Tiger Sharks of Fuvahmulah: The World’s Greatest Shark Dive

It is just a speck in the Indian Ocean, but this tiny equatorial island in the far south of the Maldives is earning a big reputation, thanks to its resident population of tiger sharks, as Andrew Nieuwenhof showcasesthe tiger sharks of Fuvahmulah.

Why Fuvahmulah Is Known as Shark Island

In a shallow patch of blue water at the mouth of the island’s small harbour, these sharks put on a spectacular daily performance for divers. For many, this is the greatest shark show on Earth, staged by what is believed to be the world’s largest resident tiger shark population. More than four hundred adult individuals, mainly females, have been documented so far. An incredible number of them are pregnant, judging by the Momma Shark ultrasound project, which began while we were on the island.

Fuvahmulah is called Shark Island for good reason. “Basically, the Maldives is the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean,” says marine conservationist Arzakan ‘Zuzu’ Askin, who has helped set up an NGO, the Miyaru Programme, dedicated in part to studying the island’s tiger shark population. “The Maldives is home to over 30 shark species many of which are classified as critically endangered or vulnerable or endangered by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List,” she adds.

One of her Miyaru partners, Jono Allen, is our tour guide. An environmental scientist and renowned underwater photographer/videographer, Jono says tiger sharks are the cherry on the cake for the island. “But there’s a whole cake,” he explains. “So that cake is made up of schools of hammerheads, thresher sharks, whale sharks, schools of silvertips, schools of grey reef sharks, and at the right time of the year, hundreds of oceanic manta rays,” adding, “There are also very rare species, mola mola seen sometimes and mako sharks seen sometimes and then passing pods of cetaceans, you’ve got melon-headed whales, pilot whales, humpbacks, you’ve got, you know, absolutely everything.”

This was my second Shark Island safari, returning after 12 months with a group of five divers from Sundive Byron Bay, daughter Gabrielle, Stephen Henley, Brian and Lyn Pool and David Kyle-Robinson. In the two weeks we spent on Fuvahmulah diving from Nasheen Lonu’s Shark Island Dive’s converted, traditional fishing vessel called a dhoni, we found ourselves in shark heaven.

Diving Tiger Harbour: A Shark Encounter Like No Other

On our very first dive in Tiger Harbour, we encountered 12 or more different individuals. The tiger experience here is like no other shark dive, anywhere. You jump on the boat and just a couple of minutes later you are in the water, making your way to a sandy bottom, 8m-10m deep just outside the small harbour’s entrance. “That is unique in itself, “ says Jono. “Where else in the world does that happen, drop to the bottom and come face-to-face with numerous of these apex predators.”

A couple of tuna heads are dropped from the boat above, and amid the gathering tigers, expert shark guides grab the fish nibblies and quickly and adeptly place them between a small pile of rocks, just a few metres from the awe-struck underwater audience.

For the next 40 minutes, divers are treated to a non-stop shark extravaganza as the tigers come in from all directions to feast at their tuna-head snack bar. At one stage, in what seemed like a choreographed performance, three big tigers were vertically head down all at once picking at the remaining tuna scraps, their huge bodies and caudal fins swaying in unison. Even when the plate’s empty, the sharks continue to move around, often passing within

Are the Tiger Sharks of Fuvahmulah Social Animals?

It’s a common misconception that tiger sharks are solitary creatures. Research indicates that they do socialise, especially in shallower waters close to the coast. They can also be picky about which sharks they spend time with and have demonstrated group hunting strategies.

The sharks will often come within an arm’s length or less of divers. On each of our ten days of diving with them, we watched spellbound as they came ever closer, their eyes, bright and alert, looking straight at us, their rhythmic tail movement powering their huge frames, and their enormous white underbelly casting a big shadow as they passed over us. Truly awe-inspiring, and an absolute privilege for them to allow us to be among them.

The show ends in a dramatic finale as we head back to the boat for our safety stop. Alertness is the key, as a tiger comes up from the blue, approaches head-on or descends from above, often passing by closely. A crazy sight on some of our dives in Tiger Harbour was a notorious hawksbill turtle, the locals call Gangsta, trying his best to steal the show.

You would see Gangsta swimming in among the tigers, generally making a nuisance of himself by getting in their way at the snack bar, but not once did he seem in danger from sharks that usually have turtles on their menu. One jaded shark put her snout under the insistent turtle and tossed it metres away, only for Gangsta to head straight back into the fray.

