I have lived a life of adventures since childhood. My most recent adventure in the Bahamas is one that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. In fact, I’ll remember it beyond this life!

I have a good friend who is a world traveler. He has been to most continents on this planet, has a love for people, places, and adventures. Every time I visit with him, he has a new story to tell. He recalls a new adventure. He shares new experiences. I enjoy hearing and listening to all the things he experiences in his life. One of his passions is scuba diving. He loves to travel the world exploring underwater life. He enjoys swimming with fish. He checks out deep-water shipwrecks. He watches manta rays eat plankton. He even swims with sharks! Yes, he LOVES swimming with sharks! He loves it so much that, out of the blue, he calls me one day. He says to me, “I’m going on a Shark Dive trip in Nassau next month. I want to invite you to join me.” My first response, “No way man! No thank you, I have no interest in putting myself at risk of getting eaten by a shark!” After a few minutes, he shared what the experience would entail. He explained how ‘safe’ it really is to be on these dives. His words piqued my interest. I began to feel excitement about the opportunity of a lifetime. I told him I would think about it. I hung up the phone. I shared the call I just had with my wife. By the way, she is the most supportive and encouraging person in my life. She instantly told me, “You must go!” I acted before I changed my mind. I called my friend back. I told him I had my wife’s blessing. Then, I booked my Shark Dive Trip!

From the moment I booked my trip to the dive, I experienced fear and anxiety. Since then, reminiscing on what I had just done, I have felt the same fear and anxiousness again! Yet at the same time, I have felt a sense of excitement. I have felt a sense of fulfillment. There is even a sense of gratitude! As I approached the day of the trip, I would regularly get messages and phone calls from my friend. Saying he was excited is an understatement! As for me, I had excitement, yet was more filled with anxiety and fear than anything else! My anxiety was so overwhelming that I started to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I have been learning this to help me calm down and relieve my anxiousness!

Day 1 Thursday – Eating, Exploring and Sunset

I arrived at Lynden Pindling International Airport in the afternoon. I looked out the window. I started thinking about what I had just signed up for! I had officially arrived. There was no turning back. Within the next 24 hours, I will be swimming and hopefully not being eaten, by Caribbean Reef Sharks! My taxi drive to my Airbnb was short and sweet which was nice. If you travel to the Bahamas and anywhere foreign, make sure to set your price ahead of time. My driver ended up charging me $40 to take me not even 10 minutes from the airport. It should have been no more than $20, luckily we settled on $30! I met up with my friend to eat dinner at the Salty’z Restaurant and Bar. Which by the way has killer homemade Lasagna! Afterwards we walked around, exploring the local area where we were staying and ended the day watching the sunset.

Day 2 Friday – Shark Dive Day, turned into Straw Market Day

Due to ‘inclement weather’ our scheduled dive was postponed to the next day. Personally, we had a hunch that our tour company wasn’t being totally honest. This was later confirmed. They just didn’t have enough guests signed up, so they moved us to the next day. It was all good though, honestly, I would have been just OK if they fully canceled, ha!

My friend was totally bummed that they had postponed our adventure. He began to worry that the charter would be canceled. It had happened to him twice before in Nassau. We made the best of the day by taking the Jitney downtown. The Jitney is the local bus transportation on island. Easy to use, yet make sure you have exact change, $1.50 to $2.00 one way. We had a fun day shopping at the famous Straw Market. We ate lunch at Captain’s Deck. Then, we enjoyed ice cream at I Dream of Sugar. We finished up the evening with dinner at The Poop Deck.

Day 3 Saturday – Time to overcome my fear of Sharks!

The day of anticipation had come! Our Shark Dive Adventure was confirmed and we were ready to head out on an experience of a lifetime! My friend was SO excited, like a kid on Christmas Day getting exactly what he had asked for all year. Stuarts Cove was the charter my friend selected. From check in to gear set up, they were top notch. The two dives and the return journey were also impressive.

As we arrived the dive location and received our pre-dive briefing my anxiety started growing. I was just about to enter a body water filled with Caribbean Reef Sharks!!! As I entered the water, there were a dozen or so sharks right below my fins! And another shark swimming just below the surface of the water was circling myself and other divers in the water! I thought to myself, “I’m seriously going to die out here!” As I got myself situated, weighted properly, I began my descent among these magnificent creatures of the underwater world. My anxiety began to calm. The sharks minded their own business. Our group, including myself, followed the master diver down below. As we descended further, we parted ways with the sharks. We explored an amazing shelf that had some of the most incredible sea creatures. We also explored a shipwreck from bow to stern.

Unbeknownst to me, my air was running out. As we were exploring the shipwreck, I was in a state of Zen. I was enjoying the dive to the fullest. So much so, I mistakenly forgot to check my air. As I took three quarter of a breath in, I knew, I was in trouble. I had recently completed a dive update course. I knew exactly what it would feel like when I ran out of air. I looked at my gauge, and sure enough I was in the ‘red’ zone! Next breath, half a breath. I began to plan out my next move. Get to my dive buddy! Next breath, nothing, I was completely out of air and began slowly exhaling. As I swam to him, I began to signal that I was out of air. He promptly stopped what he was doing. I grabbed his auxiliary and was safe from a potential life threatening situation. We checked how much air he had left. We determined we were safe to ascend. We made our safety stop together. We boarded the boat with no issues. What a blessing to have the knowledge of what to do in situations like this. I was grateful for the training and ability to be with my friend who is a seasoned diver. Most would find this a terrifying event. Still, I remained calm and peaceful. I was not stressed or worried whatsoever. Now, what was coming next is another story!

My friend and I were one of the first back on the boat. As others loaded on, I noticed everyone staying in their wet suits, including the dive masters. The crew started changing out tanks. Little did I know, we had a second dive planned!!! I thought we were just doing the one dive. It was over a 40 minute dive. We had swam with sharks already. Oh no, that was just the prelude of the trip. We were just preparing for the ‘shark feeding’ event! The two dive masters that would feed the sharks began to put on chainmail. What is chainmail? Well, chainmail in diving, specifically shark diving, refers to a type of armor. It is protective clothing made of interlocking metal rings. This suit is designed to shield divers from shark bites! Yes, we were going back down as a group to hang out with these sharks while the ‘feeder’ fed them! “No way I’m going back down!” I thought to myself. Well, as much as I was hesitant, I did my breathing exercises, and went down into the ‘arena’. It was here where I got on my knees, grabbed onto a rock, and watched as these amazing creatures fed. They were aggressive, majestic, scary, and wicked cool all at the same time! I think I almost had three panic attacks during the 30 plus minutes we were down in the arena. Fortunately, I was already kneeling. This made it easy to continue my constant prayer. I hoped that I would not get eaten and die in that moment!

The feeding stopped. The dive master made his way outside of the arena to lure the sharks away from us. This allowed us to safely ascend. I thought to myself, I did it! Even though I’m still scared to this day, and think to myself, never again, I am ever grateful. I am grateful that I did what I did. I overcame fear, accomplished something amazing, and have a story to tell for my lifetime. What an adventure! Here’s the video of my time underwater with these sharks. If you have a bucket list, this is one to add for sure!