Oceanic White Tips - safety tips

[Diver0001]

You don't like his writing so he must be a liar? Yeah, that's makes a lot of sense.

This will get too OT too fast. Let's just say I've read more than just that one post and I don't hold the things he writes in very high esteem on the whole.

That's not to say he's a lair. A boob, maybe. He's a little too self indulgent for my taste. YYMV.

R..

 

[FritzCat66]

I only scanned that post from Gilliam and I'll admit to not liking his writing at all so I"m not inclined to believe anything he writes.

You don't believe that a diver DIED from this encounter with Oceanic White-tips, despite Gilliam's attempts? Just because you don't "like" his writing? Really?

The important thing to note about Gilliam's encounter is that the creatures were apparently agitated by the sonic pulses from the nearby research ship, as Bret noted in his account.

 

[Diver0001]

Is it prudent to go back to back with my buddy or is that likely just to cause laughter

Aside from that one incident in which he just rushed at us, did a circle or two around us and took off again I've never had one start licking his lips enough to make me want to get out of the water.

Just move slowly. If they get close keep everything on board and don't give in to the temptation to touch it. Generally they don't bump you from what I've seen. They just come up for a sniff and then veer off.

If you get spooked just snuggle up to your buddy, move slowly and get closer to the reef like you don't care. Avoid any sudden movements and you'll be fine. There's really no reason to get into all kinds of contortions if one comes to check you out.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

You don't believe that a diver DIED from this encounter with Oceanic White-tips, despite Gilliam's attempts? Just because you don't "like" his writing? Really?

.

I need to back up a bit. I think what I said didn't come across how I meant it. I don't think he's lying about the diver dying in that post. I just think he has bad case of mirror-mirror-on-the-wall self-love and I'm not generally inclined to read him at face value or to take much stock of what he has to say.

R..

 

[InTheDrink]

Aside from that one incident in which he just rushed at us, did a circle or two around us and took off again I've never had one start licking his lips enough to make me want to get out of the water.

Just move slowly. If they get close keep everything on board and don't give in to the temptation to touch it. Generally they don't bump you from what I've seen. They just come up for a sniff and then veer off.

If you get spooked just snuggle up to your buddy, move slowly and get closer to the reef like you don't care. Avoid any sudden movements and you'll be fine. There's really no reason to get into all kinds of contortions if one comes to check you out.

R..

Hi Rob,

Ok, thanks for the insight. I'll keep that in mind should I get lucky enough to see one. In some of the youtube amateur vids in this area over the last few years you can see a few bumps. Normally against the camera housing. It looks like a good way to check whether you're at risk of a heart attack

YouTube - Oceanic White Tip Getting TOOOO Close
I'm impressed this chaps SAC doesn't seem to increase a jot.

But good to know bumping is not typical behaviour and thanks for the ichthyology/advice to divers link.

Cheers,
J

 

[Doubler]

I was watching a special on Oceanic Whitetips on Discovery. A group of photographers doing a Tiger Shark study in Hawaii happened across one out in the blue. They got in the water with it and as others have stated it was very bold. The shark appeared to be 6 to 8 ft and it made several passes at the divers and could turn on a dime. One of the photogs snapped a picture and when the strobe started to recycle, the shark appeared to turn in a u shape and nailed the strobe. I mean fast. It was impressive and very educational. These are also the sharks that "clean up" after ship disasters. Apparently they are attracted to strange sounds and will travel to that sound from miles away. The survivors of the USS Philadelphia will attest to this. I've been in the water with several species and never felt in danger, don't know that I would say the same about a Oceanic Whitetip.

 

[InTheDrink]

I'm thinking that as long as our ship doesn't crash on the way, we should be fine. Oceanic's seem to be blamed for a lot of deaths from ships or planes but outside of Brett's account, I haven't been able to locate any other accounts of attacks from them.

Irrespective, on the off chance I get to see one, I look forward to ****ting my pants. After all, isn't that what life's all about!

Thanks for all the input.

J

 

[Theunis]

The survivors of the USS Philadelphia will attest to this.

