Bull SHARK, Up Close - My Heart's still pounding!

[ScubaDadMiami]

They can cause some serious heart pounding especially if they become aggressive. It never worried me until one charged at me last year, breaking off the attack within ten feet or so of me. It was about eight feet or so, and I had witnesses to the whole thing, so this is not just another story. :11:

I nearly crapped in my drysuit. The worst part was that I still had about fifteen minutes of deco to go before I could get out of the water. You can bet that I spent the rest of that dive looking around a lot.

 

[Hank49]

IF a big shark kept coming around, and it looked like he was coming at you with bad intentions, and you happened to have a 3 banded spear gun cocked and ready....this would be a last resort as I don't want to shoot a shark....would it just make him mad shooting him? Or would a well placed shot in the gills or open mouth drive him off? Please, this is hypothetical and would only be done to try to save one's life.

 

[slipslop]

I saw a bull shark on my first post certification dive. it was quite wierd because i wasnt nearly afraid as i thought i would be. it just swam off and ignored me totally!

 

[mempilot]

Here's a crude side by side of a carribean reef and a bull.

 

[Florabama]

Just curious....How does one identify a specific shark like a bull with no giveaway markings? I've seen a number of sharks diving and can identify white tip reef sharks, nurse, gray reef , silver tip, because they have obvious markings although even those aren't guaranteed. But most other sharks I've seen are just grayish brownish and I have no idea what they are as they pass by.

There's no mistaking a Bull when you see one up close, although sandbars look similar but bulls look like their name sake -- bulls.

 

[BKDiver]

Four years ago, while spearfishing off the Bahamas, I was nailed by what was determined to be a 7' bull shark. I lost most of my left calf as well as the shark's primary target, the fish I had just speared. Since my accident, I have traded in the speargun for a camera and have never had a problem with a shark since. As a matter of fact, on some of our deeper, less dived wrecks in south Florida, we have some really good size resident bull sharks, which on a good viz day, make for some great photography and video.

 

[saildiver]

We saw our twenty plus bull sharks on the main island. Here is their link. www.fiji-sharks.com
It is hands down one of the best, if not the best shark dive in the world...

Eli
publisher
Shark Diver Magazine

Eli-Thanks for the post. Although I'd heard of the Beqa Shark dive and at one point I knew they were occassionally feeding a huge Tiger Shark there,I was amazed :11: to hear of so many healthy Bull sharks still there. Are they still doing shark feeds there?.....Peace...Saildiver.

 

[ReefGuy]

Gill shot, or powerhead. I'd try just poking him first, unless he meant business. I've only seen a bull shark once while spearfishing, though, and he was more interested in leaving than anything else - he was chased off by the jewfish.

IF a big shark kept coming around, and it looked like he was coming at you with bad intentions, and you happened to have a 3 banded spear gun cocked and ready....this would be a last resort as I don't want to shoot a shark....would it just make him mad shooting him? Or would a well placed shot in the gills or open mouth drive him off? Please, this is hypothetical and would only be done to try to save one's life.

 

[RoadWarrior]

If it was 2 feet longer and another 18" in girth I'd say that was the very shart right there. Yep, guy's, it was a bull shark and that ain't no bull.

There's no mistaking a Bull when you see one up close, although sandbars look similar but bulls look like their name sake -- bulls.

 

[RoadWarrior]

The 1st part of your story pales in comparrision to part 2.

The Deck Hand on our boat said that while at the Black Bart he has been bumped a couple of times by that shark. I was skeptical hearing that.

The next day while heading out to the Strength for a dive a diver said he was spear fishing on the Strength the prior year and speared a grouper through a hole. Wrestled it and upon pulling it out he turned and directly behind him, as if in waiting, was the Bull. He said no more than 2 or 3 feet away. It rushed for the fish knocking him hard against the side of the ship. The Bull grabbed the grouper and swam off pulling the fish right off the spear. My first thought... yep, another fish story. But now, you're talking about getting bumped. And now... I've seen the thing myself.

I cannot imagine the sensation, fear is maybe a better word, of being bumped by that Bull Shark. I would dive the Bart or the Strength again. But I would be nervous if people were spear fishing. I would be hoping not to see Smilie again. Wait, what am I saying... maybe I want dive the Bart again.

Humm.............