1997 Deep Dive/Shark Attack.

[HalcyonDaze]

I would call B.S. on the "24-ft tiger." The biggest on record that I'm aware of is an 18.1-ft specimen from Australia; even in places like Tiger Beach and the Hawaiian Islands where there are some big mamas rolling around 18 ft would be a rarity if not unheard of. There's not even a credible record of a great white that size; the one everyone was fussing over off Oahu a few months back was estimated at about 20.

Were there any accurate reports about the gear and gas used? Curious as to whether they were actually on open-circuit air and how much of it they had. 400 ft sounds way too deep to be mucking around with standard compressed air, although the tech folks in this forum would be more informed than I as to the feasibility of that dive.

 

[caruso]

I do not think their plans were ill-planned or pointless I just think there are predators in the ocean that are larger than man and unfortunately, they were in sharks' territory.

You may not think so but clearly you are not a certified diver and know very little about the physiology of the human body and how it is affected by scuba diving. As far as them being in shark territory? Anyone who swims in open salt water is in shark territory. Yet you don't hear about shark attacks on people very often, certainly not nearly as often as fatalities when people do extremely risky things such as diving to over 3x the recommended maximum depth on air, for no other reason but to beat a record.

 

[DFDubb]

Bizarre thread

 

[MrVegas]

This was 22 years ago -- I read through the linked articles. What a sad and strange event. The initial article states they couldn't tell if the shark attack occurred before or after death, then a shark expert came in from Florida, and the autopsy finally found that that diver was still alive when attacked. (Although the report estimates the shark was 17 feet.) The deepest known depth they reached, according to what I saw in the reports, was 292 feet. What sounded so strange to me was that it seems like the dive boat dropped them off and then moved on to a shallow site with a load of recreational divers. For a dangerous attempt like that, wouldn't the boat stay with them, with some extra divers in the water available for emergencies? (And maybe a line down, and staged tanks, etc.?) I'm just a quarry diver, and I feel very sad for those involved, but it is an interesting incident to read about.

 

[DandyDon]

For a dangerous attempt like that, wouldn't the boat stay with them, with some extra divers in the water available for emergencies? (And maybe a line down, and staged tanks, etc.?)

That would certainly be prudent, but this attempt was not exactly conservative. I've seen a couple of especially deep attempts tried from recreational boats with tourist groups onboad. They both aborted, as did I once on my oops dive long ago.

 

[acidrush]

people dived very differently in the 90s in asia compared to now. Wont be surprised it was the same in mexico

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

This was 22 years ago -- I read through the linked articles. What a sad and strange event. The initial article states they couldn't tell if the shark attack occurred before or after death, then a shark expert came in from Florida, and the autopsy finally found that that diver was still alive when attacked. (Although the report estimates the shark was 17 feet.) The deepest known depth they reached, according to what I saw in the reports, was 292 feet. What sounded so strange to me was that it seems like the dive boat dropped them off and then moved on to a shallow site with a load of recreational divers. For a dangerous attempt like that, wouldn't the boat stay with them, with some extra divers in the water available for emergencies? (And maybe a line down, and staged tanks, etc.?) I'm just a quarry diver, and I feel very sad for those involved, but it is an interesting incident to read about.

That would have been on them to arrange such support. Given the absence of information along those lines, I'm assuming they did not.

These days...most dive operator websites specifically state that all dives on charters will be non-deco, unless the planned dive has been cleared by the Captain. For a "hold my beer and watch this" attempt like they wanted to make, I would think an operator these days would either: 1. Decline to take them out (not want to deal with the liability in the event that one or both of the divers dies as a result of their attempt) or 2. Would make them charter the whole boat to stay on station, pay for one or more DM's to be on standby, etc.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

This was 22 years ago -- I read through the linked articles. What a sad and strange event. The initial article states they couldn't tell if the shark attack occurred before or after death, then a shark expert came in from Florida, and the autopsy finally found that that diver was still alive when attacked. (Although the report estimates the shark was 17 feet.) The deepest known depth they reached, according to what I saw in the reports, was 292 feet. What sounded so strange to me was that it seems like the dive boat dropped them off and then moved on to a shallow site with a load of recreational divers. For a dangerous attempt like that, wouldn't the boat stay with them, with some extra divers in the water available for emergencies? (And maybe a line down, and staged tanks, etc.?) I'm just a quarry diver, and I feel very sad for those involved, but it is an interesting incident to read about.

I spoke to a former International Shark Attack File researcher yesterday who had read the medical reports and knew one of the recovery divers. He did not recall if it was ever confirmed that the bites were pre or post mortem and said the species had never been confirmed. Apparently while there were camera shots from 292 ft it was hard to tell what they were of.

 

[tech_diver]

Bizarre thread

There is a lot of strangeness in this thread... A giant, prehistoric tiger shark, deadly narcosis, conflicting reports...

It really seems strange that one of the few shark attacks in the entire history of the island just happened to occur on a dive that most experts would call unreasonably dangerous (based on what is known.)

 

[Bob DBF]

It really seems strange that one of the few shark attacks in the entire history of the island just happened to occur on a dive that most experts would call unreasonably dangerous

I guess blaming a shark, especially large and vicious, is a better story than a discussion of the divers hubris.



Bob