Por Andrés Jiménez

La semana pasada, tuve un encuentro único con el misterioso y temido tiburón cabeza de martillo en Jardines de la Reina (Cuba), calificado así por su comportamiento, la forma de su cuerpo, el tamaño increíble y su agresividad, mientras me dedicaba a cazar sábalos cerca de los arrecifes poco profundos, todo esto unido a las historias de los pescadores locales sobre este tiburón en aguas de poca visibilidad del Golfo de Ana María, y las leyendas que han creado una sombra de miedo y  mito en torno a este tiburón, son algunas de las razones por las que se considera un fantasma que la mayoría de los pescadores locales temen. Incluso desde el barco observé muchos tiburones martillo durante mis inmersiones.

Esta especie es uno de los habitantes comunes de los Jardines de la Reina, aunque no es muy fácil ver debido a la abundancia y comportamiento del mismo. Realmente es difícil ver o tomar fotos de este hermoso animal. Todos los buzos, siendo fotógrafos o no, siempre sueñan con encontrar este tiburón, y cuando lo hacen, ven que es muy tímido. Esta es la razón por la que mi encuentro fue único: mi martillo no era tímido en absoluto, pero muy curioso, yo diría que demasiado curioso y eso es lo que realmente me hizo sentir un poco nervioso, en relación principalmente a la diferencia de tamaño entre nosotros.

Había una persona en el barco que no se sentía cómodo con la idea de ir al agua con los Jaquetones, (en este punto del buceo había un grupo de 20 a 25 tiburones, dándole bienvenida a los buzos, mientras nadábamos en la superficie, unidos al barco a través de la boya de amarre). Después de la inmersión fuimos a un hermoso arrecife poco profundo lleno de vida con corales de cuerno de alce y toneladas de pescados para realizar un buceo «libre de los tiburones». Después de la inmersión a 9 metros de profundidad, empezamos a nadar sobre las cabezas de coral, entonces miré a mi lado, y allí estaba: el Sr. Rey cabeza de martillo de 13 pies de largo, cada vez más cerca de nosotros, observándonos con su ojo izquierdo.

De este cabeza de martillo recuerdo su enorme cuerpo, su color marrón, y su aleta dorsal en la superficie, nadando lentamente sin miedo acercándose a nosotros, demasiado confiado como el rey de los arrecifes que es. La mayoría de los tiburones son inofensivos para los humanos. Aunque me sentí un poco amenazado por este animal, nos fuimos muy contentos, porque en mi mente siempre estará la imagen de este majestuoso tiburón con tan extraña forma de cabeza, que nunca olvidaré.

 

Encounter with the King of Mangle Alto Reef Jardines de la Reina

By  Andres Jimenez

Last week, I had a unique encounter with the mysterious and feared King Hammerhead in Jardines de la Reina. Mysterious and feared because of its behavior, its body shape, amazing size and its aggressiveness while hunting for tarpon near the shallow reef, all this together with thestories of local fishermen about this shark in poor visibility waters of the Ana Maria Gulf, and the legends that have created a shadow of fear and myth around this shark, are some of the reasons why it is considered a ghost that most of local fishermen fear, even when staying in the boat, dry and out of the water.

I have seen many King Hammerheads during dives; this species is one of the common inhabitants of Jardines de la Reina, even it is not very easy to see due to their abundance or behavior? I don’t know for sure, what I really know is that it is difficultto see or take pictures of this beautiful animal. All divers, being photographers or not, always dream about finding this shark,and when they do, it is very shy, swimming away most of the times. I said “most of the times” and this is the reason why my encounter was unique, my hammerhead was not shy at all, but extremely curious, I would say too much curious and that’s what really made me feel a bit nervous, mainly regarding thedifference in size between us.

I was diving in “Pipin” and there was one person in the boat who was not comfortable with the idea of going to the water with our beloved Silky sharks, (in this diving spot there is a group of 20-25 sharks welcoming divers while swimming in the surface, as soon as the boat gets to the mooring buoy) and as it is our custom in Jardines de la Reina to spoil customers without limits, I was not happy seeing these man wouldn’t go to the water, so I offered him to go (after the dive) to a beautiful shallow reef full of alive Elkhorn coral and tons of fish for a “free-of-sharks” snorkeling. After the dive, we jumped  in the reef, 9 feet deep, we started swimming over the coral heads, then I look at my side, and there it was: Mr. King Hammerhead 13 feet long,getting closer to us, turning its heat to take a closer look with its left eye, the guy that didn’t want to see sharks had his reward, hi didn’t see 20 Silkies but a 13 feet lonely hammerhead, all I have in my mind as a memory is the huge body, so thick, brown color, the stomach near the bottom and dorsal fin nearthe surface, too narrow water space for its huge body, swimming slowly fearless approaching us, too close, too confident, I did move my fins near the sharks head and it turned around slowly swimming away very confident as the king of the reef that it was.

Obviously for this shark we were very small, and it was very relaxed in this situation, I wouldn’t say the same of us, even I am a shark lover and believe most of the sharks are harmless for humans, I felt a bit threatened by this animal, mainly because we were in the middle of the King’s hunting grounds. We went away very excited, the guy definitely started diving with the silkies next day, and we both shared an eternal memory of this encounter, in my mind forever the image of this majestic shark with such strange head shape, one of the miracles of nature, face to face in the shallow reef, this image I will never forget.