Is it safe to dive with tiger sharks and where’s the best place to see them around the world?
There’s no mistaking the tiger shark. It has the tiger like markings on its flanks. These are large animals where female tiger sharks can grow to 5 metres (16 feet 5 inches). See below for the biggest tiger shark recorded.
The best way to dive with tiger sharks is at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas on a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Bahamas liveaboards using the following window:
Where can you dive with tiger sharks
Looking at the top list of places around the world where tiger sharks can be found, you may think these beautiful creatures would be easy to spot. But there are places where you are more likely to see them. These are the top tiger shark dives sites.
Let’s take a look at these top tiger shark dive sites in more detail.
1. Tiger Beach Bahamas – The best tiger shark diving there is on the planet!
Tiger shark diving at Tiger Beach is one of the best tiger shark dives in the world.
This tiger shark destination is one of the few places where you are almost guaranteed to see tigers. But as with all of natures dive sites, and whilst Tiger Beach diving is extremely reliable for shark encounters, this can never be 100% guaranteed.
Tiger Beach is a relatively shallow dive site, ranging from a maximum depth of around 6-10 metres (20-30 feet).
Where is Tiger Beach located in the Bahamas?
Tiger Beach is about an hour’s boat ride from Grand Bahama Island. But whilst Tiger Beach is known for tiger sharks, it’s not just tigers you’ll see. You are also likely to see Caribbean reef sharks, lemon sharks, nurse sharks, great hammerheads and bull sharks too.
Tiger sharks at Tiger Beach can been seen all year. But the best time to dive Tiger Beach is from October to January. This is in the shark breeding season. But then July to August is when there are the least amount of sharks to be seen.
You may want to watch the below video before you go to Tiger Beach though! These tiger sharks are enticed with bait, so they are not in their natural state.
You may be looking for a more natural setting where tigers are not being enticed by bait. If this is the case the next best dive site for tiger sharks is Hawaii.
This video is filmed at Tiger Beach where this large tiger shark is petted like a dog. Definitely worth a watch if you weren’t already convinced of a trip to Tiger Beach.
Table of Bahamas liveaboards
This list of Bahamas liveaboards diving Tiger Beach is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
How to Dive with Tiger Sharks Dr. Neil Hammerschlag and his team brave a group of aggressive tiger sharks for some very important data about Tiger Beach. From TIGER BEACH, part of Shark Week 2016. TIGER BEACH premieres Sun June 26 at 8/7c on Discovery!
2. Tiger shark diving in Hawaii
Hawaii is known for tiger sharks. Unfortunately for Hawaii, it was during the 1990’s that tiger sharks were responsible for a number of fatalities. Although this has dropped significantly and you are 40 times more likely to drown than be killed by a shark.
The best place in Hawaii to dive with tiger sharks is off Oahu. Tiger sharks in Hawaii are drawn in by the large number of sea turtles. Turtles are one of their staple food sources. The best time to dive Oahu to have the best chance to see tiger sharks is during Autumn each year. This is from September to December.
At this time of year you also stand the chance of spotting humpback whales too. These large creates migrate through the region during this time of the year.
Below is a video of tiger sharks in Hawaii. This video is from Kona off Big Island. This tiger shark diving is the more natural way of seeing these magnificent creatures. This is instead of an ‘organised feast‘ where they are being fed like they are at Tiger Beach.
Video of tiger sharks in Hawaii in a natural state
Tiger Sharks Scuba Diving – Kona – Big Island, Hawaii GoPro 4K Extremely satisfying encounter of Tiger sharks while scuba diving in Kailua Kona. In two days, two sightings of this incredible animals at Crescent Beach near Honokohau Harbor. While this is common summer resident in the area this time of the year (mid November) was a real treat to see them. Massive looking fish, slowly gliding between the divers gives you a little perspective…. It was very exciting underwater experience and one of my best so far. Hard to stay still while it’s moving around you:) Diving trip with Kona Diving Company.
3. Tiger shark diving in French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an off the beaten track scuba dive site. With pristine coral reefs and protected atolls. French Polynesia liveaboards offer some of the best diving in the world.
Fakarava Atoll is known for its shark diving. It’s where you are likely to see one of the largest populations of grey reef sharks. The second top dive site in French Polynesia is Rangiroa atoll. This second large atoll is also within the Tuamotu Archipelago, which stretches across 170 square kilometres.
