Swimming with Sharks in Bimini- Carnival Excursion Review

If you are anything like me, the thought of being able to swim with Sharks is something that you see as a bit scary, a bit adventurous, and 100% on your bucket list! I’ve spent years watching videos of people swimming with sharks, obsessively watching Shark Week, and promising myself that someday I’d do it! I finally did it, and it was amazing!

When my friend and I booked a girls’ trip on a Caribbean Cruise and I saw that Bimini was on the itinerary, I knew I had to book an excursion with sharks.

At the time of our cruise, Bimini was a brand new cruise port, and there weren’t a lot of excursion options, so I opted to book with Carnival. I usually book private excursions, so I was concerned that this would be overcrowded and not worth the money.

Bimini Shark Swimming- Carnival Excursion

We booked through Carnival on the reef shark snorkeling adventure. The cost was $119.99 per adult and slightly less if you have a child. The excursion lasts about 2-3 hours. 

You’ll receive a ticket delivered to your stateroom before your arrival at Bimini. Take that ticket with you off the ship to hand to the tour operator. When you disembark the ship, there will be a long pier.

You’ll have to walk to the end of it and then cross the street to meet up with the tour guide. There will be multiple guides there so just look for the one holding the sign that says “shark snorkeling”. 

You’ll walk with your guide to their office and sign the waivers saying you understand that swimming with sharks is dangerous. We were given some water and then we headed to our boat. 

Once onboard the boat, we received some additional information and instructions and then headed out to the snorkeling site. The boat ride is pretty and takes about 20 minutes to the site.

On the way out to the site, the crew handed out our snorkel gear. We got fins, a snorkel mask, and a life vest. You can also bring your own snorkel set if you are more comfortable with that.

➡️ Click to buy your own snorkel set
➡️ You can also purchase your own snorkel vest

I was pleasantly surprised that the excursion was not overcrowded.

Swimming with Sharks in Bimini. What was it like?

Once we took the boat ride out to the site, the crew threw a bait box into the water. The box is a large metal box that hangs below the boat. We were instructed to stay away from the bait box while swimming. For obvious reasons.

Once the bait was in the water, it only took a minute or so for sharks to start swimming around the boat.

Everyone can start jumping whenever they are ready. To me, that was the scariest part. As I jumped in I couldn’t tell if there were sharks below me or not, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t see due to the bubbles and motion of entering the water.

Once I was in, I was able to look down and see the sharks swimming below me.

The longer we were there, the more sharks appeared. None of the sharks seemed concerned or bothered by our presence at all. They seemed completely uninterested.

We spent a good amount of time in the water. Maybe 30 minutes. There was a crew member in the water with us the whole time to help with any equipment issues or answer any questions or safety concerns.

I did not bring my own snorkel gear, and unfortunately, the mask given to me wasn’t the greatest and because the waves were high it kept taking in water. I had to keep coming above water and fixing it. I ended up having to hold it with one hand the entire time, which was a bit of a bummer.

I probably could have asked for a different mask, but my anxiety makes me so weird and anxious I didn’t. Next time, I will bring my own gear that I am already comfortable with.

I brought my GoPro to snorkel with too, which was great, and I highly recommend!

After the snorkeling part is over, you head back to the boat to take off your gear. Rum punch and water are handed out, but the fun isn’t over yet! The crew pulls up the bait box, and then takes the contents out to throw to the sharks!

A feeding frenzy is about to begin! Grab your phone, or go pro and get ready for a super cool experience to video! By far, watching the sharks feed was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!

Why Bimini?

Bimini Bahamas is a great place to learn about sharks. The waters surrounding this tiny island are home to more than 40 species of sharks. Tourism here highly revolves around the ocean and its inhabitants.

There is a lot of shark research that happens from Bimini, including the world-famous Shark lab that you see on Shark Week. In fact, one of the sharks I saw had a tracker on it, so it must be part of the research they are doing.

If you watch my video closely you can see the fine wire or string-like attachment on one of the larger sharks

Swimming with Sharks in Bimini

What kind of Sharks are we swimming with?

Caribbean Reef Sharks are the sharks that we encountered during our swim.  Caribbean reef sharks are the most encountered sharks in this area.  They can grow up to 9.8 feet long and max weight of about 150 pounds. Reef sharks are normally passive, even shy around humans.

What do I need to prepare?

I’d definitely bring my own mask and snorkel if I were to do it again. I also got a bit seasick after the swim. The waves were choppy, and I had taken in quite a bit of saltwater due to my faulty snorkel. It was hot. The bait smelled awful.

When we were sitting there on the boat, waiting for everyone to get in and get their gear off the boat was really rocking. All of those things combined made me pretty nauseous. I would take seasick meds and bring more for the trip just in case.

Bring a towel, or cover up for the ride back. Bring something to take photos and videos. Below is the mask I ordered (but it didn’t come in time) IF it had, my experience would have been better, because the GoPro could have mounted to the mask and I would have had 2 free hands instead of zero.

Another important thing to remember is that we don’t want to contaminate the homes of these beautiful creatures. The ocean is delicate and adding a bunch of man-made chemicals can upset the balance in the reef and destroy the living things there.

Please only apply reef-safe sunscreen, and even with that use as little as possible. Wearing a rash guard that covers up your arms and back helps reduce the amount of sunscreen you have to apply before getting in the water to swim with sharks.

All of my favorite must bring items can be found on Flannels or FlipFlops Amazon Shop

What if I dont want to get in the water?

There aren’t discounts for “riders”, but you can still go on the excursion.  There were people on our boat that decided to not get in the water.  The ship has a small portion that is glass-bottomed, so if you decide to stay on the boat, you can watch the sharks swim under the boat.

The water is crystal clear and beautiful and you can see the sharks from the boat by looking over the edge too.  You can still enjoy the feeding frenzy too.  So, even if you can’t swim, or are apprehensive this excursion is still worth checking out.

If sharks aren’t your thing (they should be) then you can still have fun in Bimini. You can read all about the other cruise excursions offered in Bimini.

Is this ethical?

I wondered this too. I think there are 2 sides to this question and both, in my opinion, have merit.

Side 1 . Drawing sharks in and feeding them makes them associate humans with food. Agreed. To counter that, these sharks were only being fed their natural food and weren’t being trapped, pinned in, or taken to an aquarium.

Side 2. I believe that getting people in touch with nature and allowing them to see how beautiful and miraculous these animals are is a learning tool. Showing people the reefs, and the animals that rely on them for survival, people are more likely to understand how important it is to not damage the environment. Having this small experience in the water has motivated me to become dive certified and experience more.

Also, because I talk to everyone about sharks now and my experience, I pass that passion and excitement on to others, who in turn can be more advocates for these fragile ecosystems.

It was the highlight of my cruise, and possibly my life. I had wanted to do it for so long, and I actually got to! I came home and told anyone who would listen that I got to swim with sharks. My boss said, ” you’re nuts.” My grandpa said, ” were they real sharks? Like…ocean sharks”. My kids said “that’s badass.” YES IT IS! Mama swam with sharks.

Be sure and save this post, and share it with anyone you think would love to swim with sharks! If you enjoyed this post, please consider using the links in it to purchase your excursions. This helps me maintain the blog, at no additional cost to you.