Sergio and Maurilio
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We want to thank the people of WAIHUKA ADVENTURE DIVING CENTER, special treatment provided by Sergio Tritto , owner of this great dive operation!!!!!
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Located on the south shore of the tropical paradise island of Roatan, in the Bay Islands of Honduras, Waihuka Adventure Divers specializes in encounter dives with Caribbean Reef Sharks.
Your hosts Maurillio and Sergio Tritto welcome you to experience the beauty and wonder of diving with sharks here in Roatan. Founded 8 years ago by Maurillio and Sergio, Waihuka Diving Adventures offers you the opportunity to see Caribbean Reef Sharks up close and personal.
Sergio Tritto - Owner/Operator
Sergio began diving over 30 years ago (occasionally he surfaces for a bit of sunshine) in his home of Italy. His adventures have taken him all around the world respectfully enjoying the company of sharks. To date Sergio has been diving with; Silvertip (his favorite), hammerheads, bull, tiger, silky, whale, Caribbean Reef, oceanic white tip, black tip, thresher and white tip reef sharks. Sergio is still active as one of the dive leaders.
Sergio Tritto,faccia a faccia con i tiburones ( pescecani)
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Sharks by Travis Marshal photo by Tanya G.Burnet.
Cara a Cara means face-to-face. And this shark feed dive with Waihuka Diving Adventures delivers just that, letting divers get up close and personal, and even swim the reefs, with a pack of gray reef sharks
All that evening I bounced around the sleepy resort with enthusiasm because the next morning I planned to get up bright and early to navigate Roatan's primary pockmarked road to the Las Palmas Resort where, tucked down a rutted dirt track, Waihuka Diving Adventures has a dockside location for launching its singular dive: Cara a Cara. It means face-to-face, and that's what I got when co-owner Sergio Tritto pulled up to his daily dive site. From the side of the boat we could see the superstars finning in on the spot, the boat's motor eliciting their primal Pavlovian response. But this shark dive was a little different than others out there.
We started out normally enough, sitting in the sand in about 70 feet of water, with Sergio shepherding a closed but perforated 5-gallon bucket-o-fish. But once all the divers made it to the bottom, he hoisted the bucket and took off down the reef. We swam together, a pack of humans and a school of gray reef sharks.
They were only there for the food and didn't give a damn about me, but swimming side by side with them still made for quite an experience. After 20 minutes or so, we made our way back to our starting point, and Sergio ushered us to the edge of the sand patch. He moved front and center and cracked open the bucket. The sharks knew the score and made a mad dash for the trough, diving in up to their dorsal fins and shaking the bucket like a bull goring a matador. There were only a few pounds of fish, and shared among about 15 sharks, the wad was blown in a matter of seconds. But there was no post-climax depression. As the sharks thinned out, the divers rushed for the sand to search for lost teeth, and once I found one, I backed off and made pleasantries with a Nassau grouper who was so docile he turned onto his side so I could scratch his belly.
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"Open Waters”
Al alejarnos de la costa en la embarcación, recibimos litros de agua salada en la cara. El océano estaba violento, la lancha se elevaba al vacío y caía con fuerza.
Sergio Tritto boat ran the pure pulse, Mena Werner joked that the GPS (Global Position System) Italian will have installed in the head, Tritto wearing gloves and steel posts (it opens to feed fish tank with sharks). We reached a small black ball the size of a human head in the ocean, and there threw the anchor. The expert diver guided the coast only to see it left behind.
Stopping the huge boat, then go 3 miles and a half (about 6 miles), all began to settle the team, while chocábamos each other. The boat looked like a runaway animal, constantly rising and falling.
Each diver was pulled back to the sea and quickly had to find and hold onto a thick yellow rope that led him to the anchor.
Al sink at last in the violent waters, I realized that down the rope would not be so easy. The boat looked like he wanted to leave around blowing and the waves falling over each other like sacks of flour. Download was exhausting, having to do enough force to achieve this, including the mouthpiece of the respirator a couple of times out of my mouth and I had to taste the salt water from the Atlantic to several meters deep. That
not have bothered me if he had not vomited before embarking on such marine Honduras. A few meters from the anchor, the group began to reel the rope to a strategic point of the reef and started to watch the sharks go under my feet, Tritto came to sink to the ground.
Then he and Javier Mena pointed out to me where I should stay seated and then duplicate as torpedoes went looking for the loot in the bucket that was used to attract them.