Maybe the most well-known was the one about the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis of the US Navy. This warship was sunk at 00:14 on 30 July 1945 in the Philippine Sea, by a Japanese submarine, after delivering critical parts for the first atomic bomb to the United States air base at Tinian. The USS Indianapolis holds a place in history due to the notorious circumstances of her sinking, which was the deadliest single loss of life at-sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.

Herewith a story from one of the survivors:

Woody Eugene James was born Nov. 13 1922 in Gilbertown, AL. He joined the Navy Sept. 11, 1942. In June of 1943 he was assigned to the USS Indianapolis, 1st division.

A Survivor's Story

Jim Newhall and I went over the side holding hands. I got tangled up in the life line long side the ship. I got untangled and surfaced. I'm all alone so I swam out away from the ship, probably fifty yards, maybe one hundred yards, I don't know. I flipped over on my back and looked back and about two thirds of the ship was in the water, bow first and leanin to the right, the propellers were still turning. In the silhouette of the sinking ship I could see guys jumpin off the fantail like crazy. I went over the side with a life jacket. I pulled it off and gave it to one of the younger officers that was screamin his head off that he didn't have one.

Anyway, there I am layin on my back lookin at that and no life jacket. I don't hear anybody around me any place so I'm just kind of floatin and relaxin when low and behold, a potato crate floats by. Potatoes were packaged in wooded crates then. It was just an empty potato crate, made a good buoyancy to hold on to. Works as good as a life jacket I guess. Then pretty soon I heard some voices. I yelled and who answers me, my buddy Jim Newhall. So I swam over to where he was and there was quite a group of them. It's chaos and everybody talkin and a lot of the guys were wounded, burned and we were trying to do the best we could.

Day 1
The next morning we kind of counted heads the best we could. There was about 150 people in the group. We were scattered around quite a bit. Well this isn't too bad, we thought, we'll be picked up today. They knew we were out here after all we were due in the Philippines this morning at 11:00 so when we don't show they'll know. If they didn't get a message off, but we're sure they got a message off, they'll still know where we are so no sweat, we'll be picked up before the days over.
So the day passed, night came and it was cold. IT WAS COLD. The next mornin the sun come up and warmed things up and then it got unbearably hot so you start praying for the sun to go down so you can cool off again.

Day 2
When the sharks showed up, in fact they showed up the afternoon before but I don't know of anybody being bit. Maybe one on the second day but we just know we'll be picked up today. They've got it all organized by now, they'll be out here pretty soon and get us, we all thought. The day wore on and the sharks were around. Come night time and nobody showed up. We had another night of cold, prayin for the sun to come up. What a long night.

Day 3
The sun finally did rise and it got warmed up again. Some of the guys been drinkin salt water by now, and they were goin bezerk. They'd tell you big stories about the Indianapolis is not sunk, its' just right there under the surface. I was just down there and had a drink of water out of the drinkin fountain and the Geedunk is still open. The geedunk bein the commissary where you buy ice cream, cigarettes, candy, what have you, "it's still open" they'd tell ya. "Come on we'll go get a drink of water", and then 3 or 4 guys would believe this story and go with them.

The day wore on and the sharks were around, hundreds of them. You'd hear guys scream, especially late in the afternoon. Seemed like the sharks were the worst late in the afternoon than they were during the day. Then they fed at night too. Everything would be quiet and then you'd hear somebody scream and you knew a shark had got him.
It didn't ever get any cooler in the daytime. In fact, Newhall asked me, he said, "James, do you think it's' any hotter in hell than it is here?" I said, "I don't know, Jim, but if it is, I ain't goin."
We were hungry, thirsty, no water, no food, no sleep, getting dehydrated, water logged and more of the guys were goin bezerk. There was fights goin on so Jim and I decided to heck with this, we'll get away from this bunch before we get hurt. So he and I kind of drifted off by ourselves. We tied our life jackets together so we'd stay together. Jim was in pretty good shape to begin with, but he was burned like crazy. His hand was burned, he couldn't hold on to anything, couldn't touch anything.

