Diving With Spinner Sharks in the Maldives

Video courtesy Blue Force Fleet

If spinner sharks were airplanes, they'd be fighter jets. These mid-sized sharks are built for speed with sharp snouts, streamlined torsos and swept-back pectoral fins. With a few flips of a muscular tail they can surge to more than 45 miles an hour. Spinners are capable of near-instant directional changes and impressive acrobatic performances.

Diving into a pack of spinner sharks on the hunt is a thrilling experience. Images courtesy Blue Force Fleet

The combination of agility and speed come into play when on the hunt, and it's what gives these sharks their common name and signature move. They will attack a school of fish with a burst of speed and an ascending trajectory that breaches the water's surface with a spinning leap. The subsequent descent back into the school is a shock-and-awe maneuver that creates disorientation and scatters the prey, making it easier to single out a target.

Spinner sharks often hunt in pack formations that can number upwards of 100. Images courtesy Blue Force Fleet

Watching a spinner shark in action is an amazing underwater experience. And it gets even better at certain places around the world, because spinners are known to hunt in packs. There are sites in the Caribbean and coastal Africa where spinner sharks gather. The destination best known for large aggregations of these high-energy hunters is the Maldives.

The Atolls of the Maldives create an ideal environment for the spinner's preferred hunting techniques. The tidal channels that lie between individual islands in each atoll provide a steady ebb and flow of nutrient-rich water that attracts large schools of herring, anchovies, sardines and other small fish. Boundaries created by channel walls concentrate the schools into tighter formations that are easily attacked by the spinners.

Spinner sharks can be recognized by their streamlined profiles and sharp, swept-back pectoral fins. Adults typically measure six feet in length, with some growing to almost 9 feet. Images courtesy Blue Force Fleet

The sharks show up in numbers ranging from the dozens into the hundreds. They may approach in a coordinated phalanx, then seeming chaos ensues as the sharks dart, swirl and leap into action. Divers can witness this maelstrom of natural selection at a number of places across the Maldives.

Images courtesy Blue Force Fleet

Blue Force liveaboards are accompanied by an attendant dhoni support vessel from which all dives are conducted. Images courtesy Blue Force Fleet

The best way to take in the full scope of Maldives diving, including spinner shark action, is with a liveaboard dive trip. One of Caradonna's preferred partners for these trips is the Blue Force Fleet, with a 25-year history of top-rated service in the Maldives. A section of seasonal itineraries take in atolls from north to south. January to April is considered peak season for spinner shark encounters in calm, clear waters, but the action continues all year, and can overlap with other seasonal adventures such as whale shark and manta ray encounters.

Caradonna's experienced agents can provide more information on specific Blue Force cruises and itineraries, and can create your personalized spinner shark and Maldives dive vacation adventure.