In the distance, I saw dozens of sharks swimming around divers. These remained peacefully floating inches off the reef. At the time Tritto removed the lid of the bucket with bloody fish, sharks live in a time of turmoil. Usually, the first to arrive are the females, since males are more nervous and are the last to arrive at the banquet. Sometimes, Tritto launched to fish We would appreciate the beauty of a shark bite .
tried to swim hard to stay close to the group, but was washed away and suddenly the only living thing the couple had was a shark.
When surfacing not see the boat and waited until he envisioned. Of waiting for the boat, divers were released and instead of worrying, they relaxed and enjoyed floating on the vast blue sea.
In Honduras, Italian diver is dedicated to leading others daring to close encounters with sharks measuring up to 3 meters long. Here the story of the exciting adventure of diving with these fish a bad name.
Sergio Tritto, Italian, 45, left the law to swim with sharks . For some, the adrenaline is sometimes not enough. And he is now charged with carrying divers who seek extreme emotions swimming in notorious predators.
In most of the Bay Islands of Honduras, Tritto and their customers interact with the most feared aquatic animal, as if they were candid dolphins.
Within 30 miles of the coast of Honduras, Roatan Island is the base from which to start the dive trips, much sought after by economic and variety of its possibilities, among which the visit has the second largest reef in the world. Also leave the dives that go to Face to Face, the meeting point with its partners Tritto submarines.
is not the typical diver. Tritto arrived in the Caribbean for seven years, after leaving behind a lifetime tinkering Italian courts-cell bundles under his arm. Diving at age 14, but it was the taste of it with sharks around the world that led him to decide to give it a dramatic shift to its existence: to change careers. But it is not a makeshift. In 1986 he was instructor of the Italian Federation of Diving and since 1990 is certified as PADI, the association professional diving instructors. Currently
takes divers to have close encounters with sharks. Provides them with tools to perform this experiment, a series of security measures and procedures simple but important. The descent to 22 meters deep is made subject to a cord that connects the dive boat with the bottom of a coral wall over two meters, which protects from strong currents during the time that the diver as he interacts comes with over 30 sharks between 2 and 3 meters long. Animals are attracted by a bucket of fish that Sergio has for the occasion. So that no one is hungry.
The first dived with sharks in 1986, Brothers Island, Red Sea. The previous night had failed to close an eye, by a mixture of nerves and anxiety. "I know exactly what people feel when they are about to debut, he says, and recalls his own experience. We reached a point of much current and waves. Dolphins, who heard the noise of the engines of the boat, jumped to our side. Being a very busy place, the guide told me to throw and go down as fast as possible because otherwise the wave would throw me over the reef. Just got off, I remember how a very large hammerhead shark passed me up. It is an image that I have yet recorded. Later, other. It was a place with many species: shark Gray, thresher shark and several species in the open sea, about 80 miles offshore.
Thus began his career in search of places to dive with sharks: Sudan, Egypt, Maldives, Cocos Island in Costa Rica, the Bahamas or Florida, where wreck diving to a depth of 35 to 40 meters and are provided copies of the aggressive bull shark .
At first his idea was not to work with them. Decided to settle in Roatan, tempted by sharks. Out with a friend and get them, luring them with prey caught for themselves. Down twice a week, from the same place, and after a few months achieved some familiarity with five copies. "It took a month to get used to our presence sharks and more than a year to get them used to swim with them, "he said.
There are also cute pets. One day diving Sergio with a cameraman, and began to feed the sharks, as usual. The guests had left already, but two, somewhat uneasy. One of them, not content with his portion, he attacked. First he pointed to the film camera and then he went to Sergio from behind and bit the head. Released him to feel that it was just skin and bone. After six months of the two wounds healing, Sergio began to feel something hard in one of them: it was a shark tooth piece later the wound opened again to exit.
But there are also stories of love between men and sharks. Sergio identifies Mary, "the largest animal, intelligent and curious of all," according to his definition of love. Sergio gets under Mary and stroked his hands. Mary always makes play a little more. "It's as if seeking contact with me," says Sergio, who reserved these moments of intimacy just for her.
Once, when he was feeding and surrounded an Indian raid, waiting for his portion. In the blink of an eye, he realized that no looked more hands. Mary had her head stuck to the chest of Sergio, and kept the two hands of the diver in your mouth. Sergio said he did not feel much and that the animal gently released her hands and left. Still, he had, as usual, its steel mesh gloves.
