Dances with Sharks

SUNDAY, May 11, 2008, was an unforgetable day. Several times I visit Karimunjawa Islands (about 80 miles north of Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia), but on that Sunday I had such an unforgetable experience: I was dancing with dozens of sharks in a localized 2-meter-deep breeding pool. Actually, I belonged to a participant team of Fishing Competition 2008 held on 10-11 May by Jepara Regency and Suara Merdeka Daily in the waters surrounding Karimunjawa.

My team took two sessions of fishing with traditional boat. As a matter of fact I'm fond of swimming rather than fishing. So, between the two sessions I made up my mind to split from my team and join the snorkling tour around the exotic reef barrier nearby. Simple story, I found a shark breeding pool when we were searching for reef park by a speed boat. 

The owner said it is OK to swim with the sharks so I tried to experience the rare situation: Dance with the sharks. Probably it is OK because they are only 1,5 meter long on average, or they are the tame species of shark. I cannot tell. Anyway, I had been swimming with them for about half an hour in a very close range. Hajimete! (first experience). A friend of mine, Bayu, was using Canon 40D digital camera, 20-40 mm lense, to take the picture of "the dance".