I’m considering doing a shark dive here in Florida. I have mixed feelings about it but just wanted to know what others on here who have done them thought about their experience?
I’m pretty flexible and subscribe to the Chairman’s philosophy of dive and let dive but there is one area where I draw the line.
I think baited observation is unacceptable and the people that endorse it register squarely on my radar as folks to avoid and whose judgment and logic I find perverted.
I’m from the Rocky Mountains and when I lived there I went for hikes in the high country all the time. I went there to enjoy the vistas and the challenges. Over the years I saw plenty of elk, an occasional black bear, Rocky Mtn Bighorn Sheep, eagles, an occasional mountain lion, etc.
NEVER EVER in my time in Colorado, whether one was liberal or conservative, have I heard of people going for hikes and putting food out to attract bears, Bighorn sheep, mountain lions, etc. As you might intuitively imagine, it’s the opposite. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the National Forest Service emphasize a tidy camp, neutral use of trails and hanging your food out of reach to prevent unnatural interactions that compel behavior change where otherwise there would be none. To go on camping hikes and start putting out food to try to see a black bear would garner immediate and widespread bi-partisan condemnation.
I see diving in Florida no differently. It’s a hike through the natural world.
So, those folks that advocate for shark-feeding for tourism purposes are folks who run way south of my band of tolerance. I find feeding an abusive indulgence to satisfy lazy, myopic, selfish tourists and I see the associated profits from it as wholly unvirtuous.
I make no apologies if my post is contentious and pointed.
Jupiter Dive Center doesn’t feed. Lisa, the owner, knows the season to see sharks and will get you there without stooping to lame Russian circus tricks. I’ve dived with JDC three times and saw so many sharks it seemed like pigeons in a park.
Follow your gut.