Lionfish, tiger sharks, sea hares, oh my! By Intern Erin Hurley

It's rare to achieve a childhood dream... especially when that dream is to be a mermaid. That's why these past two months of working with the Bimini Shark Lab have felt so surreal.

I have always loved the water. I grew up on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, where summer days were spent swimming until our hands were pruny and our stomachs growled. We found endless ways to end up in or on the lake – from waterskiing to cliff jumping to kayaking to nearby islands in search of wild blueberries. 

The lake was also the first place where I can remember being completely fascinated with an ecosystem as a whole and all its moving parts – flora, fauna, megafauna… I didn’t know the basic terminology back then, but I could see life depending on life in a cyclical way that had to be part of some sort of bigger system. 

The awe I had for the underwater world only grew as I spent more time by the coast. The ocean was magic. Tiny dragons in the form of dragonflies coasted along the currents of wind, fairies lived in the underwater forests of kelp, and winged vampires like mosquitoes and deer flies haunted the skies. You could find treasures in every corner of the ocean bottom or shore: twinkling sand, impossibly smooth rocks, unique shells. 

When I was younger (and occasionally to this day :’), I would often play mermaids in the water with my sisters and friends. We loved the show “H2O: Just Add Water” and pretended that we had been transformed into mermaids ourselves.  

And, okay, maybe I knew I wouldn’t actually grow a mermaid tail during my internship in South Bimini. But, I did spend so much time in the ocean that it began to feel like a second home. Salty hair, sandy toes, and pruny fingers have been a constant feature of these past two months – alongside Below Deck watch sessions, chaotic attempts at baking, flamingo tongue snail shell spottings, stingray shuffles, the cutest furry friends, and lots and lots of nurse sharks. 

After my first two weeks with the Shark Lab, I wrote down all the new species I could recall seeing for the first time in the wild. I counted at least 25 species, including many sharks like tigers and lemons, but also terrestrial creatures like the Bimini boa snake and the yellow crowned night heron. 

I felt as though I was being transported back into the state of childlike wonder which had me imagining I was a mermaid surrounded by dragons, fairies, and vampires. Some of the species I have seen during my internship seem almost mythical in their unique shape or gigantic size, like the smalltooth sawfish or the great hammerhead shark for example, yet they are all very real and crucial to marine ecosystems. 

One of the early highlights was a hammerhead dive about a week into my internship. Seeing these massive beings swim along the sea floor from above felt like a dream that I wasn’t waking up from. And as this was all happening, heaps of curious nurse sharks were swimming close by and a tiger shark even arrived to say a brief hello from afar. I went from playing mermaids to free diving with sharks!

Hammerhead Shark (📷: Wyatt Albert)

In addition to the apex predators like great hammerheads and tigers and bull sharks, there are also the smaller fish which are just as magnificent. I have been lucky enough here to snorkel with so many cool species like parrotfish, butterflyfish, damselfish, squirrelfish, hogfish, and more. I have seen sea hares, sea cucumbers, green sea turtles, sea biscuits and sand dollars, sea stars, and many upside-down jelly fish. Another snorkelling highlight was seeing an octopus (!!!), which had been one of my hopes since I don’t remember when. 

Besides these amazing marine animals, I would be remiss if I did not talk about some of the most cherished animal friends I have made here in Bimini – the dogs! Captain Egg, Matthew aka Tootie, and sweet Piggly Wiggly. These are three dogs with the biggest, funniest, and sweetest personalities around who are loved by all members of the team. Egg and Tootie are full-time members of the Shark Lab team, while Piggly was a foster dog who joined us early on in my internship. Caring for him and spending time with him has significantly shaped my time in Bimini for the better! While he is no longer living at the lab, myself and my fellow interns are fortunately still able to visit him. We always joke that it’s the dogs who actually run the lab, which is pretty much true.

During my internship, I was allowed so much room to grow and was given a safe space to learn and inquire without judgement. Whether that was asking for help countless times with the cleat knot or with a species identification, the Shark Lab team was always happy to help. Doing research in the Florida Keys was one of those times when I could feel myself learning an incredible amount in a brief period of time. And yet, having so much fun at the same time. Throughout my internship, I have felt like one of the many sea sponges in the waters around Bimini, just trying to absorb some of the vast wealth of knowledge. I couldn’t have asked for better mentors or fellow interns. 

It was so rewarding to then be able to share some of what I have learned with people who come for tours of the lab and students who come here for courses, and to also learn even more from them as well. It is a wonderful feeling to be constantly surrounded with so many passionate people who aspire to learn all about the underwater world and do their part in contributing to marine conservation. 

All I knew in coming to Bimini was that I hoped to have a positive experience and to gain some knowledge and skills that I could use to pursue marine conservation work in the future. I couldn’t have predicted how much I would see and learn and grow over the course of a couple months. Most of all, I have been given the space and tools to embrace my appreciation for the ocean and its inhabitants alongside others who are also passionate about the constant learning and sharing that comes with working to protect such an intricate ecosystem. 

It’s not easy to capture my experience in words, but I can say that Bimini Shark Lab really is a special place. It’s amazing where you can find your people (and animals). In this case, it’s a remote island in the Bahamas, with a lovely group of people from across the world who feel most at home diving below the surface.