Is shark diving really safe?

[sharkbait19912]

Most of the shark "attacks" in beach areas are on swimmers, not divers, most are in shallow water where the visability is low from sand and bottom debris being kicked up and the shark just detects movement and goes after it thinking it's a food source. They are not making a consious attack on humans.

You rarely if ever hear of a diver being "attacked" by a shark and usually if they are, it's a spear fisherman or abalone diver, someone that has a food source on them.

One of my main motovations for learning to dive was to dive with sharks, I love them!!! little looney I know, but that's the truth. I also learned to dive on Midway Island when I was in the Navy in the early '80's. We had one of the highest shark populations on earth. We rarely made a dive without seeing at least one. They almost always keep a good distance from divers, no matter what the species or size was. They did't want anymore to do with us than we wanted to do with them, except me of course, who usually swims towards a shark when I see one, and they almost always swim the other direction.

I have never felt threatened in any way by sharks while diving, I've always been a little nervous surfing however, being on top of the water is a totally different thing!!!

The sharks on the 'shark feeding' dives in the Bahamas and other places, are very used to being around large groups of divers and as long as you follow the dive ops rules, you should be fine. Don't try any of the antics the dive op divers do like petting them like dogs on the head, holding a shark like a baby or grabbing one by the tail, these guys have years of experience with these animals and can real aggressive behavior.

If you see one, feel blessed, respect it's space and sit back and enjoy one of the most graceful animals you'll every see.

Yes, I do occationally get rather close!!!!

In every shark encounter i've been lucky enough to have (probably around 30) I have never felt threatened. Respect their personal space, be jealous of their grace and beauty, and if your lucky get a good picture to take home. About the dangers of shark feeds. Anyone that thinks sharks are so dumb they can't tell the difference between a mackeral and a diver, simply doesn't know anything about sharks. Like the politicians in FL.

 

[menemsha43]

Headed for Turks and Caicos in less than a month! September and excited to dive there. Looks like there are lots of shark encounters there as well...any one have any thing about Turks and Caicos send me a message...

I was in Turks & Caicos in Aug. and was very surprised by how many sharks I saw - mainly reef sharks and a couple of nurse sharks. I did about 26 dives and saw reef sharks on 17 of the dives. And those were just the ones I saw - I missed some that my dive buddy saw. Some memorable encounters at West Caicos were 2 sharks circling us at very close range (ie - 5 feet at certain points) during a safety stop and then one smallish 4' shark approaching me to within 1-2 feet during a night dive. I think he was checking out my dive light. I was about to bonk him on the snout with my light when he turned away. It was very cool and definitely got the adrenaline going.

 

[eymy171]

I would think it is cool to see sharks, but not too get near them. TO tell the truth I would rather see them in an aquarium.

 

[rpodos]

I was just down in Abaco, Bahamas last week... the DM and I came out of a pretty closed swim-through first, and were watching the remaining four divers come out, when two 7-8 foot bulls swam right over them.

Only one of them saw the sharks, and his eyes definitely bulged, but he was fine. The other three never even knew the sharks were there... you could totally tell, due to the lack of reaction.

We got up on the boat, and I started with "Guys, I've got something to tell you..."

Pretty funny.

Back to the original question, I've been diving and reading about diving for a pretty long time. Shark attacks on divers are just a non-issue.