Diving in Florida & sharks

[bellasunny]

Hi guys,

I am brand new to the Scuba Board. Getting scuba certified has been a life long dream and I am finally getting the opportunity in the next coming weeks. I start scuba training next week. We do our certification dive in a spring and then a week later they do an open water dive in West Palm Beach. I am so excited to be doing my 1st open ocean water dive at the end of the month but I am very nervous about encountering a shark especially since sharks are plentiful in South FL. We are diving down 60 feet for that dive. Everyone I know who has gone diving in/near West Palm Beach have not seen a shark on their dives so they don't have any advice. I am wondering if I should expect to see them swarming around when I get in the water or if I might see one or two? Have no idea what to expect and a bit nervous because of this.

I am sure there are many of you who have gone diving in WPB Florida and can give me an idea of what types of sharks I might see and how many on one dive.

Thanks so much!

 

[ReefGuy]

You MAY see one, and will probably consider yourself lucky if you do. Don't be nervous, the overwhelming majority of shark encounters are not negative.

 

[Belzelbub]

Highly doubtful you'll see them. I dove for years and years without seeing a single shark. It wasn't until I started spearfishing that I started seeing sharks. Even then it's only been a few times and none have given me any problems.

 

[Caveeagle]

My wife and I have done many dives in South and SE FL. Seeing sharks has been very rare (for us). Just this year, we did a 'shark' dive in West Palm, and we did see quite a few, but that is not typical. In March, we dove in Jupiter and did see a few reef sharks, but they did not take much interest in us, just cruised by and kept on going.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Every once in a while a diver may see a shark off in the distance, just cruising by. One of the divers in your group might see it and point excitedly and try to get everyone's attention, and by the time you notice the shark it is just a fuzzy gray image fading off into the distance. They are not usually curious about divers and just mind their own business. If one happens to pass by close enough for you to get a good look or take a photo, consider yourself fortunate. From the amount of stuff we see about sharks on TV and other media, one would think they are plentiful, but in reality they are quite uncommon compared with other marine animals you will see on your dives.

If you really want to see sharks, you need to sign up specifically for a "shark dive," where the dive operator will take you to places (and at times of year) in which sharks are more commonly sighted. For example, you can see the Lemon Sharks around Jupiter during their annual aggregations in January-April. Even then, sightings are far from guaranteed.

 

[wspalding]

Most of my dives are in the Palm Beach area. I can tell you this from experience; if you are diving a location south of Juno you are not likely to see a shark. If you are diving Juno Ledge, Area 51 or other popular Jupiter sites, seeing a reef shark becomes more likely, and even probable. I wouldn't say that the Sharks you may see diving in Jupiter aren't going to be curious as most my dives there have had fairly close encounters with them. I had one very curious guy hang with me a couple weeks ago while I removed my bc to fix my tank that I could have reached out to touch. Once the commotion as over though, he was gone. The worst part about that encounter was i messed up my picture! For the most part however, unless you or someone in your group are spearing, they pay a quick visit and disappear. I've never once felt threatened by any shark encounter in WPB area. If you see one or two, enjoy seeing some really incredible animals. What charter will you be using?

 

[Reku]

Sharks are not out to get you. They are around when I do OW dives and I've never had a problem. In west palm beach you may see 1 or 2 however you have nothing to fear. Don't be alarmed.

 

[bellasunny]

Thank you so much guys! Hearing about your experiences has calmed my nerves.

I don't know which charter we will be going on but usually the weekend after our certification in the springs, they give us an opportunity to do a WPB OW dive with them so you can dive for the first time in the ocean with your instructors to feel a little more comfortable instead of waiting to go on any random charter. I will definitely post back on the thread and let you guys know how it goes! Thank you again for all the comments!

 

[DMDavid]

Thank you so much guys! Hearing about your experiences has calmed my nerves.

I don't know which charter we will be going on but usually the weekend after our certification in the springs, they give us an opportunity to do a WPB OW dive with them so you can dive for the first time in the ocean with your instructors to feel a little more comfortable instead of waiting to go on any random charter. I will definitely post back on the thread and let you guys know how it goes! Thank you again for all the comments!

Congrats on your decision to get your OW Certification, you'll soon find instead of dreading the idea of a shark you'll actually be looking forward to spotting one which is extremely rare in most South Florida waters.
I have actually paid good money to go on some amazing shark dives in the Bahamas and it was a thrill of a lifetime for me.

 

[boulderjohn]

As others have said, it is a good dive you get to see a shark. In all my dives in South Florida, nearly 100% of the sharks I have seen are gentle nurse sharks. In those hundreds of dives there, I have seen exactly 2 bull sharks, and both of those sightings were regrettably brief, as the sharks were making good time to get away from me.

A number of years ago a young woman who had taken her OW classroom and pool sessions with me joined a trip I was leading to Ambergris Cay in Belize, where she did her OW checkout dives. That area has a lot of nurse sharks, and when she did her first OW dive with me, we descended into an area with 4 of them circling around. It took only a few minutes for her to get used to them, and after that she was looking forward to future encounters.

My wife accompanied us on that trip. She is a non-diver, and she paid for a snorkeling guide to take her to a place locally called shark-ray alley, a shallow area with lots of nurse sharks and sting rays. Her guide saw a shark he recognized and knew well. He made a strange noise with his mouth, which the shark recognized. The shark came over and greeted him. As they stood in the shallow water, the shark lay in his arms and opened his mouth when prodded so the guide could show her the very unusual teeth found in a nurse shark. He said he would not try that with just any shark, only one he knew that well, but it does show how docile and non-threatening they can be.