Portrait in Tiger
On the sandy bottom of Tiger Beach during the fall of 2019, I repeatedly dove in first and enjoyed swim bys of the tiger sharks. Each individual bears a name; this is Freckles, so named for her prominent scent glands. All of the tiger sharks here are females. It is hypothesized that the females come here to bear their young. Tiger beach is so named because operators discovered tiger sharks will come up from the nearby wall to the shallow beach during the day. They swim back out to the wall at night. While the operators scent the water to encourage them to stay, these are wild and free animals. We discourage touching of any wildlife, which is important once guests realize the sharks are not aggressive toward them. They still command our respect.
