Deciding to Chase Bull Sharks
So I wanted photos of bull sharks, you know, those tough guys cruising around. Not the usual underwater shots everyone does. Nope, I wanted that cool overhead view, like from a drone or a bridge. Sounded simple enough at first – find some sharks, get above them, snap the picture. Easy as pie, right? Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. Hit Google hard. “Best places to see bull sharks.” Ended up drowning in way too many opinions and dodgy travel sites. Major headache trying to sort real info from pure junk.
The Spot-Hunting Grind
Finally narrowed it down. Needed places where bull sharks hang out consistently and where you could actually get safely above the water to look down. Kept seeing people mention a specific bay down by this river mouth, famous for tons of juveniles cruising in the shallows. Another spot near a marina with clear water around pilings where the big ones sometimes patrol. Sounded promising. Packed my trusty camera gear – decent DSLR with a long zoom lens hoping it would do the trick for distance shots, and the drone. Figured the drone would be perfect for this.
On Location & The Waiting Game
Got to the river mouth bay first thing in the morning. Water looked kinda murky from the bridge I found. People said high tide was best. Waited hours. Saw a couple of small sharks roll near the surface, maybe? Honestly, hard to tell for sure from that height. Definitely couldn’t get a good ID shot, let alone a cool overhead one. Water visibility was trash. Felt pretty discouraged. Packed up and headed to the marina spot after lunch.
The marina had clearer water, but it was deeper around the pilings. Scoped out a public dock people mentioned. You could look straight down into the water between the floats. Cool view, yeah. Saw fish, saw rays gliding by. But no sharks. Not a single fin. Asked some local folks fishing nearby. They laughed, “Come back near dusk, mate. Or very early dawn. That’s when they sometimes cruise by looking for scraps.” Of course. More waiting.
The Moment of Payoff (Almost Didn’t Happen!)
Went back the next day before sunrise. Coffee was essential. Air was cool, water was flat calm, pretty nice actually. Perched myself on that dock, camera ready. Slowly, fish started moving. Then… yeah! Saw a dark shape gliding slowly under the dock floats. Definitely bigger than the fish. Kept watching, holding my breath. It turned a bit near the surface. That blunt snout… unmistakeable bull shark shape! Click click click! Got a couple of shots before it vanished back into the deeper channel. Only a juvenile, maybe 5-6 feet, but still! Overhead view captured! Finally!
Quickly launched the drone to try and get an even higher angle view over the clearer open water near the channel entrance. Took a bit of maneuvering to get low enough over the water without spooking anything. Then, bingo! Spotted another one lazily swimming maybe 15 feet down. The sun was just starting to hit the water, lighting it up. Got some awesome clear shots looking straight down at its dorsal fin and body gliding through the blue. Perfect.
What Actually Worked (Not What I Planned)
Okay, here’s the real deal of what got me the shots:
- Forget Perfect Blue Water: The marina’s “clearer” water near structures & channels beats wide-open murky bays.
- Docks are Gold: Find stable docks or platforms you can actually look straight down from safely.
- Timing is Everything: Dawn and dusk. Seriously. Miss those windows, you’re wasting time.
- Patience Sucks but Works: Be ready to sit. For hours. Multiple days.
- Zoom Over Wide Angle: On the camera, a long lens is way more useful from docks than a wide one.
- Drone? Low and Steady: Fly lower than you think, keep it smooth, and pray for calm conditions.
- Talk to Humans: Locals know the patterns. Ask!
The drone idea was cool, but honestly, grabbing shots from that dock turned out way more reliable for getting that classic “shark from directly above” look. Chasing them turned into way more of a battle than “see them easily” ever implied. Glad I stuck it out though!
