Shark Attack!

Location: Nassau, Bahamas

Sorry, that was a bad joke. I am alive and in one piece.

But I went diving again today and it was hands down, the best experience of my life. If you ever get to the Bahamas, the #1 thing you absolutely must do is go to Stuart Cove's, and go on their Adventure Shark dive. At first I thought the first dive was the most incredible experience of my life; we dove down to yet another wreck and there were reef sharks swimming everywhere. A few got close, but not in an I-want-to-eat-you way. It was move of an excuse-me-you're-right-in-my-direct-line-of-path kind of way. Imagine shipwrecks and sharks all in one dive. It was something so majestic and unreal I can't even begin to describe. And so I'll just leave you with that.

And then as impossible as it seems, the second dive we went on topped it times ten. We dropped down into the water, and there were twice as many sharks as before. The dive masters arranged us in a giant circle on the sand floor and the sharks just circled menacingly around us; waiting for the bait they knew was coming. And then our shark feeder dropped down into the midst of us with a cage of fresh bait. The frenzy that ensued was insane! Forty, even fifty sharks were all rushing in for fresh meat, in and out of our circle without even noticing us. And man were they everywhere! They were quite literally brushing up against us repeatedly in their attempts to beat everyone else to the bait. For nearly an hour I sat there, mesmerized as these gorgeous creatures got right up in my face, staring me down and threatening to swim straight into me. One of the sharks had battle scars; half of her lower jaw was missing, showing off her rows and rows of teeth and her white tongue. She was my favorite.

I feel like I've already experienced the thrills of a lifetime; I can't believe I'm looking at an entire semester of this. Tomorrow we board the MV Explorer.