Silver Tip Reef
Not far from the Taisyo Maru, but out in deep water, a sea mount rises to within 35 ft of the surface. It became known as Silver Tip Reef. The pictures below give testimony as to why it was so called.
I set up cameras as we prepare to head out to that special spot in the Bismarck Sea. Our Captain says the Silver Tip Sharks recognize the sound of his ships propellers and will be there. ( It helps that he has used bait fish attached to a large piece of chain in the past to feed them). The "Mercedes Benz" of sharks, the Silver Tio shark is so called because of the distinctive "Silver" tips on its Back and pectoral fins. Thus when coming head on the inverted "Y" appears similar to the "Benz" distinctive trade mark. Once Telita was anchored over the reef, we divers, jumped in and positioned ourselves behind coral outcrops near the center of the reef. The heavy chain with bait was then dropped onto the reef. The sharks fed, one by one. All 5 of them!
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These large sharks were very disciplined and deliberate. Of the five sharks that circled around us, only one shark came in on the bait at a time. The others waited their turn. This is in distinct contrast to behavior we have noted when feeding Gray Reef or White Tip Reef sharks. These go into a feeding frenzy when bait is around.
At Silver Tip Reef the greys and white tips kept a resapectful distance, not moving in until the big Silver Tip sharks left the scene.
Once the Silver Tip Sharks had moved out into the distance we divers made our ascent to the Telita above with some trepidation, but were largely ignored by the remaining sharks.
Mary was happy to see me back aboard and in one piece, as we returned to our night anchorage and another glorious sunset.
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