Rangiroa Atoll famous for the Tiputa Pass is where you are most likely to see tiger sharks. The scuba diving in Tiputa Pass is known for the strong currents and drift diving is the norm.
If you are fortunately enough to dive the channel into the central lagoon of the Rangiroa Atoll, you will experience currents. These currents wash into and out of the atoll’s lagoon. This is the same as the north pass and south pass of Fakarava Atoll, where drift diving is also the norm.
The White Valley Tahiti French Polynesia
Another place to dive with sharks includes tiger sharks is The White Valley Tahiti or in French La Vallée Blanche. See the video below.
La Vallée Blanche or The White Valley is a drift diving site. This is located at the tip of the Faa’a lagoon. This dive site can be dived from Tahiti Island itself. There’s no guarantee to see tiger sharks but as you’ll see in the video they are seen.
Tiger Shark White Valley (Tahiti) With Api Diving ! 5 days of diving with Api Diving Club on the white valley (french Polynesia -Tahiti)
4. Tiger shark diving the Protea Banks South Africa
One of the top dive spots to see tiger sharks is Protea Banks in South Africa. This tiger shark diving site is a ‘baited shark dive‘.
If you’re looking to dive the Protea Banks the best time to do so is between March to June. This is a time when you are more likely to see these massive stripped sharks.
If you’re okay with shark baiting to experience tiger sharks you can join tiger sharks. This will be enjoyed drifting in the currents in this awesome clear water dive site. The baiting is the similar to the technique used at Tiger Beach. It’s similar also to Tiger Beach as you’ll also see bull sharks and many reef sharks too.
Another tiger shark hot spot is in Fiji, which like Hawaii is also in the Pacific Ocean too. Beqa Lagoon (pronounced Benga) is another shark baiting dive site where tiger sharks are lured in with fish bait.
The depth of Beqa Lagoon is between 5-30 metres (16-100 feet). This is an all year round dive site. But the best visibility is between July and September when the visibility can be up to 40 metres (131 feet).
But you may prefer to dive this fabulous Fiji destination from a land-based stay. If so there are a few resorts to choose from. Resorts like the Beqa Lagoon Resort, which has great customer reviews is an excellent choice.
Alternatively, you may prefer something a bit more personal and smaller. If so try the 36.5 metre (120 feet) liveaboard taking a max of 16 guests is the Nai’a liveaboard. You could also book the Fiji Aggressor, which is designed for up to 10 guests and is 31 metres (101 feet).
Beqa Lagoon Sharks dive in Fiji with tiger sharks at Beqa Lagoon resort Welcome to Fiji at Beqa Lagoon for diving with the sharks!!! Beqa Lagoon is a all in one place to see all kind of sharks : Nursery shark, lemon shark, white tip shark, black tip shark, bulldog shark and tiger sharks. If there is one place to go to see sharks in diving it’s at Beqa Lagoon. Not so far to Pacific Harbor. Music by Woodkid. check my Instagram
Isolated reef Fuvahmulah Atoll is in South of the Maldives. But what’s special above scuba diving Fuvahmulah Atoll is the opportunity to dive with a number of tiger sharks.
The best time to visit the Maldives is from December to March each year and the diving there will suit most levels of diver too.
Table of Maldives liveaboards
This list of Maldives liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
Fuvahmulah Maldives Tiger shark dives Experience tigers, and thresher sharks.
Is it safe to dive with tiger sharks?
How dangerous are tiger sharks you may be asking? Plus is it safe to dive with tiger sharks?
Tiger sharks are known for their indiscriminate eating habits and have voracious appetites. Tiger sharks are predatory creatures and have probably one of the widest variety of diets of all shark species.
Due to the tiger shark’s seemingly indiscriminate appetite, and because of their curious and inquisitive nature, they can become aggressive towards humans. Because of this, they must be treated with extreme caution.
The biggest tiger shark is thought to be over 7 metres (23 feet) in length and weighing over 900 kg (1,984 lbs)!
Generally tiger sharks grow to an average length of around 3-4 metres (10-13 feet). But the largest adult tiger shark is thought to have attained a length of over 7 metres (23 feet). This large tiger shark weighed over 900 kg (1,984 lbs).