"It's like feeding several starving dogs, would be very difficult if you stick your hand in the middle, not to be bitten by one," the apology her trainer. For him, each shark is different, and distinguished character. Most guys are more nervous and usually the larger ones are more intelligent and calm. "I never saw a shark of this type was interested in a diver. The only thing that gets a little more tense or nervous is the smell of blood that feed fish, "he says, and recommends," Do not move your hands, put a cross or behind. Sharks good vibrations detected in the water and feel curious about everything that moves in a rapid and disorderly. If you're swimming in a sea and discovered that a shark is around, you have to swim back slowly. They have an enormous capacity to detect when an animal is scared and is in trouble. " By Ivan Pisarenko Photo: Iván Pisarenko revista@lanacion.com.ar
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Taking Pangas by Thomas Tomczyk
Fiscalia seizes hulls that 'lack proper documentation'
At the time of VOICE going to print Notton and her business partner Patrik Zigg were in La Ceiba attempting to at least retrieve the boat's engine.
Two weeks before, on February 8, 11 confiscated hulls, three of them with engines, were towed away to La Ceiba Harbour. Within the next three days the fiscalia confiscated another three. "We have a list of 30," said Campos, who is looking for boats in Utila, Guanaja and La Mosquitia as well.
On February 9, fiscales acted in 'repo men' style and took one of "Diving with Sharks" boats from the dive shop dock in Las Palmas and leaving no documents, explaining, or announcing their actions. "I am so angry. We first thought that the boat was stolen," says Sergio Tritto, one of the diveshop's owners.
More and more people are worried their boat could be confiscated next. Fantasy Island, Native Sons and Pura Vida all have slim Edwardoño hulls, powerful motors and use them for their dive operations.
Alvin Jackson, owner of West End dive shop Native Sons, is worried. Two of three boats were made on Roatan from a Edwardoño mold. "I like the proportions of the boat. It is economical on fuel, handles well in waves and is strong," said Jackson. Ever since November the fiscalia took photographs of one of his boats and Jackson began being concerned that his boats could be next to be confiscated.
Darcy Martinez and Linton in Las Palmas, are two Roatan boat builders who have made molds of the Edwardoño hull that allows them to build their own boats similar to that of the Colombian boat maker. "My boats are different than the Edwardoño. We don't put as much reinforciment in them," says Martinez, who files documents and seals them with the port captain for each vessel he makes. "Some people asked me to give papers that I built some of these [Edwardoño] boats, but I could never do that," says Martinez.
One problem with following registration procedure with the found Edwardoño boats, is that the vessels don't have anything identifying them, individual numbers. If they did, the drug traffickers made sure they were removed, to make the tracking of their purchasers impossible.
Between 2002-2005 there were several boats, Edwardoño pangas, in Santos Guardiola Municipal that were accepted from the Preventiva and frontier police as payment for the financial support that Municipal has given to the police. Even though a Roatan judge has approved some of these sales, a Tegucigalpa and AOBI (Ceased Goods Office) never had a chance to go through an auction process and receive payment for them. As far as the fiscalia is concerned, these boats don't have a proper owner. Now many people that paid Municipal money for the pangas, just had to abandon them, since they had no 'proper' papers to prove their ownership.
"If they had a problem, why couldn't they [fiscalia] have a grace period like with gun registrations? If you have a paperwork problem, you would have two months to pay fines and register you boat properly," asks Sergio Tritto.It is a good question.
What is concerning and surprising is that not a single person whose Edwardoño boat was confiscated by the fiscal has properly registered the boat. According to Campos either the owners did not know how to follow the procedure, or just didn't want to. "We found boats hidden in mangroves, being repainted in peoples' yards," said Campos.
These fiberglass pangas are a boat of choice for Columbian drug runners, who routinely transport around 1,000 kilos of cocaine in its watertight compartments, then transfer it to land, to continue their journey up north. The abandoned hulls of the pangas dot the mangroves of the east side of Roatan.
The Honduran government never got paid for the boats. Still, the question remains if the government should get paid for any boat that is salvaged at all? They don't have to if a proper procedure is followed.
On the heels of the December TTI equipment seizures, the government has begun another, much wider confiscation operation. Every business and individual with hulls similar to Eduardono is a potential target of fiscalia confiscations. Several dive shops and many individuals boats were confiscated without giving their owners a chance to prove the origin of the boat, pay fines, or straighten out the boat's paperwork. The confiscations continue and members of the local dive community are concerned. Businesses are disrupted and could potentially go out of business. Who will be next?
