Diving into water with a school of 12-foot plus bull sharks is crazy. I don’t even feel safe being in a boat when bull sharks are in feeding mode.
For Farrell Tiller, diving with bull sharks means cobia. As the East Coast of Florida migration of cobia passes along Palm Beach, he goes out in search of bull sharks, because cobia swim with the aggressive bulls. When the cobia are swimming with the sharks, Tiller heads into the water to get a shot.
“When I see the fish my worries go away,” Tiller explains. “We’ve been doing this long enough we can get a good feel of the sharks body language and how they are going to act and react with us in the water. That being said, they are wild animals and there’s no telling what they may do.”
To watch each others backs, Tiller heads into the water four divers at a time. Everyone looks a direction to make sure no one is at risk of being attacked from behind. Many of Tiller’s friends are in the FAU Spearfishing Club who also partake in the cobia carnage. Pictured with Tiller (left) are Chandler Beck, Colin Page, Roberto Ruiz.
“We’ve never had any serious injuries, but have lost a few fish and shafts to sharks,” Tiller says. “Gain more experience spearfishing and free diving before trying this. It is a dangerous sport and there’s a lot that can go wrong.”
Check out the video below of Tiller spearing a 60-pound cobia off a bull shark.
