Sand tiger congregation at Fish Rock near South West Rocks Australia. Big sharks with big teeth absolutely unconcerned about divers. They will swim by within inches....sublime!!!
Memorable Critter Encounters
- Thread starter Hawkwood
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LindaL
Registered
Thanks for feedback Bill .... its definitely added to my list .... living in the UK, Canadian water temps wont be that much of a shock 
There was the time this summer whe I saw a crab walking off with the arm of a starfish. Then I looked over and saw where he got it.
mikeycanuk
Contributor
My wife and son got a good laugh at dad when one of he friendly Brac groupers snuck up beside me and gave me a scare when I turned my head into the grouper.
Saw a huge eagle ray in Turks and Caicos stop and rear up 10' away right at the top of the wall. Only time we saw one and one of the few times I didn't take the GoPro down! My wife wanted a break from watching our son so the camera stayed on the boat.
The time our son got hooked on snorkelling and got him wanting to dive was when he was 7 and we went snorkelling in Akumal Bay. A little yellow fish decided that our son was a good place to hide under. That little fish stayed with him right to shore and stuck around even in the few inches of water and fascinated him to no end. We then ate a amazing lunch at the Lo-Ha, one of our most memorable vacation days
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Saw a huge eagle ray in Turks and Caicos stop and rear up 10' away right at the top of the wall. Only time we saw one and one of the few times I didn't take the GoPro down! My wife wanted a break from watching our son so the camera stayed on the boat.
The time our son got hooked on snorkelling and got him wanting to dive was when he was 7 and we went snorkelling in Akumal Bay. A little yellow fish decided that our son was a good place to hide under. That little fish stayed with him right to shore and stuck around even in the few inches of water and fascinated him to no end. We then ate a amazing lunch at the Lo-Ha, one of our most memorable vacation days
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Tessunderwater
Contributor
Mine was definitely my first sea turtle sighting after my safety stop at a popular shore dive here. I was just tooling around at 15 feet and this turtle comes up out of the rocks about 8 feet away and turned and swam off. Great to see that.
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Seeing a small squadron of 4 Eagle Rays on Cantarelle wall Cozumel just 10 days ago had to be one of the most spectacular things I have seen. Being in the middle of a school of very large Tarpon off of Grand Cayman and of course the shark dive I did in Roatan.
JR Burningham
New
At the end of September this year, we were diving off Catalina Island at Long Point. The viz was easily 100ft - absolutely gorgeous day. There were 8 of us on the dive.
About 1 minute into the dive I was looking out into the deep blue as we were descending and I saw a HUGE shape at the edge of vizibility. I didn't want to believe it but it was very clearly a big white shark, pointed directly at me. The girth of it was just crazy big - I swear it looked like the width of a car. I kinda freaked out and signaled everyone around me. It all happened very fast, but we didn't have any cover around us so we ended up just turning around and watching it come in to visit us as we sunk to the bottom (about 50ft). It came very slowly - very cautiously - within about 25 feet of us. We could see it crystal clear because the water so nice - could see its eyes moving around, its gills, etc... I know we were all a little panicky, but it became clear very quickly that we were in no danger. It was purely curious, and when it decided to leave it did one of those fish-jerk things and was gone at a crazy fast speed. It traveled about 70 feet in 3 seconds, from a complete stand still.
We all re-surfaced and sat on the boat re-hashing the experience. The boat captain said he'd been out there almost every day for 40 years and they'd only seen 1 other white shark. I've spoken with several other boats and most of them haven't ever had divers encounter one.
Needless to say, we all felt very fortunate to have the experience.
Also - last year at the end of March we were at the dive park in Catalina about a week after a big storm. A massive bait ball moved into the kelp forest for the entire time we were there. Being in the kelp with them, with 50+ feet of viz, and the sunlight coming down... It was probably THE most beautiful thing I've ever seen underwater.
About 1 minute into the dive I was looking out into the deep blue as we were descending and I saw a HUGE shape at the edge of vizibility. I didn't want to believe it but it was very clearly a big white shark, pointed directly at me. The girth of it was just crazy big - I swear it looked like the width of a car. I kinda freaked out and signaled everyone around me. It all happened very fast, but we didn't have any cover around us so we ended up just turning around and watching it come in to visit us as we sunk to the bottom (about 50ft). It came very slowly - very cautiously - within about 25 feet of us. We could see it crystal clear because the water so nice - could see its eyes moving around, its gills, etc... I know we were all a little panicky, but it became clear very quickly that we were in no danger. It was purely curious, and when it decided to leave it did one of those fish-jerk things and was gone at a crazy fast speed. It traveled about 70 feet in 3 seconds, from a complete stand still.
We all re-surfaced and sat on the boat re-hashing the experience. The boat captain said he'd been out there almost every day for 40 years and they'd only seen 1 other white shark. I've spoken with several other boats and most of them haven't ever had divers encounter one.
Needless to say, we all felt very fortunate to have the experience.
Also - last year at the end of March we were at the dive park in Catalina about a week after a big storm. A massive bait ball moved into the kelp forest for the entire time we were there. Being in the kelp with them, with 50+ feet of viz, and the sunlight coming down... It was probably THE most beautiful thing I've ever seen underwater.
When I was living in Hawaii we were free diving in an area with a steep drop-off and a humpback and her calf moved in to about 30 feet from where we were hunting. We could also see the shadowy shapes of others in the distance. The most amazing part was that haunting sound that they make; and they made a lot of sound.
I'm really jealous that AfterDark got to play with a manatee.
I'm really jealous that AfterDark got to play with a manatee.
bbarnett51
Contributor
Mine was while diving Fish Bowl in Kauai. I looked under a small cave and came face to face with a beautiful Reef Shark. But it had 2 hooks with leaders hanging out of each side of his mouth. I stayed there for a long while and watched him. I wanted to pull those hooks out so bad it was annoying me!
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