On January 29, fiscales waited for Subway Watersport's boat at the Barefoot Cay landing. According to Gillian Notton, co owner of Subway Watersports, the officials refused to show any papers, even when asked and pointed to their holstered guns. "If they would have spoken to me civilly it would be hard, but I would live with [the seizure of the boat] it," says Notton. Isai Campos Rodriguez, director of Bay Islands fiscales who is in charge of the seizures, says that the officials presented documents and followed proper procedure.
Subway's two dive shop clients were asked to step off and the fiscales drove the boat to the impound in Coxen Hole. "This is an easy way for them to show to the US that they are combating drug running," said Notton. Subway Watersports operates from three locations with four boats and ccording to Notton, it will likely have to close its most popular Barefoot Cay facility.
According to Campos, the fiscalia is focusing its seizures on Edwardoño made boats, a Columbian manufacturer of boat hulls and a preferred boat used by drug traffickers that transit through Honduran waters. According to Campos, the Edwardoño boats began to appear in the Bay Islands in 1999, but only now the government has the resources to recover the boats and funds owed. According to Campos all seized boats were found abandoned by drug traffickers and never properly registered.
Subway Watersports purchased the panga's bare hull in 2003 from Olson, an Oak Ridge Islander in Oak Ridge who salvaged the boat. An Oak Ridge judge signed the paper and the boat, christened 'Voyager' was registered with the Roatan Port Captain. For the Bay Islands fiscal that just wasn't enough. "The simple buy-sell document to transfer the ownership of this boat is not enough," said Campos. "If they prove ownership of engines and other equipment it will be returned to them."
Subway Watersports has a lot at stake. The dive shop invested in reshaping the interior of the boat to fit its dive operation, fit it with two 200 HP Mercury Engines, built an aluminum bimini top, and added an anchor. The boat's value is now around $50,000. "There will be an auction of the boats in La Ceiba in May and the owners will have a preferential buy rights," said Campos.
Not all boats had a chance to be auctioned off. On February 23, Subway Watersport's 'Voyager' was donated to Cayos Cochinos foundation by the fiscalia.
www BayIslandsVOICE.com
Già dall’Italia ci eravamo documentati per fare l’immersione con gli squali grigi Caribbean, and once there we contacted Waihuka Adventure Diving Centre to plan our dive "face to face."
Maurilio Mirabella, a teacher who moved to Roatan from Naples for several years, during a fishing expedition has found the underwater dive site, where he met and noted that several sharks were attracted by the smell of fish hanging from his belt. So he returned several times to dive and so-called "used" the sharks and the presence of his sub and the ritual of the "shark feeding".
This is a dive into the blue, arranged along a rope between two buoys for the strong current, which starts from the boat and drops to a depth of 20 meters.
on the bottom one system with their backs protected by the wall, standing or kneeling and watch the show.
Sharks come slowly, I counted 14 but the instructor said that there were 18, some are even 3 feet long, they begin to swim in circles and you have the opportunity to make beautiful photographs, as well see all the other fish that attended the show.
So, we come off the wall and kicking on the barrier between corals and sea fans, making no sudden movements of the arms and legs that would attract the curiosity of sharks.
E 'was great to be suspended on the reef, kicking against the to stand still, with the sharks that circled around us, giving no signs of aggression or nervousness, touching as giant groupers and other fish also followed them curious.
After fifteen minutes the instructor places on the seabed some meters away from us his bin with about 5 kg of fish washed and without blood and the sharks begin to run frantically around the tank already were aware of whatever the content, so pulling a rope used to remove the lid and sharks (well, the fastest) will swoop in the bin with all the nose and a bite to eat the fish.
soon subsided, gradually disappear in the blue, then there is still a ride on the barrier and climb along the top plate to the boat.
In reality, this experience is not the classic "shark feeding" which comes in different locations with bull sharks and tiger sharks, far more dangerous, where divers are inside a cage and observe the sharks, which feed from the hands of 'instructor. Instead here everything is done for free, with no cages or guards, but in fact gave the fish to sharks is minimal gray, absolutely no need to feed them, but it is just a "sweetener" in the years after the sharks have become accustomed to this ritual that is done every day, twice a day, about five years now. experience is truly exciting.
course, an expert sub-pictures of the participating dive center diving can give you the DVD of your experience to show with pride to friends fearful!
IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE VIDEOS OF SHARKS AND SUB ... CLICK ON THE LINK:
http://www.video.scubadata.com/index.php?l=IT&tag=Shark+waihuka&PHPSESSID=19b612cb843d8798509668b2d8f17f42
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