The tiger shark is second only to the Great White shark in the number of reported attacks on humans. The Bull shark joins the Great White shark and the tiger shark as the only three sharks that are responsible for two-digit numbers of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.
But to put this in perspective, there are around 80 unprovoked shark attacks on humans reported worldwide each year. However, it’s important to note of course very few of these are on scuba divers.
Shark attack statistics
Putting shark attacks into perspective, especially in relation to tiger shark attacks on scuba divers. According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1958 and 2016 there were 2,785 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the world. That’s around 47 attacks each year. Of these unprovoked attacks, there were 439 that were fatal. This equates to 7-8 fatalities per year.
However, in 2018, the number of shark bites drop significantly to 66 unprovoked shark bites. But the number of deaths remained constant at four in total. Although in an article on the ISAF website, 53% of bites involved board sports. That leaves 47% for all other water activities. But it’s known that the percentage of attacks on scuba divers is extremely low.
If you said that 10% of these relate to scuba divers (which would be high). This would mean that of these four fatal shark attacks, 1/2 a death related to scuba diving. Then if you include all the shark species the chances of this 1/2 a death relating to tiger sharks is unlikely.
In essence, your risk of an attack by a tiger shark is very low as a scuba diver. Which means the risk of a fatal attack from a tiger shark is almost non-existent.
Where are tiger sharks located around the world?
Tiger sharks are found in temperate and tropical seas around the world. These include the following locations:
Western Atlantic ocean and Caribbean sea
Tiger sharks can be found from Massachusetts to Uruguay. Then from the Gulf of Mexico to the Bahamas and Antigua in the Caribbean.
Eastern Atlantic ocean
From Iceland to possibly around the UK. This is due to the warm Gulf Stream. Then from Morocco and the Canary Islands to Senegal and the Ivory Coast. Tiger sharks are found in the warmer parts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
But having said this, I wouldn’t suggest you rush off to any of these places to spot tiger sharks. Sightings in the eastern Atlantic Ocean are extremely rare.
Mediterranean sea
It’s thought that tiger sharks are found in the Mediterranean sea. It was reported in the Telegraph Newspaper that a 30-year-old woman was bitten by a tiger shark on a beach in Benidorm in 2014.
Once more, although tiger sharks have been seen in the Mediterranean Sea, these sightings are very rare indeed. I’d therefore not pin your hopes on scuba diving in the Med and sighting tiger sharks.
Indian Ocean
From South Africa to Pakistan and India. From Sri Lanka to the Maldives. Then from Thailand to Vietnam. Tiger sharks are known to be in the Indian Ocean.
You’ll notice the Indian Ocean is one of the places in the world where tiger shark sightings are more likely. In fact South Africa is one of my top listed places to scuba dive with tiger sharks.
From the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia and from Australia to New Zealand. Then from Southern China to New Caledonia and Palau to the Solomon Islands. From the Marshall Islands and Tahiti and French Polynsia to a tiger shark hot spot of Hawaii. Plus the waters around Southern California, Peru and the Galapagos islands.
You’ll see that Hawaii is one of the top places in the world to scuba dive with tiger sharks. The Pacific Ocean is a good place to travel to if you’re on the hunt for tigers.
The other top site for seeing tiger sharks is French Polynesia. This area of the Pacific Ocean is unspoilt and off the beaten track. Which means you’ll be enjoying some of the most beautiful diving in the world.
The Red Sea
Tiger sharks can be found in the Red Sea. In particular there have been sightings around one of my favourite dive sites the Elphinstone Reef Marsa Alam. In fact here’s a video of this dive site:
Having said that, and whilst there are great shark sighting opportunities in the Red Sea, it’s not the top place in the world to spot tiger sharks. In all the trips that I’ve made to the Red Sea, which is a lot, I’ve not seen a tiger shark there yet.
Red Sea dive liveaboards table
This list of Red Sea liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.
The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.
Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.
Tiger shark tracker
If you want to track tiger sharks you can use the Ocearch shark tracker. This is a webpage, as well as an app you can download to your smartphone too. It’s great as Ocearch have tagged many shark species, including tiger sharks and great white sharks.
I hope you enjoyed this article about where can you dive with tiger sharks
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or types of scuba diving (or specifically about where can you dive with tiger sharks), please comment below with your questions.
Where Can You Dive With Tiger Sharks (Best Place To Dive With Tiger Sharks)
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
