Looking for Tony

 Reports had been coming in all week of a 10+ foot tiger shark hanging out in some of South Maui's most popular snorkel and dive spots. My friend Josh spotted it early in the morning while leading a snorkel which prompted Heidi and myself to rush down to the local dive shop, grab a couple of tanks, and hit the water for a dive I call, 'The Search for Tony.'

A tiny snowflake eel peering out of its lair

A very large white mouth moray eel 

  We went to a site called White Rocks and waded in. The water wasn't the greatest visibility, especially close to shore, but you could still see about 20ft. It cleared up even more as we headed off shore. It was quite fun searching the rocks and coral for our usual treasures of nudibranchs and eels but it is much harder when you are constantly scanning the water around and above you for something big. We covered a big area of the reef for about an hour and fifteen minutes. We found some very fun turtles all playing and rough housing with each other like brothers which made me think there probably wasn't a big tiger shark in the area. That coupled with the fact that we were both getting quite cold after so long underwater we gave each other the underwater sign for turning around and heading back.

A trumpet fish giving his best wire coral impersonation 

So I still haven't seen a tiger shark in the wild but it was very excited just knowing that one was nearby. I have done many lectures on sharks, trying to dispel the myths and aura of fear that surround them. I feel like it wasn't a big risk to head out with scuba gear on this day. Scuba divers don't act like shark's prey so there is hardly ever accidental attacks as there have been with swimmers going up and down like pearl and abalone divers, or surfers that look like seals. Also we are doing nothing that would attract a shark out of the ordinary, like spear fishermen trailing their catch behind them. In fact the bubbles from breathing underwater on scuba seem to scare sharks off. Still with every adventure comes a certain amount of risk and I wouldn't suggest this kind of thing for everyone. I learned early in life working with alligators in the marshes of Georgia that no matter how much you study or handle wildlife you can't lose that healthy respect for the fact they are built as top predators. Plus sharks are always there, they often just swim away before we see them. 

(A few days later...)

  Tony the Tiger hasn't been spotted for a few days now which makes me think that he has swam back out into deeper water. But I will keep searching...

This turtle acted a bit weird. It swam straight at me from
very far away and ended up running right into me. Then
he just continued on to mess with some other resting turtles.

Here he is nipping at a resting turtle stealing
the turtle's prime spot

a white margin nudibranch