I'm Lizzie Daly,
I'm a marine biologist,
I'm wild about nature and I absolutely love sharks.
I really love them.
Lizzie: That was absolutely amazing.
And I'm on a mission to get up close and personal with as many sharks as I can.
Lizzie: So good to see these animals up close, they never get boring.
Lizzie: I'm excited to see this.
To this day for many people, the word shark alone,
is enough to bring about fear and anxiety.
Lizzie: I'm about to go cage diving with bull sharks.
There's about seven or eight bull sharks here already.
I cannot wait, although I feel a little bit
I dont know, out of place.
It's a busy dock, there's tourists about
there's boats whizzing in and out
I want explore how our relationship with sharks is changing.
I'm on the island of Bimini
on the north west tip of the great Bahama bank.
In 2011,
the Bahama shark sanctuary was created.
650,000 square kilometers of protected waters.
The result, sharks have taken over.
Lizzie: There's two females, females are typically larger than males,
so they're fairly easy to spot.
This is the only place in the world offering a shark experience like this.
I cant wait to see them in action,
this will be my first time in the water with them,
and bring it on I say.
Once in the water I get a really good look,
these are big powerful sharks and they have a bit of a reputation.
To some, they're considered to be the most dangerous shark species, in the world.
They have even been known to headbutt their prey before attacking
I'm relieved there is a cage
between myself and these huge predators.
especially while they're been fed.
Just as my time with the bull sharks was coming to an end,
I noticed that one of them,
had a hook caught in his mouth. It's not an unusual site to see here,
and it's a reminder of the impact the fishing industry has on marine life.
Even huge sharks such as these
need our protection.
Lizzie: Oh my goodness,
that was absolutely amazing.
You could see it's eyes,
you could see it's dermal denticles
incredible, if I could I would do that everyday.
With my appetite thoroughly fired up
I set off to the island of Grand Bahama, to meet Cristina Zenato
Cristina has been diving with sharks For decades.
and has dedicated her life to conservation, striving to educate the world
about the true nature of these species.
Lizzie: As a biologist, I'm really intrigued to see how she has
this understanding of their behaviour and how our relationship with sharks
and how sharks here in the Caribbean
are changing.
Cristina has removed
more than a fair share of hooks
from the mouths of sharks.
And she's known
for her totally one off relationship
with the Caribbean reef sharks of these waters.
On dives like the one will be doing today with Christina
she has a chain mail suit she wears.
Cristina: I wear a chain suit only when I bring down food
and I'm going to be
physically handling the sharks,
it's also respect towards the nature of the animals.
Lizzie: Although Christina is suited up,
I'll be heading down that without her level of protection, which I'm slightly apprehensive about
as this is my first time face to face
with sharks of this size.
Cristina: I will be feeding and wearing the chain mail
and you will be five feet from me
and you will not be wearing the chain mail because the sharks
will know who has the food and who doesn't.
with that reassurance from Christina,
It's time to get in the water.
It wasn't long before I was totally
surrounded by sharks.
And soon enough,
I was able to see just why Christina is known as the shark whisperer.
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Truly mind blowing.
Lizzie: Oh my gosh.
that was absolutely amazing. It was amazing to see how
just how Christina worked with the sharks
and how that relationship underwater is so just interesting to watch.
And even when you just look at the sharks,
and see every little detail of them they felt incredible.
I cannot explain my excitement for that,
that was absolutely awesome.
not a day that I'll be forgeting anytime soon.
There was only one thing left to do.
lizzie: So this morning, we're going out to dive with the great hammerhead. the largest species
of hammerhead that there is.
there's nowhere else in the world
where you can come face to face with this predator in this way.
Large, increasingly rare
and generally solitary animals.
Giant hammerheads are normally very difficult to find.
But lucky for me,
that's not the case here.
I'm so hoping that we'll see some today.
But all we can do is go in and wait.
So into the water,
full of adrenaline
and ready to catch my first sighting.
suddenly,
through the sea of nurse sharks
there it was was.
my first great Hammerhead.
What an unbelievable sight.
I was given a short pole
to let the sharks know not to come too close.
But that was all I was equipped with in the water.
Sadly, this shark is listed
as endangered
due to a number of issues
including the fishing industry.
And their numbers have decreased by 80% in the last 25 years.
the experience of being in the water with these huge creatures
is hard to describe.
Watching them feeding showed me
just how quickly they can move.
And there were plenty of currents pushing me about
which definitely amped up the experience.
Lizzie: So we've just come up from the Hammerhead dive absolutely incredible.
they never get boring.
So good to see these animals so close
and I couldn't think of a better way
to finish my time here in Bimini.
The environment here in the Bahamas provides a unique opportunity
to preserve shark populations
before it's too late.
This is one of the few places in the world where sharks are thriving.
I've learned so much since being here in the Bahamas,
from the research underpinning their protection
to the inspiring people who work
with these incredible predators.
I've loved being able to get so close to these truly majestic
and misunderstood predators.
unquestionably,
we should be doing everything we can
to protect these awe inspiring creatures.
