On just about all of our snorkeling safari's we will always try to offer night or sunset snorkeling so you can see that amazing transition in specie's behavior as day turns to night. If you are at all curious about what night snorkeling is like you can find out more here. For this particular blog though, we're going to highlight one particular night snorkeling subject which can be found in both Triton Bay and throughout Raja Ampat once the sun sets, and that subject is a walking shark. At this point you are probably wondering what I mean by “walking shark.” Well, as it turns out, there is a species of shark which actually prefer to use their pectoral fins to walk across the reef, rather than to swim. They are a type of epaulette shark, but are commonly known to us snorkelers as walking sharks. They are found in the shallow reef of northern Australia as well as New Guinea, with one particular species endemic to Raja Ampat and another to the Triton Bay area. As both the Raja epaulette walking shark and the Triton epaulette walking shark are nocturnal species we don't often find them in the afternoon snorkeling sessions because the burry themselves in the reef, but just after sunset is when they come out to hunt for small benthic creatures and small fish. As snorkelers we have the best vantage point for finding these unusual sharks since they usually are found right up in the shallow reefs, and even in tide pools at times. As you can see from the photos these are not your typical shark with their elongated body—which is mostly tail and decorated with a spattering of ornamental spots, not to mention the general sense of cuteness these sharks exude. So there you
On just about all of our snorkeling safari’s we will always try to offer night or sunset snorkeling so you can see that amazing transition in specie’s behavior as day turns to night. If you are at all curious about what night snorkeling is like you can find out more here. For this particular blog
For years and years people have always thought of sharks as the predator from the deep, a fine tuned killing machine whose sole mission in life is to destroy humans. At least that's they way they have been and are still are portrayed in movies, the media, and even on Discovery Channel's Shark Week—an annual show supposedly aimed at educating people about sharks. The only thing is though, most of these shows are categorically false when it comes to how sharks interact with humans. Globally, sharks only kill an average of 5-15 people per year, that is a very very low number. As a comparison, dogs kill an average of 30-50 people each year and that's just in the United States alone. Basically what I'm trying to get at here is that sharks as a whole have a reputation that doesn't match up with their statistics and I would urge people to open up their minds about sharks and see them for what they really are, a beautiful, highly intelligent animal animal perfectly suited to it's environment. What's the best way to open our minds and see them for what they really are? Well, my advice would be to seem them in their natural environment and there's no better way to do that then to see them while snorkeling! As shark awareness grows globally and people realize sharks aren't the people killing machines they've been made out to be, they are are traveling all over the world to safely swim with sharks and it's turned into a massive source of revenue for ecotourism. Globally the annual estimate is that sharks bring in over $314 million dollars for ecotourism activities. This influx of money has been hugely influential in not only establishing many safe options for swimming with sharks—including great whites
For years and years people have always thought of sharks as the predator from the deep, a fine tuned killing machine whose sole mission in life is to destroy humans. At least that’s they way they have been and are still are portrayed in movies, the media, and even on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week—an annual
