Diving with the Bull sharks
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FishOutUvH2O
Contributor
Well, it might have gone unnoticed if you hadn't put "you know who's" initials!!!
I guess all there is to do now is sit around and wait for the knock (and by "knock" I mean battering ram) at the door. So much for those weekend plans. Oh, great, now I used the word plan!!!
Hey im on the island. Some Canadians, eh, went to do the bull shark think. app first dive wasnt sharks. They came up and no boat. 40 min later another boat came by and called their boat. Then they started to the second dive after a SI and the bilge pump quit. App a leak boat. So they turn back and get the shore. Before they can unload all the equip to another boat, plunk, down goes the first boat. App BCs and such were left with a distinct diesel smell and he lost a dive knive. So YES diving with bull sharks is dangerous.....
ernani
Registered
I was fortunate enough to dive a lot with sharks in various different destinations - there are very few experiences in diving that "do it" for me more than those encounters.
I read some of the comments about the dive op's that DO NOT feed or chum, and the explanations given [probably by dive masters] that the Bull Sharks are just coming to check you up. With all due respect, I find it naive. I am afraid Christi's remarks earlier in the thread are the right explanation; Those Bull Sharks are used to being fed [and now used to divers that feed and those that do not feed] - they come because of the feeding and not merely because they are territorial. I will not be at all surprised to learn that some of the operations that do not feed when paying divers are around, go down and feed in order to "feed" the habit [literally]. I have seen it happening in few other places - you simply create a feeding station, and animals learn VERY FAST!!!
Many years ago I was involved in feeding sharks for observation. One can not imagine how fast these things can go out of hand [I saw it happening] - you don't want to be there when it does [and my experience was with cute reef sharks, not Bulls]. I will still choose an operation that does not feed while you are there, but do not illusion yourself that they are better than the others. Just my 2 cents worth.
yuval
I read some of the comments about the dive op's that DO NOT feed or chum, and the explanations given [probably by dive masters] that the Bull Sharks are just coming to check you up. With all due respect, I find it naive. I am afraid Christi's remarks earlier in the thread are the right explanation; Those Bull Sharks are used to being fed [and now used to divers that feed and those that do not feed] - they come because of the feeding and not merely because they are territorial. I will not be at all surprised to learn that some of the operations that do not feed when paying divers are around, go down and feed in order to "feed" the habit [literally]. I have seen it happening in few other places - you simply create a feeding station, and animals learn VERY FAST!!!
Many years ago I was involved in feeding sharks for observation. One can not imagine how fast these things can go out of hand [I saw it happening] - you don't want to be there when it does [and my experience was with cute reef sharks, not Bulls]. I will still choose an operation that does not feed while you are there, but do not illusion yourself that they are better than the others. Just my 2 cents worth.
yuval
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Hehe, yeah - aquarium fish learn very quickly what happens right before food appears. I once taught a large snail to beg: I'd tap on the glass with my ring, watch him hurry over or come back in a few minutes, and there he was - at the top with his foot forming a half funnel.
So once they hear the regulator bubbles they turn into a modern day underwater example if Pavlovian theory of conditioned response? Interesting. Divers= Free Lunch. Sharks are not dumb from what I have read, maybe I will just keep diving and just hope for a natural encounter. I have enjoyed the debate back and forth in this thread.
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diverken374
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So once they hear the regulator bubbles they turn into a modern day underwater example if Pavlovian theory of conditioned response? Interesting. Divers= Free Lunch. Sharks are not dumb from what I have read, maybe I will just keep diving and just hope for a natural encounter. I have enjoyed the debate back and forth in this thread.
Snails are not that dumb either apparently!.........and IMO not that much more dangerous if viewed in the proper environment.
halocline
Contributor
So once they hear the regulator bubbles they turn into a modern day underwater example if Pavlovian theory of conditioned response? Interesting. Divers= Free Lunch. Sharks are not dumb from what I have read, maybe I will just keep diving and just hope for a natural encounter. I have enjoyed the debate back and forth in this thread.
Like many divers you've made a leap which on the surface seems reasonable but its still a leap. There is no science to support the notion that sharks which are conditioned to being fed, eventually decide that the divers are food as well as the fish.
I wasn't saying that diver will be the food instead of the fish. I should have said the sharks may be associating divers with lunch and this could lead to an accident.
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