How long would you wait?

[wrxkyle]

I was at depth once when suddenly a hammerhead came by. It was a rare occasion when I was diving with my husband but we were very far apart, like we usually are.

The shark wasn't swimming in my direction or my husband's direction .. literally swimming thru between the 2 of us. It was a majestic sight. There were about 10-12 fish behind him big jacks and smaller something else... Looked like a king with his entourage following behind.
I was so attracted to him i didn't want him to leave...i literally followed him, it was hypnotizing. Funny thing after following him for about a minute i saw something shinning to one side and i went to check it out... Tah dah a brand new titanium knife.
To this day my husband makes fun of the knife a hammerhead gave me.

Like others have said above, unless there's a feeding frenzy going on... I will get in the water to see him/her up close because it is a privilege to be able to be close to a hammerhead.

shark gave you an in real life "it's dangerous to go alone, take this" moment. that's awesome. I'd get it laser etched with an homage to the dude, good conversation piece

 

[PBcatfish]

It depends. If I was solo, I probably would have passed. If I was in an area where the cobia fishermen had been chumming up the sharks lately, I would have passed. If I saw blood or fish chunks in the water, I would have passed. If it was a bonnet head, which looks a lot like a hammer head & is legal to take, I probably would have grabbed the biggest spear gun on the boat & gone after it. If it was a spot that I really wanted to dive, conditions were good, the shark was not acting aggressively, I was in familiar waters where I know typical shark behavior, & I had a reliable buddy, I would have gone in.

In my current home waters of Palm Beach County, the sharks are usually not that aggressive, but I take each encounter on a case by case basis. I’ve seen hammer heads get aggressive. I’ve seen big fat bull sharks go fully airborne when attacking big fish from below. I’ve seen a 9’ shark attacked by a 12’ shark & then eaten by a group of 6 or 8 other sharks in a frenzy. That was in a spot where the cobia boats had been chumming for a week straight, then stopped & cut off the free lunch for the local sharks, leaving them hungry & looking for a meal. I was fishing that day, not diving (thank god).

 

[Nemrod]

A hammerhead swam right through our drift in Jupiter. I was trying to get positioned to be in strobe range on two Goliath groupers and gave up due to the current and turned as the hammerhead passed through the group. I was not close enough to get a shot, some photos are best taken with the memory chip in our head .

Hammerhead, yes. Oceanic no! Bull, maybe, maybe not.

Maybe it was shark week but this series of dives it was shark, turtle, shark, goliath, shark, turtle over and over. Lemons, reefs, a few bulls and a hammerhead. Nobody got ate.

I have found when drifting with a group the best place to be is up front and I try to get up front but often wind up trailing way behind which is the other good spot to be. It seems all the critters get scared off by the gaggle and with me trailing way behind (as in quite a ways back) I often check my six to find various critters coming back in. Sometimes it can be creepy. Last summer in Jupiter I had a regulator issue and I will leave it at that but during the resulting deco I had a failry large bull accompany me. I was kind of in distress though outwardly I doubt I showed it. But annimals have that sense sometimes. That was creepy and again I was bringing up the rear and was well behind the main group when I had the issue. And what made it doubly creepy is that the bull had first come up behind me, not close but in trail, before I had the problem. So he was following me.

I did a solo dive on the Destin Jetty a few years back and a medium size bull shark and me sort of had a misunderstanding. He three times tried to get in behind me and I kept turning and he would veer off only to come from another direction. I was on to his tricks. And he was swimming fast with fins down. I did a 180 and worked my way back around to the inlet side of the jetty, never saw him again once around the jetty. As I was climbing ashore some beer belly dufus yells out in a condescending tone something to the effect, hey, SCUBA Steve, see any sharks? I of course said, well, as a matter of fact, uh, no, did not see any. So, I watched the news that evening but nobody got eaten so I was dissappointed a little .

N

 

[Ghost95]

Hammerhead, I'd have been in the water in a second. Big tiger or bull getting nosy, I may wait if alone or go somewhere else. Honestly, waiting 30 mins isn't going to do much with a bull on a wreck, they tend to be a little territorial from what I've seen. Also a little unpredictable.

Big tigers, they make my hair stand on end. I had a 13' swim by me in murky water and I swear I could "feel" him before I saw him. I won't rush to exit the water but I definitely get a little apprehensive if I see one, especially on the second pass.

 

[softgrapes]

man I would have been in the water in the blink of an eye!