Diver missing in the Bahamas

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I know that the reporting of dive accidents and fatalities is usually bad due to diving ignorance by the reporter. A couple of the articles are just horrendous and full of errors and half truths while trying to sensationalize the "shark attack".

Any incident involving sharks, you can forget any objective, accurate reporting by the media.
 
Survivors of 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis describe explosions and shark attacks during worst sea disaster in U.S. naval history | Mail Online
Just proves the ignorance that exists when you want to play with these indeescrimate feeding machines..

I've done about 300 shark feeding dives, I know a shark will investigate anything that comes by; they will put it in their mouth and "taste" it; if it's not edible, they spit it out. So, sharks could have investigated gear floating on the surface or on the bottom. I have never yet seen a shark make an aggressive move towards a human, including large Tigers, Great Hammers, Bulls, Silkies, Duskies, Oceanic White Tips, and Sandbars.


RIP John.
 
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Survivors of 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis describe explosions and shark attacks during worst sea disaster in U.S. naval history | Mail Online
Just proves the ignorance that exists when you want to play with these indeescrimate feeding machines..

I've done about 300 shark feeding dives, I know a shark will investigate anything that comes by; they will put it in their mouth and "taste" it; if it's not edible, they spit it out. So, sharks could have investigated gear floating on the surface or on the bottom. I have never yet seen a shark make an aggressive move towards a human, including large Tigers, Great Hammers, Bulls, Silkies, Duskies, Oceanic White Tips, and Sandbars.

First off - anytime I see someone post something from The Daily Mail, I know it's going to be crap. The only way you can get more bull**** on paper is to wipe a bull's arse with it.

Second, there's a big difference between a moving healthy diver at depth and several hundred possibly wounded, probably badly debilitated people floating on the surface. The big killers for the Indianapolis crew were exposure, salt poisoning, and dehydration. They were adrift for four days with little food or fresh water and no protection from the elements. Some actually lost their minds and killed other survivors. The sharks did take a number of crewmen alive, but in most cases they were scavenging corpses. That's what sharks do - they eat sick, injured, or dying animals. The Indianapolis gets the press because it was referenced in Jaws, but the same thing happened to a lot of ships that were sunk in the tropical latitudes during WWII.
 
First off - anytime I see someone post something from The Daily Mail, I know it's going to be crap. The only way you can get more bull**** on paper is to wipe a bull's arse with it.

Second, there's a big difference between a moving healthy diver at depth and several hundred possibly wounded, probably badly debilitated people floating on the surface. The big killers for the Indianapolis crew were exposure, salt poisoning, and dehydration. They were adrift for four days with little food or fresh water and no protection from the elements. Some actually lost their minds and killed other survivors. The sharks did take a number of crewmen alive, but in most cases they were scavenging corpses. That's what sharks do - they eat sick, injured, or dying animals. The Indianapolis gets the press because it was referenced in Jaws, but the same thing happened to a lot of ships that were sunk in the tropical latitudes during WWII.


So you do agree.. ����
 
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So you do agree.. ����

That they are "indeescriminate feeding machines?" No. They are pretty discriminating. If you're dead or injured and floating along, of course you're fair game. This is the wilderness, not the ****ing swimming pool. Dead or injured animals get eaten. Live, healthy prey had better be something you can take down fast, unsuspecting, and without a fuss; otherwise the predator can get hurt and there's no shark vet service out there. Major bites (i.e. excluding nips and grazes, which can be fatal as in the case of Markus Groh) on uninjured divers are extremely rare; off the top of my head the majority of cases involve great whites (which are head and fins above tigers on my don't-mess-with list).
 
I mean at this point... He could have had a heart attack, right? I mean we will never know unless they find the body it the truth...

RIP, incredibly sad :(
 
With all the it was late afternoon/early evening not night time comments, I will point out that as the angle of the sun gets lower on the horizon the light in the water drops. Close to dusk it can be nice and bright and clear above the water but getting dark and gloomy underneath. In particular unaided visibility gets less.

I have seen more than one picture of a surfer who had their leg bit by "mistake" and then released by a shark. That same bite under water could dislodge hoses, and do serious damage to diver and gear.
 
From the official report, all of the gear was found with obvious bite marks. Shredded was the term used to the family. No body was found. The timeline is questionable. Supposedly he was on the line under the boat at 6:45. Coast Guard was notified about 8:00. Sounds like he wasn't missed until dinner, i.e. no one checking off divers into and out of the water. The captain is the one reporting him on the line. I wonder how he could tell.

John ran marathons and did 5 or 6 miles every morning. Could he get seperated, sure. Would he ditch his mask and BC, not likely. I can't see any experienced diver ditching his floatation devce.
 
From the official report, all of the gear was found with obvious bite marks. Shredded was the term used to the family. No body was found. The timeline is questionable. Supposedly he was on the line under the boat at 6:45. Coast Guard was notified about 8:00. Sounds like he wasn't missed until dinner, i.e. no one checking off divers into and out of the water. The captain is the one reporting him on the line. I wonder how he could tell.

John ran marathons and did 5 or 6 miles every morning. Could he get seperated, sure. Would he ditch his mask and BC, not likely. I can't see any experienced diver ditching his floatation devce.

What does reporting on the line mean? Can you describe the protocol for this dive?
 
What does reporting on the line mean? Can you describe the protocol for this dive?

During my trip , we use the lines a couple of times. Lines/rope of the back of the boat that you can hang onto if there is a bit of current. Normally used for 5-10 m mid water looking at reef sharks.

My thoughts are with the family, friends and the crew of the shearwater. A difficult time for all.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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