TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Sharks in the BVI

We were sailing the BVI in May. My husband spotted a shark right by the boat while snorkelling at Cooper Island. Is this common. I may be ready to hang up my flippers now. Any body have any experiences like this while snorkelling??

Uh, it IS the ocean. Yes, they DO live there. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

What kind of shark? All I've seen while snorkeling from the boat has been Nurse sharks.

In 22 years I have seen sharks at Monkey Point, and in the Bight. Have never been bothered, but then again didn't stay in water long after seeing them.
In all that time I am not sure I have ever heard reports of close encounters with sharks. Frankly I am more worried about barracuda than sharks.

It may have been a shark. Other than Nurse I've seen two. What looked to be a Lemon shark while diving The Chimney at George Dog around 1996 and a Reef shark while diving Great Dog 08. Both swam away as FAST as they could! I have mistaken Ramora for small sharks. They will swim near boats at Norman and Cooper. Keep your flippers.

Have seen several nurse sharks while diving. They are harmless - more afraid of you than you are of them.

The only sharks I have seen were feeding off the kitchen at the Willy T and they were only a few feet long.

Pictures? My bet is that it was not a shark. When you say by the boat, did you mean up around the boat or on the bottom near the boat? Up by the boat? My bet is that it was a Remora they look a lot like a shark and do hang around boats.

Sharks exist in BVI. Seen, Bull, Lemon, Nurse, Black Tip while diving and have seen a Tiger after it was caught. With all that said I have not heard of any shark attacks.

I have also seen Cobia which look like sharks and as Jim says Remora can look like a shark to an amateur.

My guess is remora. We see these fish every sailing trip in the BVIs. They certainly look like sharks.

We have spotted nurse sharks at Monkey Point and Lobolloy.

I think we've seen some type of shark almost every trip, even this past trip. Nurse, reef (black tip), lemon. Always smaller ones, except for some large nurse sharks off the cay of Cinnamon Bay. They don't care about you. About 15 years ago we saw my wife's friend on Cinnamon, "they said" they saw a small hammerhead on the backside of Waterlemon Cay, dunno? A large tuna swam by me in the same spot where the big drop off is, that startled me! BUT, they are there and we like seeing them.

For at least a month or two after 'Shark Week' on TV I couldn't get any teenage girls off the boat for snorkeling on my charters.
It was only a few times a year any of my guests ever came back with 'shark sightings', usually a nurse on the bottom, but remoras were commonly under my boat almost daily.

Many things look like a shark including lemon or cobia. We have been fortunate to travel many places and many things. Diving and snorkeling have been a big part of that. There are many easy targets for the shark in the water. A person with fins is close to seven feet long and blowing bubbles. For the most part sharks run. At dusk maybe the shark cannot see all of you so the risk is greater. Same with someone on the surface paddling a surf board.

If all of that is not enough? How many people do you know that have been bitten by dogs or cats? Do you know anyone bitten by s shark. For me I worry about the dogs are cats I do not know and understand the shark wants nothing to do with creatures that fight back. Shark bites are almost always mistaken identity. That means stay out of murky water at dusk.

Lemon sharks are sharks.

There are sharks at all the islands the majority are Nurse and Lemons who live and sleep in the shallow waters near the island.
Black tips,Tigers and Hammerheads are around but toward the evening.
And yes there have been some people bit

This shark was a few feet from the boat. My husband was just checking the keel. Possibly 15 to 20 ft. He estimated the shark to be about. 5 ft. I length.
Yes, as to previous poster, I am aware we are in the ocean. We have snorkelled in the BVI several times in the past few years, but have never had the pleasure of a shark encounter. I have now learned a lot about the kind of sharks to watch for. Thanks all!!

As a long time diver, I have never heard of a barracuda attack. I have heard of some shark attacks. Barracuda generally stay to themselves. I agree with everything all my diving friends are mentioning.

At some of the dive sites (Ginger steps?) the reef sharks have become quite bold. Apparently, the spearing of lionfish is attracting them and they have been coming very close on our recent visits, where they used to circle just on the periphery of visibility.

If the beast appeared to by "five feet" under water through a mask using the norms of human eye measurements in air workout a mask and water? The actual size would be closer to 3 feet. Underwater with a mask everything will appear at least 1/3 larger. More if we are scared. Even a shark of five feet is a pup with a tiny mouth. More likely what was witnessed was a remora or cobia seeking the shade under your hull. That would be a very normal and benign experience:

Most people snorkeling and diving in the BVI don't see sharks that often because they are looking down at the bottom rather than out near the surface. The majority of toothy sharks swim toward you take a look and depart and the snorklers are none the wiser. We see sharks nearly every trip with the majority being black tipped reef sharks. In 30 years I have seen two large tigers if I don't count the whale lunch at the Rhone. One surprisingly was on the wreck of the fearless in the SFD. Start looking out not down and you will see more sharks. Pic from Norman Island.

[img]http://[image]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee251/sailvi767/IMG_0246_zpsni0yts9h.jpg[/img][/image]
G

I saw a small 3-4 foot shark at Biras Creek moving around very quickly and very close to shore. He/she swam around madly for 15-20 minutes. Entertaining to watch but fast enough that I would not even consider putting my toes in the water! Not sure what type it was and i just Googled a few of the species mentioned above trying to ID the type.

However I've seen a lot more of the two legged variety at Willy T's....both the local and migratory variety. More dangerous, too!

"Just behind the reef are the big white teeth of the sharks that can swim on the land." Sorry....i just couldn't resist quoting Jimmy! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

As mentioned, it is the ocean. They are there. They are everywhere. You cannot get into the ocean ANYWHERE and be absolutely sure that there are no sharks nearby.

Ignore them and, 99.99% of the time, they will ignore you.

Hell, I live 130 miles from the ocean, up the Chesapeake Bay. I have no doubt that there are sharks up my way (most likely Bull sharks). If it's the ocean or attached directly to it, there are sharks... period.
Now, that being said, with all of the scuba diving and snorkeling I've done in the BVI I have only seen a couple of sharks, and with only one exception they were nurse sharks. I'd stay out of the water around Anegada at night, but other than that I don't really think (or worry) about them.

We have had small baby sharks swimming along the shorebreak in Apple Bay a few times..they are a wonderful sight and way too small to do any harm..

Shark sightings in the bvi unfortunately are very uncommon.

We have seen sharks at the Indians, cane garden Bay, monkey point and vixen point. They have typically been reef sharks and nurse sharks.

We have never seen a shark on a night dive in the BVI.

Just because we so rarely see sharks does not mean that they are not there.

In June/July the nurse sharks mate in Windlass Bight, Anegada.
It's quite the spectacle.

Walt, behave, shark porn? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Yes, shark porn...

Windlass Bight is a shameful exhibition. Most of the bight is only a foot or so deep and those sharks doin' it right there in public! And more than one at a time!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Bow-chicka-bow-wow!

I think they were just wrestling.

One of my crew was snorkeling in Great Lamshur Bay (USVI) wearing something like a black wetsuit. We saw her swatting and pushing something and watched what looked like a shark swimming around her. Presently she calmly swam back to the boat and said it was a remora trying to attach to her <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />