Diana Nyad Swim 2 - Shark Handlers on Duty

Photo Credit: Malcolmobbs.com

 For those in-the-know long distance swimmer Diana Nyad is 2/3rds of the way through her third attempt at crossing from Cuba to Florida.

Her shark team this time around features Tiger Beach, Bahamas very own Capt Rob MacDonald who recently had a successful run in with a curious Oceanic Whitetip shark.

By successful, he was able to deploy non lethal techniques to keep the animal disinterested in Diana's long distance attempt.

Around 1 p.m. -- and don't everybody get excited here -- an oceanic whitetip shark was spotted near Diana in the midst of the three-boat flotilla. Diana is deeply committed to the safety of these extraordinary animals. Rob MacDonald, one of her talented safety divers, swam towards the shark, where they faced off within 10 feet of one another. "I guess he thought I was more aggressive than him, and he turned in the other direction," said MacDonald. Everyone else, it must be said, breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Kudos to the entire shark team out there right now and to Diana herself for what looks to he another harrowing but ultimately successful (fingers crossed) attempt at the record books swimming a total distance of 103 + miles.

Diana is the stuff that real legends are made of - the right stuff.

All those involved on the recent 18=30 mile media fiasco should be paying attention.

Tiger Beach Bahamas - Denny the Shark Video

Last week in the middle of another commercial film and television shoot on Tiger Beach we celebrated the arrival of Denny, a little Tiger shark we had come to know and love this spring in the Bahamas.

The celebration lasted until we saw the close up video that Fraizer Nivens surfaced with.

Sadly it looks like little Denny (all three feet of him) had been chomped on by another resident Tiger, crushing his dorsal fin and leaving behind several healing puncture wounds. Additionally he survived a fisherman's hooking event recently.

If you watch this video of Fraizer's you'll see the hook and line in the corner of his mouth.

The good news is that sharks are very resilient critters and if he can stay out of any more trouble little Denny might just get big enough one day to hold his own at Tiger Beach.

Life can be tough for sharks in the wild and we'll continue to follow Denny's progress and update you as he grows up, right now he's a cute little guy who's always showing up in the thick of things not quite sure where he belongs.

Thanks to Fraizer Nivens for the video documentation shot on RED One Digital Cinema camera at 4KHD, 30 fps. RED Code 36. Light color grade in RED CineX, output to Pro Res 4444 and then compressed using Episode into a smaller H264 webmovie.

Let's go shark diving!

Denny the Tiger Shark, Tiger Beach Bahamas from Frazier Nivens on Vimeo.