks, so we made the trek out to the Tongue of the Ocean. This area is a deep trench running along the east coast of Andros. It gives us access to pelagic (open ocean) species and the silkies are relatively reliable. As we made our way, fingers were crossed that we would find them upon arrival.

Luck was on our side because when we arrived, we had at least two little silky sharks hanging out in the area! We quickly prepped our gear and caught our first silky! The shark was measured and fitted with an acoustic tag before being released back into the deep blue.

Shortly after, we were able to catch a second silky shark but there didn’t seem to be anymore untagged sharks in the area. With a few more unsuccessful attempts we decided to hop in the water with the shark that remained which gave everyone the opportunity to enjoy seeing the shark up close. We were reminded of the reason we were all here: Our passionate love and admiration for sharks!

The team hopped in the water together and enjoyed watching this little silky shark swim around in the vast open ocean, joined by just a few rainbow runners and a barracuda before a second silky showed up. This shark stayed pretty deep but we were able to see that it was one of our previously tagged sharks!

After a fun and successful morning out in the Tongue of the Ocean, we headed back to the lodge for lunch, a break, and a lecture.

Refueled, the team loaded back onto to the boat and headed to a shallower location. Upon arrival we deployed our gear and anchored. It was a bit quiet with no sharks at first, so we were hopeful that this meant there was a big shark cruising around.

We were right! We saw one of the buoys moving and then get pulled fully under which is usually a sign of a large animal. Excitedly boating over, we saw the distinct dorsal fin of a Great Hammerhead break the surface! The shark was quickly secured, measured, and tagged before swimming off strong!

With such an incredible animal to see, the team was all smiles as we waited to see if any other sharks would make an appearance. We didn’t need to wait much longer before we saw another buoy pulled under the water! We knew we had another large shark and were blown away to find another Great Hammerhead! After another quick workup, we continued to fish.

A little longer out on the water and no other sharks were seen so it was decided to call it a day. After quick showers the team gathered to help set up gear for the next day and chat. Nobody lasted much later after dinner, so it was an early bed time for all.

Day 3

Woke up for a very early morning. We were awake and had our breakfast with enough time to be leaving the dock as the sun was rising. Our previous day was so successful we decided to try it again!

First stop was back out to the silkies and upon arrival we had several sharks already there! Changing things up, everyone grabbed their dive gear and hopped in to swim around with the sharks for a short swim. We spotted some familiar faces seeing a few sharks that already had our tags and the team did their best to capture photos of the tag numbers.

We all got back in the boat, and it was back to work! We were able to capture a shark almost immediately and it was a great candidate for an acoustic tag. The shark was quickly tagged and released before resetting our line. We ended up tagging three more silky sharks in a short amount of time and then they disappeared. Since the sharks had left the area, it was our time to head back as well.

The team took a little midday break back at the lodge to eat, rest, and listen to another great lecture by Emily. Everyone was feeling recharged and ready for the rest of the day, so we headed back out on the water.

Returning to our same spot from the previous afternoon we were hopeful that we would see some more big sharks and it did not disappoint!

We set our lines, and it wasn’t long before we saw another big hit! Making our way over we discovered it was yet another Great Hammerhead! As we secured the shark, we noticed this was actually a recaptured hammerhead! It turns out this shark was our very first ever SPOT tagged Great hammerhead from 2020. His name is Storm, and it was an absolute pleasure to see him again!

Our spirits were extremely high and before we knew it, we saw another big shark on one of our lines. It was definitely not a hammerhead, but we weren’t sure about the species until we finally pulled up next to it. To our surprise and delight, it was a large bull shark! This species is rarely seen by our team while in Andros! The shark was quickly worked up and sent on her way.

There was time for a few more sets and with all these big sharks in the area we weren’t sure what other species we would catch. The last shark of the day was a large female nurse shark!

With another successful day out on the water, we headed back in for dinner and much needed sleep.

Day 4

The day started with cloudy skies, but we headed out in hopes that we could get some sharks tagged before the storms rolled in.

