Expedition leaders: Dr. Tristan Guttridge and Sorantaa Bain

Crew: Bailey, Gabby, Leila, Sami, Skye, Tiff and Veronica

A week full of sharks, science, and tons of laughs. Beautiful snorkels, many recaptures, and a SPOT tagged Great hammerhead just a to name a few highlights! Read the full breakdown below.

Day 1

Started our day very early with the group meeting at the airport at 7AM. A full group of returnees had everyone giving warm hugs and catching up since the last times they have seen each other.

With everything ready to go, we boarded the plane and started on our way to Andros. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day with nice views of the island as we flew over. We arrived around 9am, quickly went through customs and then loaded into the taxis to make the drive to the lodge.

Everyone already knew the drill, so bags were quickly unpacked, we recapped on safety and met in the common area to discuss the plans and goals for the week while we ate our lunch. We gathered our gear, loaded up the boat and headed out to a nearby channel to see if we could tag some sharks on our very first afternoon there.

We set three rigs and the waiting began. We did not have to wait long before we saw one of our buoys acting irregularly, which usually means we have something on our line! We drove the boat over to find we had a Caribbean reef shark on! Great news, this was one of our target species of the week! We quickly and carefully surgically implanted an acoustic tag in him and then it was back to waiting.

We had a lot of action on our rigs but not a lot of sharks. It appeared other fish seemed to be stealing the bait and escaping, but eventually our patience paid off and we were able to acoustically tag another reef shark. We attempted one more set and had a storm come through, leaving behind plenty of rainbows for us to enjoy before heading back to the lodge.

When we finally arrived at the lodge, we all took much needed showers and prepared for dinner. We ate while we made our plans for the next day and everyone headed off to bed for a well deserved rest.

Day 2

Waking up early and hurrying out the door, the team loaded up the boat to head out to the Tongue of the Ocean. We were hoping to see and tag some silky sharks! Today we were also joined by BAMSI student, Skye.

With the sun rising we made the drive out to the pelagic zone and waited in the calm conditions for the sharks to show up. The area was very quiet with little activity above or below the surface. We set a line to drift but after several attempts no sharks were to be seen.

With no luck on our side we shifted gears and headed back to the lodge for a little break and to pack our lunches before prepping gear and heading back out. First order of business was to deploy a BRUV (baited remote underwater videos). We planned to review the footage later to see what sharks and other animals were present. This deployment feeds into our long-term BRUV data set.

Next up, we set five lines and very quickly had a shark on! It was one of our target species again, another Caribbean reef shark! The shark was quickly tagged with an acoustic tag and then released. Soon after we had a few more reef sharks that were all acoustically tagged before a storm rolled in.

The storm came through but did not stop us from staying out and continuing our efforts After one last check we headed back in, satisfied with our captures for the day. When we arrived back at the lodge, we cleaned our gear and were greeted by lemon sharks swimming along the sea wall. The team watched the sharks and chatted with the other guests of the lodge. Soon it was time for dinner where we all recapped the busy day and reviewed footage before finally heading to bed.

Day 3

Another early morning up and out the door. We made our way to a nearby area that has been productive for us in the past. With our lines set, we waited while talking and vigilantly watching the buoys, but nothing seemed to be biting. 

Just when we thought we would be skunked for the day (no captures), we saw a biiiiiig splash. We excitedly headed over to see what was on the line. The whole team was ecstatic to see a large tiger shark. She was quickly secured and we got to work on tagging her before sending her on her way. With a large shark successfully tagged, we moved onto our next activity.

First we dropped a couple more BRUVs before deploying an acoustic receiver in shallow water. This receiver was kindly sponsored by Proshot. As a little treat for our hard work for the day we headed off for some fun..

The team decided to go for a snorkel at a favorite reef of ours. With it being high tide, the visibility was great and there was so much marine life out and about! We even came across a little nurse shark as well that everyone enjoyed as it swam over the reef before settling down on the sandy floor.

After about an hour, everyone hopped back in the boat, and we attempted one more time to tag some more sharks that day. We gave it our best efforts with the sun setting but no sharks were biting. We finally had to call it a day as we ran out of daylight and made our way back with the fading light of twilight.

Arriving back, we quickly cleaned up and sat down for another amazing dinner. Everyone was tired and didn’t last too long before saying good night and heading off to get some much-needed sleep.

Day 4

Well rested and ready to go, the crew geared up and headed out on the boat. As we made the short ride out to our research location for the day, a small pod of dolphins appeared and followed our boat! The team enjoyed them swimming up to and away from the boat while we attempted to capture a few photos.

After the fun with the dolphins we set our lines and it didn’t take too long before we had a nurse shark on! Excitedly we discovered this was a recap shark that we originally tagged in 2019!

