I am only in my first year of diving and I had a way too close encounter with a shark last week in Florida and want to know if I handled it right.
Let me set the stage, I just spent four wounderful days scuba diving with my wife in John Pennycamp park in Key Largo where we saw several nurse sharks swiming all around. One shark swam under the feet a new diver doing a skills test with no problems. At no time did they bother us scuba divers.
THEN two days latter I was in Key West on my uncle's charter fishing boat 9 miles off the end of Key West. His 25 year-old son and several of his friends came along to spear fish. They were doing this with mask, fins and snorkel. This involved them free diving down and shooting the fish and swiming back to the surface. I had never seen this done before and joined them in the water in only my mask, fins and snorkel -- not even in a wet suit just to watch and also see what was on the bottom. A nurse shark was in the area on the bottom in about 25-30 feet of water.
The shark got interested in the spear fishing guys and was following them around. At one point he came to the surface and swam right at the two guys with fish in their mesh bags. These guys had spear guns and poked the shark with their spear gun tips and the shark made a turn. THE TURN then had him swimming right at ME. I was about 20 yards away with no spear gun just snorkling on the surface.
All I could do was spin in the water so my feet faced him and when he go right to me I took the heel of my fin and kicked him in the top of the head. He jumped and swam off. I got out of the water at that point.
Are nurse sharks able to injure a diver? Would this be normal action for a shark to take? Should I fear them when diving in the future? Was there any other action to take other than kicking the shark?
This happened very fast with no time to think. It did not scare me to the point I want to stay out of the water. In fact latter in the day -- after we moved the boat -- the spear fisher guys saw a hugh loggerhead turtle and I got back in to see him. However I watched for sharks very carefully.
Thanks for any comments. This post is to help me with future diving as I have no interest in spear fishing.
Let me set the stage, I just spent four wounderful days scuba diving with my wife in John Pennycamp park in Key Largo where we saw several nurse sharks swiming all around. One shark swam under the feet a new diver doing a skills test with no problems. At no time did they bother us scuba divers.
THEN two days latter I was in Key West on my uncle's charter fishing boat 9 miles off the end of Key West. His 25 year-old son and several of his friends came along to spear fish. They were doing this with mask, fins and snorkel. This involved them free diving down and shooting the fish and swiming back to the surface. I had never seen this done before and joined them in the water in only my mask, fins and snorkel -- not even in a wet suit just to watch and also see what was on the bottom. A nurse shark was in the area on the bottom in about 25-30 feet of water.
The shark got interested in the spear fishing guys and was following them around. At one point he came to the surface and swam right at the two guys with fish in their mesh bags. These guys had spear guns and poked the shark with their spear gun tips and the shark made a turn. THE TURN then had him swimming right at ME. I was about 20 yards away with no spear gun just snorkling on the surface.
All I could do was spin in the water so my feet faced him and when he go right to me I took the heel of my fin and kicked him in the top of the head. He jumped and swam off. I got out of the water at that point.
Are nurse sharks able to injure a diver? Would this be normal action for a shark to take? Should I fear them when diving in the future? Was there any other action to take other than kicking the shark?
This happened very fast with no time to think. It did not scare me to the point I want to stay out of the water. In fact latter in the day -- after we moved the boat -- the spear fisher guys saw a hugh loggerhead turtle and I got back in to see him. However I watched for sharks very carefully.
Thanks for any comments. This post is to help me with future diving as I have no interest in spear fishing.