More Than Tigers: Other Sharks of Fuvahmulah

You will also see tigers cruising along the fringing reefs surrounding Fuvahmulah, where another major attraction are the threshers, which gather at cleaning stations at a depth of 40m or so. Unlike the tigers, the threshers are a wary species.

Divers need to remain close together at 20m or so, moving as little as possible to best observe them from above, but for an eye-to-eye view, experienced divers can descend slowly to the bottom where these unique, long-tailed sharks with their cute faces and seemingly permanent startled look, are being cleaned.

On one dive Jono filmed a closeup of a moving thresher, which he posted on Instagram, going viral when it was shared by guitarist and environmentalist Slash from Guns N Roses. Scalloped hammerheads are frequent visitors to the reef, as are whale sharks, and oceanic manta rays pass through for a few weeks each year at the end of March into April. Reef sharks also abound and on one dive I saw a group of 40 or so grey reef sharks swimming around with several pups among them.

One of our goals was to find oceanic whitetips, but these are only rarely encountered and require a day trip farther out to sea. On Lonu’s dhoni, we set off to look for one of the world’s most-threatened species. Our destination was a buoy called a FAD, fish aggregating device, used as a marker by local tuna pole fishermen where oceanic whitetips and silkies are sometimes seen.

At a spot far out in the Indian Ocean somewhere between Australia and Africa we struck gold. Nearing the end of our time snorkelling around the FAD and ready to head home without a sighting, one of these iconic pelagics appeared out of the blue, heading straight for us. For the next hour or so, we were mesmerised by one of the ocean’s top predators moving among us.

Both cautious and curious, she made multiple approaches checking each one of us out individually, coming towards us, then moving away and then coming back again and again, showing off her beauty and elegance highlighted by the distinctive white smudge on the tips of her dorsal, pectoral and tail fins. Swimming close to the surface, the sun’s rays cast an enthralling, ever-changing electric light pattern across her back. For me, the encounter was one of the most-thrilling shark experiences of my diving life.

Shark Conservation and the Miyaru Programme

Recognising the importance of Fuvamulah’s tiger shark population, Zuzu, together with Jono and local shark enthusiasts, Abdulbasith Mohamed and Hamna Hussein, decided to found the Miyaru Programme, an NGO dedicated to expanding collaborative research and conservation of predatory sharks in the Maldives. “We realised there was a really big gap in the Maldivian NGO landscape where all the other larger species were covered through research and conservation efforts, but there wasn’t one dedicated to predatory sharks, says Zuzu, who was brought up in Turkey and studied a masters in conservation science and biodiversity management at Oxford University.

To meet Zuzu is to be instantly swept up in her passion for sharks. Her exuberance, captivating smile and dazzling eyes all come into play, especially when she is talking about the island’s Momma Shark Project, which seeks to uncover new insights into the reproduction of Fuvahmulah’s tiger sharks using non-invasive ultrasounds.

Near the end of our stay, the first of these ultrasound devices arrived on Fuvahmulah and using it for the first time, there was more gold. In all, the team scanned 35 tiger sharks in ten days and detected 25 pregnancies. Pups were at different life stages from early to late-term pregnancy. The Momma Project is a collaboration with @fuvahmulahdiveschool @miyaru_organd Dr James Sulikowski from @sulikowskilab @big_fish_laband @oregonstate @inah_shark @sharkbeyes @lennyunderwater @nathanvperisic. Going forward, the team is excited about the next steps, which will include collecting information about movements and spatial distribution of these big mommas.

Zuzu and her team are keenly aware of the threat facing sharks globally. She explains, “The Indian Ocean is the global epicentre of shark decline, it has got the highest rate of megafauna loss in the world, according to recent (scientific) papers. The Maldives is a really significant place because it’s one of the few shark sanctuaries in the Indian Ocean where shark fishing is completely banned in national waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone.”

Joining Zuzu in the Miyaru Programme is Jono Allen, a tall, laid-back Aussie with long, curly salt-drenched hair whose easy-going manner belies his intense love of sharks, and their plight, tiger sharks in particular. “They are incredibly unique. I didn’t know tiger sharks at all. I went from being scared of them to, these are the most-beautiful, misunderstood, gentle, elegant, just perfectly balanced creatures in our oceans. Then I learnt a lot more about the Maldivian ones, the ones here and learnt how the ones here are even more vibrant with more striking patterns on them than elsewhere on this planet.”

Diving among the tigers of Fuvamulah in the company of people like Jono, Zuzu, Lonu and other good friends is such a sublime experience that my now-annual pilgrimage to Shark Island can not come quickly enough.

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