With the rigs are set again and not much later we saw another big splash! Unbelievably, we had yet another large tiger shark!! It was a male this time who we quickly worked up. We didn’t have to wait too long before seeing another big splash. Guesses went out on what species we thought it would be until we finally saw the iconic fin of a large Great Hammerhead!

This shark was also a recapture, a first recapped hammerhead for Saving the Blue! We were able to fit the shark with a new SPOT tag so that we can track her movements and see if she will take a similar path from the last time we tagged her.

With three big sharks tagged so far that day, we switched gears and deployed another acoustic receiver in shallow water. With the receiver deployed, we headed to a new spot to try for more sharks.

Setting up near a popular cay, we waited to see what would the afternoon would bring. At first there wasn’t any action but not too much later we captured our last shark of the day! It was a little Caribbean reef shark who surprisingly was also a recapture!

An extremely happy, yet tired team headed back to lodge with a stunning sunset before dinner, lemon shark action, and then bed!

Day 5

With a later start to our day planned, the team had a small sleep in before grabbing breakfast. Soon after, our lead Dr. Tristan Guttridge gave a research talk to the team. He discussed research in Andros and what Saving the Blue have found so far, and what they hope to discover in the future.

After the talk, we prepped ourselves and our gear before loading up and heading out.

We started by setting our lines for a few hours but unfortunately, we had no luck. As we waited for the tide to change we took the opportunity to spend some time relaxing while having a little fun, so, we made our way to one of our favorite lemon shark spots! This area is known to bring us many sharks from neonates (babies) all the way to subadults. When we arrived, we were greeted by some large southern stingrays and sharks already cruising the super shallow sand. To our surprise though, these were not lemon sharks! We started off with two blacknose sharks and a little nurse shark that came rolling though before darting off again.

It didn’t take long before our usual lemon sharks showed up and took over! By the end we had several juvenile lemons coming in and swimming around us. Running out of daylight we reluctantly headed back to the boat to prepare for one more research session.

We set our lines and were quickly rewarded with a nurse shark! She was tagged and swam off strong. Everyone was very satisfied with our fun shark filled day, so we hauled our gear and made our way back to the lodge.

Yet another delicious dinner, great conversation, and watching lemon sharks from the dock before bed.

Day 6

Our team woke up very early to make the drive out to the silky spot again! Everyone quickly grabbed breakfast, hopped on the boat, and then we were off! We had hopes of tagging a few silky sharks so as soon as we arrived, we set a line and waited.

Unfortunately, the silkies were not present so after a few sets we called it and headed back closer to shore. We selected a new spot and set our lines in hopes of tagging a few sharks, ideally Caribbean reefs, before moving onto other activities. Our patience paid off and we saw one of our lines behaving abnormally which usually means we have some animal activity. We made our way over and were delighted to find a little blacknose!

We quickly measured and tagged her before sending her on her way! With a happy team, we decided to take ourselves back in for a midday break and a lecture from Tristan. He talked to the group about shark behavior and techniques used to study their behavior.

There was still some work to be done, so we hopped back onto the boat and made our way to deploy one more acoustic receiver. This receiver was generously donated by Earth Breeze! With a good day of science behind us, it was decided we would end the day with a fun snorkel at one of our favorite blue holes.

The team hopped in the water right before sunset and first explored the reef around the blue hole. As we began taking turns making small dives into the blue hole, Tristan said he thought he saw a shark in the blue hole itself! To our surprise a large Caribbean reef shark was making loops deeper in the blue hole. We were all fascinated and excited as we rarely find sharks in the blue holes!

Spending several minutes watching and diving down, we begrudgingly had to hop back in the boat before darkness set in. We made our way back to the lodge watching an incredibly beautiful sunset before getting washed up and heading to dinner.

After dinner we stayed up watching the sharks and chatting for our last night on the island.

Day 7

We woke up to a very rainy morning. Headed to breakfast and talked while we waited to see if the rain would let up. Having a full team of determined people we decided to test our luck. Loaded onto the boat in the pouring rain and made it to the end of the channel before we decided the conditions would not be safe for us or the sharks!

Still in high spirits and wanting to make the best of our day, so we excitedly made our way to a local primary school. Team member, Khrys, led the talk at the school. He educated the children about sustainability and reusable items, then all children were gifted reusable sandwich bags that were donated by Lunchskins. We said our goodbyes to the kids and went back to the lodge for one more lecture by Tristan.

Alas, it was time to gather and pack our things. We said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff at the lodge, loaded into the taxis, and made our way to the airport. We enjoyed the views of Andros as we left on our nine seater plane, and a few of us caught some sleep on the flight home. Once back in the United States we said our goodbyes and reflected on an incredible week of research and outreach.

Thank you

Thank you to our research trip leaders Dr. Tristan Guttridge 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 Steveno for his top class boating and captaining skills.

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

Early results

Blacknose - 1

Caribbean Reef shark - 8

Great Hammerhead - 1

Nurse shark - 2

Tiger Shark - 2

Total shark count for the week: 14