HalcyonDaze
Contributor
rdrining, I am curious to know, how was the dive conducted? What depths? Was the bait clean (not bloody) and locked in a crate so that only the scent would attract the sharks. Was there hand feeding? Were the divers kept in a tight group, i.e. touching distance, even during the ascent? Why did the sharks follow the divers up, was the bait brought up along with the divers? Why were the sharks bumping you, what excited them to such a degree as sharks usually keep a distance?
I am thinking about one of these trips, but would like to know these things before I decide.
I'm not sure how JASA runs their shark dives, but I can say that at the Esso Bonaire it's 70-75 feet on the fantail and 90 in the sand. Definitely nitrox territory if you want to get multiple dives.
As far as the sharks' behavior, the two main species sighted there - lemons and tigers - don't like chasing their food. They typically amble up to within a few feet of an exposed bait and then lunge for it. I can't say I really see the lemons ever get "excited;" they tend to cruise around the group pretty slowly. Lemons bumping divers seems to be more of the "whoops, 'scuse me, coming through" nature. The last time I was out on Emerald I made the ascent from the third dive (when Randy brings the bait up with him) right next to the Food Guy and had lemons swirling all around me. Even then I think one touched me only once; I had one swim past and the tip of the pectoral fin brushed my nose. Other times when one was swimming towards me I found putting a hand out like I was signalling "stop" got them to turn away.
Tigers are of course a bigger cause for concern because they're more inquisitive and they can do a lot more damage. The times I see them get excited, it's less the stereotypical sudden, jerky movements and more like a big dog sniffing at something it likes. I keep my eyes on them at all times (if there's 12 lemons and one tiger, I'm ignoring the lemons) and if one gets inquisitive I will redirect it elsewhere with varying degrees of politeness.
To the OP ... the main "extreme conditions" to worry about in Jupiter are depth and current. Water depths for the dives are in the 75-100+ range and on ripping days the current can be cranking at three knots. Temps will be a bit chillier than "pool conditions;" expect mid-70s in April or May and on shark dives you do a lot of sitting still. As a general policy I recommend people new to the Palm Beach area to get used to its quirks on another charter before going on a shark dive.