Day 4
Then the next day arrived. By this time I would have give my front seat in heaven and walked the rotten log all the way through hell for just one cool drink of water. My mouth was so dry it was like cotton. How I got up enough nerve to take a mouth full of salt water and rinse my mouth out and spit it out I don't know but I did. Did it a couple of times before the mornin was over. That's probably why I ended up with salt-water ulcers in my throat. When we got picked up my throat was bigger than my head.
Anyway, we're out there in the sun prayin for it to go down again, then low and behold there's a plane. Course there had been planes everyday since day one. They were real high and some of the floaters had mirrors that tried to attract them, but nothing. Anyway, this one showed up and flew by and we thought, "Oh hell, he didn't see us either. He's gone." Then we seen him turn and come back and we knew we had been spotted. What a relief that was.

So he did, he came back and flew over us. It was a little PV1 Ventura. It was out on submarine patrol and he spotted us. He radioed back to his base and instead of sending some help out, the Navy sent one plane out. One PBY that came out and circled and radioed back to the base that there was a bunch of people in the water and he needed more assistance and more survival gear. The pilot ended up landin in the water and picked up a lot of guys, the single guys, one or two guys that were together so the afternoon went on. Late in the afternoon before dark there was another PBY on the scene. He dropped his survival gear and he dropped a little three-man rubber raft. Jim and I tried to swim to it. He made it but I didn't. I was just so wore out from holding him up and hangin on to him all day and the night before, I just couldn't make it but he did. About the time he got on it there was two other guys so there is three of them total in it and that's all it was made for, three.

Anyway, the other direction there was two guys in the water and the two guys in the raft told Jim, "we'll go over there and pick those two up". Jim said, "No, we're goin go pick Woody up then we'll go get those two guys." They said "Nope, we're goin to do it the other way." The raft contained those little aluminum oars that come in two pieces and Jim put one of them together and threw the other one over board. "Okay you guys, I don't want to be mean but we're goin over to get Woody and you guys are goin to do the paddling by hand. If you don't things, are goin to happen with this oar that you ain't agoin to like." So they came over and picked me up and that's how I owe Jim Newhall my life. If it had not been for that I wouldn't be here tellin this story.

So they picked me up, then we went and got the other two guys. Now there's six of us on this raft. It's getting pretty crowded but we run onto three other guys and we picked them up. Now there's nine of us on this little raft. It's just about dark and figure we'll make it through the night one way or another. About midnight, a little bit before there was a light shining off of the bottom of the cloud and we knew then we were saved. That was the spotlight of the Cecil Doyle. The Navy is on the scene. There's a ship comin. You can't believe how happy we were, guys screamin and yellin, "We're saved, We're saved."

Morning of the 5th Day
The Doyle arrived on the scene and started pickin survivors out of the water a little after midnight. It was daylight the next morning that he came along side us in our little raft. Boy, what a happy day that was to get my feet on the deck again.
We got on deck and saluted the officer of the day and asked permission to come aboard, which was Navy tradition. All I had on was my boatson pipe hanging around my neck on a lanyard and I pulled it off and gave it to one of these guys. Why? I don't know, just happy to give anything I owned for bein rescued, I guess. Anyway, they gave me one spoonful of sweetened water and assigned a guy to me to get me cleaned up because we were all covered with oil. Had been oily for a day, which was a blessing. Had we not had the oil on us like we did, the sun would have really ruined us. It was a good thing we had the oil on.

Herewith the link for the whole story: USS Indianapolis CA-35

 

[Jupiter31]

I was interested in the story b/c my wife and I dove that area about 4 years ago, and the story was disturbing - scary even - jesus, a guy is killed, and his body is dragged away by hungry, agressive sharks - disturbing.....

You have the complete right to "like" whoever you wish; to "discount" whatever posters you want to, for whatever reasons you deem important to you.

You perhaps could have said you did not like his writing style based upon past posts, but in a forum like this everyone is entitled to thir opinion.

 

[NTSilver]

JC
We were in the Red Sea, on your itinerary, in Oct 08. We only saw the oceanic whitetips under the boat. They really were not curious at all and there was no bumping involved. They were generally in pairs versus being alone. On one occasion we snorkeled with them, the others we dove. However, we were advised that there were no night dives!
I know you are going to Cocos as well. Since the tigers have become residents, lots of people are afraid to do the white tip feeding frenzy night dive. On our past trip, people did bring metal rods with them in case they encountered the tigers.