We set our lines and were patiently waiting, but the storm came in much quicker than anticipated. To keep ourselves and any potential sharks safe, we hauled our gear and made our way back to the lodge.

With the weather not being cooperative, we headed inland to do a school visit. This day we gifted the children Mable bamboo toothbrushes (Use savingtheblue for a discount and we receive a donation!) and talked to them about plastic pollution as well as how long it takes plastics to break down in a landfill.

After spending some time talking and laughing with the children, we left the school and decided to try our luck back out on the water. Returning to our spot from earlier we deployed our lines and waited.

It didn’t take too long before we had another shark on! This time it was a smaller male nurse shark. After a quick workup we sent him on his way. We stayed for a bit longer, but the storms started to roll back in, so we hauled our gear and made our way back to the lodge.

Arriving back with more time before dinner, the team cleaned up our gear then met in the common area and played shark quizzes together. Overall, we had another great day and lovely evening!

Day 5

Making our way from the dock shortly after sunrise, we didn’t need to go too far before we deployed our gear in a new spot hoping to find some Caribbean reef sharks.

We weren’t there very long before we caught our first shark, and it was our target species! The reef shark was the correct size to be fitted with an acoustic tag so after a quick surgery, it was released and swam off strong!

Shortly after we had another shark on the line. This time it was a little blacknose! A new species for the trip so it was very exciting for the group. Then just an hour later, we had yet another reef shark!

The tide was starting to switch and would not be ideal for shark tagging in that area, so we chose to move locations. We decided to test our luck by going back out to silkies in the afternoon. It was quiet on arrival, but we were going to try no matter what! We set a line and waited. The current was extremely strong and there didn’t seem to be any animals around there this day.

After a few attempts we had to call it a day and head back to shore. When we arrived, we cleaned up and organized our gear and then Emily gave us another lecture before dinner.

Day 6

For our last day on the water, we headed back out to the silky spot for one last try. When we arrived there were no silkies immediately visible but that didn’t stop us from trying. We set a line and waited to see if they would show up. While we waited, we were treated to mahi-mahi swimming by a couple times. We gave it our best shot but the silkies just weren’t around, so we decided to head back.

On our way back we had a bit of a mechanical issue with the boat, so we headed all the way back to the lodge to have it checked out. Unfortunately, the issue put the boat out of commission for the rest of the day but that didn’t stop us.

Some of the team explored the mangroves near the lodge on foot and cleaned up trash along the way while others kayaked the channel searching for sharks and rays in the low tide. Sawfish have been spotted in the nearby creek and we’re always hopeful one day to spot one ourselves!

After a slow and rather frustrating morning with boat downtime, we made the drive north to one of our favorite inland blue holes. Everyone took turns jumping into the blue hole, snorkeling along the perimeter, and practicing some diving skills.

After an hour or so of fun we made the drive back and stopped at a local beach to see if we could find any sharks or rays. We’re always looking for new research locations and within minutes we had a baby lemon shark and little southern stingray swimming around our feet which was a positive sign!

We finally headed back to the lodge and spent the evening relaxing and reflecting on an incredibly succesful week!

Day 7

We had an early flight so the team woke up early for breakfast and to spend a bit of time together before we would need to say our goodbyes.

Everyone took photos under the gorgeous sunrise and reminisced about the trip before inevitably loading up our luggage to make our way to the airport. With a few final laughs before boarding, we said goodbye to Andros for now. What an amazing week with some epic sharks and a lot of memories and friendships made!

Thank you

Thank you to our research trip leaders Emily Spurgeon, Lily Rios-Brady, and Sorantaa Bain for guiding the team through an incredibly successful week. A huge thank you to our research assistants for their passion, determination, and endless enthusiasm to work hard, learn and produce results. We would also like to thank the Andros Island Bonefish Club for their hospitality, and the hardworking and ever professional Marvin for his top class boating and captaining skills.

Gratitude must also go to Gabby Lozada for her generosity in allowing us to use her images in this blog.