Chasing Crocodiles

Up until recently I’ll admit photographing saltwater crocodiles in their natural habitat was not high on my list of shots to get. At least not face to face in the water. But that’s exactly what I set out to do with five other crazy divers one calm February morning in Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen). Our adrenaline was already pumping as we had just finished up our first dive of the trip with two dozen Caribbean reef sharks. It was an incredible way to start off the trip so our spirits were high as we were heading back to the main boat for some coffee. Through the noise of the boat engine and water breaking we heard our expedition leader, Michael Aw, shout Niño (pronounced neen-yo) in a suggestive tone to our guide Noel Lopez. Unless you have been to Jardines, the word Niño means nothing to you but for me Nino had meant a few restless nights alone in the dark with my wild imagination. I knew we would meet some saltwater crocodiles on our trip, I knew I would be getting in the water and photographing them, but I hadn’t realized just how quickly it would happen. The fact that the time had finally arrived was a bit unsettling.

In Spanish, Niño means “little child”, but in the mangroves of Jardines, Niño means “2-3 meter saltwater crocodiles”. It also means lunchtime to the crocs. Our guide, Noel, has been swimming with the crocodiles in this area for sixteen years without incident. While this should make one feel very comfortable somehow it didn’t completely relieve my apprehensions. Everyone else seemed cool with it so I tried to ignore the little voice in my head and got excited about it. My husband was already in the water face to face with the croc, filming. I got my wetsuit zipped up, threw my fins on and quietly slipped off the side of the boat into about 3 meters of water. My entry did not go unnoticed by Niño who quickly turned around to investigate me. It was such an exhilarating moment. He swam slowly yet directly at me on the surface of the water. The dome port of my camera was a few inches from his razor sharp teeth. Once he realized I didn’t have any food for him he sort of lost interest in me. And that's when chasing crocodiles commenced.

I spent the next half hour trying to position myself between him and the sun but with the current increasing and the visibility of the water decreasing it became more and more difficult to get the perfect shot. After everyone had their time with Niño we headed back to the Tortuga for lunch. Little did I know that in the days to come I would have many opportunities to get back into the water with Niño and his friends. To be continued . . .