In May 2012, I journeyed to Cat Island in the Bahamas to dive with Epic Diving. Vince and Debra Canabal of Epic Diving, along with their friend (and fellow underwater cinematographer) Joe Romeiro, run an intimate and professional operation to see and dive with oceanic whitetip sharks in the deep blue waters off Cat Island.
Guests on these expeditions have the choice of staying at a nearby hotel, or together family-style in a luxurious vacation home on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The five participants on this trip, my friends and renowned underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall, Joseph Burkart (an engineer from Wisconsin), and Briana Darcy (a precocious teenaged underwater photographer) all had the privilege of staying at this very comfortable residence, which normally serves as the vacation home of a doctor. These photos show the back deck of the house and the incredible ocean views. There are two huge suites that are perfect for couples, and two smaller rooms that can accommodate one or two divers each. A good size for a trip with Epic Diving is six to eight divers.
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One of the great things about this trip is that it is land-based. Oceanic whitetip sharks are only found in deep oceanic waters, but that kind of water is just a couple of miles off the southern tip of Cat Island, where we stayed. I flew into Nassau, met up with Howard and Michele, spent five hours in the airport there, ate a surprisingly good lunch at the Wendy’s at the airport (their french fries are great!), then we had a 1.5 hour flight to The Bight Airport (TBI) near the middle of Cat Island, The Bahamas.
Debra and Vincent Canabal are incredibly smart folks who have an astounding ability to juggle and manage their various careers and interests. They’ve turned their passion for showing people the beauty of sharks into their diving operation Epic Diving. In their spare time, Debra works as a neuroscientist and Vincent serves as an emergency room physician! In addition to all this, both are very competent divers (obviously) and photographers, and they are raising a three-year-old boy, a great kid named Lucas. I am amazed by their enthusiasm and competence.
Cat Island, and the house we stayed in, had been hit by a hurricane in August 2011. When we arrived, the house was still being patched up, but it was a perfectly fine place to spend a week. Epic Diving supplied all meals; the food was plentiful and pleasurable. The house was a great place for a group of divers; we spent the evenings viewing each other’s photographs and video as you can see in one of the images.