Sharks: A Bimini Journal

During the fall semester of 1995, members of the newly formed Documentary Unit accompanied four Miami high schoolers on an adventure to Bimini -- a small island in the Bahamas. None of us had ever seen sharks swimming in their natural environment, let alone swum with them -- except, of course, Dr. Samuel H. Gruber -- but we were all (well, almost all!) eager to partake in this unusual experience.

Sunny (as Dr. Gruber is affectionately called by many) was the well established "Shark Doctor" who insisted that sharks were not the "mindless eating machines" that the media had made them out to be.

He had been taking high school students to Bimini since the early 1970s and exposing them to the discipline and excitement of marine research. He called it an "emergent research experience." Robert, Ona, Teri, and Florence were the lucky ones to be selected for this U.S. Navy funded project this time.

The Documentary Unit was represented by Executive Producer, Professor Sanjeev Chatterjee; Producer, Michael Trebilcock; Director, Jeff Corpening; Sound Recordist, Kim Moffie; and eight boxes of video equipment.

When we first arrived to Bimini, the waters were calm, allowing us to ease into the experience. Exploring the lagoon and the Bahama banks around the island was a feature of everyday life. It was easy to see dolphins, eagle rays, jellyfishy, and a whole myriad of other creatures on a regular basis. But although there was a lot of talk about sharks, we saw them only in our worst nightmares on the first night.

By the second day the winds had picked up and the weather got progressively worse. The few people who went out into the bay came back drenched, and the night team that was attempting to track sharks got stranded on a desolate island in the storm. This was not the adventure anyone had planned. By the next morning the gusts were even stronger and it was time to call off the trip. We left Bimini disappointed but promised to come back and complete the experience where we had left off.

Three months later, in the spring of 1996, we returned. The waters were calm again and the weather could not be better. Most of us had also lost the edginess of the first trip. Bimini seemed familiar, and a lot of the stress of videotaping had now been reduced by underwater cameraman Peter Zuccarini, who had agreed to take time out of his busy professional schedule to help out the Documentary Unit. He was joined by James York, his safety diver. Our work began almost as soon as we landed in Bimini this time. Apart from taking care of the regular chores at the Shark Lab, the excitement was clearly building for the long awaited shark encounter!

The second afternoon was nothing like we had expected. The tranquil Bimini setting and the calm that settled on the boats as we headed for the Bahama banks was quite contrary to the terror that was building on the faces of the high schoolers for whom the time had come to swim with the sharks. Under Dr. Gruber's watchful eyes they got in the water one by one with other scientists and camera crew. Ona tried to hold out by claiming that she could "learn better by watching." However, Dr. Gruber was not having any of it and talked her into getting in the water.

This documentary was seen on WPBT, channel 2. It was awarded the outstanding documentary award at the regional A.E. RHO competition in 1995.