By Gary Williams
If you are an adrenaline junkie like me who likes diving with sharks, you may want to consider a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. From about mid-November to mid-February, female bull sharks come to Playa del Carmen to get ready to give birth.
There are several dive operators in Playa del Carmen that go out to the bull shark feeding dives - some will do a single feeding dive, some will do a feeding dive and a reef dive. Sometimes you can even get two feedings in a day.
Sample sequence at 3FPS • 1/100 • f/4 • ISO 1600 © Gary Williams
What to Bring and What to Leave at Home
For the dives themselves, you are not in a cage, so you need a dark or black full wetsuit, dark or black fins, nor are strobes or lights allowed. You will be lying on sand, keeping your camera very close to you. You cannot touch the sharks, but they may touch you (I had the pectoral fin of one brush my head).
This is 80 feet (24 meters) down on a rainy day. This picture is the first frame in the sequence above. Your favorite photo editing tool is your friend. © Gary Williams
Time is of the Essence
The action is fast, you only have a half hour time slot, and you won’t even have a full half hour taking pictures or video. Your guides will be moving you off the site and starting the ascent after about 20 minutes, because another group will be coming in right after you.
Face to face with a bull shark. © Gary Williams
Benefits of Burst Shooting
Since you are 80 feet (24 meters) down with no strobes or other lights, you will want a higher ISO setting, and a wide aperture. For stills, you will probably want a burst rate. On my Canon R5, using the 14-35mm lens, I felt 3 shots per second (FPS) was fast enough.
The right pectoral fin scraped my the top of my head. © Gary Williams
Because of the fast action and since you are lying flat with the camera close to you, rather than trying to look at the LCD screen (you may have a shark just a foot or two above your head) I chose to use a “spray and pray” technique, of just pointing the camera upwards and shooting. With the 200DL housing, the 8 inch dome, and the 14-35mm lens at 14mm, holding my thumb down on the autofocus and finger on the shutter made it easy to capture the action.
You will be taking many more pictures than you will ultimately use anyways, and with the big sensor on a camera like the Canon R5, you can crop a lot and still have several awesome pictures to impress your friends.
Exploring Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen generally is not a destination site for diving, I’m told the reefs are not in good shape here. But you may want to come to Playa as a side trip from Cozumel, or perhaps take in cenote dives. If you stay in Playa del Carmen, when not diving, there is well over a mile of shopping, entertainment, and restaurants with every style of food.
1/320 • f/4 • ISO 1600 © Gary Williams
Additional Viewing
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Canon R5 A-Z | Everything You Need To Know To Take It Underwater [VIDEO]
Gary Williams has always loved the water from growing up by the beach, surfing, evolving to sailboat racing, and finally to diving. His experience with diving has brought him to many countries, but he also likes to utilize his rescue diver certification as a volunteer diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, as well as a rescue diver for power boat racing. He loves to share his experience underwater with non-divers, whether through work associates or guests at the aquarium. Currently uses a Canon R5 in a 200DL housing with dual DS232 strobes all along. Learn more about Gary and see his full photography gallery via his website www.garysworldofimages.com or follow him on Instagram @garysworldofimages.
