Shark Bytes Tales of Diving with the Bizarre and the Beautiful

About this book

There are few underwater experiences more exciting than diving with sharks, and in his new book, Shark Bytes: Tales of Diving with the Bizarre and the Beautiful, diving veteran and best selling author, John Bantin, has animated the experience like never before, making it a thrilling 'must read' for all dive enthusiasts.

During his exhilarating career as a dive journalist, Bantin has spent over two decades observing and interacting with many of the species of shark. Well known in the diving industry as an accomplished raconteur, Shark Bytes: Tales of Diving with the Bizarre and the Beautiful collates Bantin's favourite anecdotes of his inspiring, exciting and sometimes shocking encounters with sharks and other marine animals.

In this beautiful book, tales of outstanding natural beauty and mesmerising underwater serenity rub shoulders with dramatic accounts of razor-sharp teeth and voracious, deadly predators. Bantin's detailed, affectionate and thrilling stories include his eventful first dive, when he met a shark and his boat sank; a heart-stopping confrontation with a tiger shark; and the many characters – both marine and human – that have crossed Bantin's path along the way.

This 224-page compilation of Bantin's incredible experiences is accompanied by over 80 stunning colour photographs, taken by the author himself during his exhilarating underwater career.

Contents

Introduction

1: The Great Hammerhead
2: Early Experiences in the Bahamas
3: Whitetip Reef Sharks
4: The French Connection
5: Grey Reef Sharks of the Indo-Pacific
6: Beveridge Reef
7: Hammerhead Madness
8: Dirty Rock, Cocos Island
9: Nurses and Leopards
10: The Oceanic Whitetip
11: Photographing Oceanic Whitetips
12: Bottlenose Dolphin
13: Silky Sharks and Dolphins
14: Whale Sharks
15: Tagging Whale Sharks
16: Whale Sharks and the Thruster
17: Safari or Circus?
18: Bull Sharks
19: Tiger, Tiger
20: The Tasselled Wobbegong
21: Shark Diving in the Golden Triangle
22: The Sha'ab Rumi Shark Club
23: Panic at Gordon Rocks
24: Australian Rules
25: A Dive on the Wild Side
26: Maldives After Dark
27: Manta Mania
28: Dugongs: Mermaids of Years Gone By
29: British Sharks
30: What Eats Sharks?
31: Shark Feeding: Right or Wrong?
32: Is the Only Good Shark a Dead Shark?

Tailpiece: Sharks Keep Messing With My Wallet

Customer Reviews

Biography

John Bantin learned to dive in 1979, and as his passion for the sport grew it began to take up more and more of his life, until he made it his career in 1992. For more than 20 years Bantin has travelled the globe, experiencing and witnessing some of the most impressive underwater encounters. During this time he has been Technical Editor of Diver Magazine and regularly published in Undercurrent magazine and DYK. This year he was shortlisted for the Environmental Photographer of the Year award. Shark Bytes is Bantin’s third book; his best seller, Amazing Diving Stories, was published in 2013.