I have seen many great whites (reruns) that have been dispatched in the following manner. Place your scuba cylinder in the sharks mouth. Fortuneatley, for unknown reasons, they will continue to swim around with the cylinder in their mouth for some time. You can then find a rifle and shoot at the cylinder. In this way, the cylinder will explode taking the shark with it (Jaws I). Underwater, however, this would admittedly be difficult to pull off. Therefore I suggest the following method. Find an underwater electrical cable and place it in the creatures mouth. If the shark is truly aggressive, it will eventually bite through the cable and electrocute itself (Jaws II). I can assure you that the visuals from this will be quite stunning. So you see, there are many ways to deal with unruly sharks. You just have to be inventive.
Shark etiquette
- Thread starter DivingDoc
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danw2002
Contributor
One answer you did not put that I would do
..
Descend slowly if you can, getting vertical, keeping your front to the oncoming shark at all times, watching it to see if it will try to get above or below you and being ready to hit it away if you need to using a back of a knife, your light, camera housing, pony, or fist if nothing else, on the snout, or if you can in the eye or gill area, but most important to deflect the nose before the business end gets ya(the mouth). Only as a last resort would I even consider using a business end of my knife, which generally would just make things worse. This is not perfect, but if you are at the point that it is making a run on you( and your opening question makes it sound like that may be what is happening, an attack), and so you are maybe beyond looking at the shark for some signs of agitation, like sudden reversals, jerky swimming, arched back, and lowered pectoral fin, and thus you pulling back before things go to the next level and for whatever reason this has happened, this Is what I would do. Also keep in mind that this is mostly a what if type thing, as I dont allow things like this to get to this point, and very readily will back out as soon as I note any thing like this could happen. Because as it has been pointed out in other posts, sharks, for the most part, really dont care about us when we are down there, unless we are doing something that generally we should not be.
Descend slowly if you can, getting vertical, keeping your front to the oncoming shark at all times, watching it to see if it will try to get above or below you and being ready to hit it away if you need to using a back of a knife, your light, camera housing, pony, or fist if nothing else, on the snout, or if you can in the eye or gill area, but most important to deflect the nose before the business end gets ya(the mouth). Only as a last resort would I even consider using a business end of my knife, which generally would just make things worse. This is not perfect, but if you are at the point that it is making a run on you( and your opening question makes it sound like that may be what is happening, an attack), and so you are maybe beyond looking at the shark for some signs of agitation, like sudden reversals, jerky swimming, arched back, and lowered pectoral fin, and thus you pulling back before things go to the next level and for whatever reason this has happened, this Is what I would do. Also keep in mind that this is mostly a what if type thing, as I dont allow things like this to get to this point, and very readily will back out as soon as I note any thing like this could happen. Because as it has been pointed out in other posts, sharks, for the most part, really dont care about us when we are down there, unless we are doing something that generally we should not be.
Cherry
Contributor
I am a newdiver and as of yet have not seen a shark face to face underwater, however, when I was in the navy we were off Baja at anchor having a paint ship party. Everyone Capt. on down gets out and in one day we paint the entire ship from stem to stern with the exception of the sides. About 4 in aft we then bbq anything that we could find or seize as a sample from local fishing vessels. In northern climes ( in the days before political correctness over whelmed the Navy) samples of Abolone whould be taken for scientific purposes of course. I digress....my buddy and i were hanging by safety belts from the Guard rail stanchions amidships near the life boats on our DDE. ( destroyer escot) our feet were braced on the round downs and we were painting the davits of the life boat mechanism. all of a sudden my buddy screamed "SSSHARK SSSSHARK" ( Doug stuttered) and tried to jump over the guard rail back aboard the ship. now he would have been successful, however, his safety line stopped him in midair causing him to loose his footing and wind up dangling down the ships side screaming like a stuck pig "SSSSHARK HHHHELP SSSSHARK" a crowd soon gathered above looking down and laughing at Doug dangling 20 ft above the water in fear for his life. It turned out in a moment of day dreaming he had looked down at the water through his spread legs and seen a very large shark looking at him. He swore it was 20 ft long at least heheh things do look bigger in water. Poor guy for the next 2 weeks he was getting all kinds of model and toy sharks left on desks on radar sets in his locker under his pillow heheh was great fun
But as to sharks under water I expect they are just like bears in the woods. I treat bears with respect when I see them and in all honesty I want to see them each time I go out ...at a distance in safety...man nothing like a mature grizzly in the bush unless perhaps a shark underwater...
But as to sharks under water I expect they are just like bears in the woods. I treat bears with respect when I see them and in all honesty I want to see them each time I go out ...at a distance in safety...man nothing like a mature grizzly in the bush unless perhaps a shark underwater...
BEM
Contributor
I've heard that sharks will move away from a source of bubbles. Does anyone know if you take your octopus and purge it, facing the shark, if the shark will retreat?
I was snorkelling once in the Perhentian Isl (Malaysia), and I passed in a channel... well, kind of a channel. There was only room for one (or maybe one and a half) person between the coral potato that went up until the surface (therefore, no escape above it), and the reef (made of big rocks, no sand --> no escape that way.)
The corals on the channel were beautiful, so I was looking down when I suddenly saw something moving in front of me...
A 2 meters shark. It was a reef shark, all right, but I was really scared. It was so CLOSE to me I could touch it !!
I said to myself "Look, Amanda, you big girl, IT can't do a U-Turn in there, so YOU'RE gonna do it." And I did. I was sure I was gonna get my leg bitten or something, but everything went just fine.
But I just swam back to the beach as fast as I could !
The corals on the channel were beautiful, so I was looking down when I suddenly saw something moving in front of me...
A 2 meters shark. It was a reef shark, all right, but I was really scared. It was so CLOSE to me I could touch it !!
I said to myself "Look, Amanda, you big girl, IT can't do a U-Turn in there, so YOU'RE gonna do it." And I did. I was sure I was gonna get my leg bitten or something, but everything went just fine.
But I just swam back to the beach as fast as I could !
We just returned from 2 weeks in French Polynesia, where we were diving with sharks twice a day. There were white tips, black tips, lemons, silver tips, grays and just one hammerhead. The only problem I had was trying to keep them out of almost every photo I took. Many times they would swim right toward your mask only to make a 90 degree turn about 3 feet in front of you. Many times they would pass close enough for you to touch silver tip in Rangiroa
From what I could tell, there was no reason to freak out. We obviously didn't do anything to harass them and they left us alone.
From what I could tell, there was no reason to freak out. We obviously didn't do anything to harass them and they left us alone.
o2 clean
Guest
I haven't seen a shark while diving.... yet! I did see the tail end of one swim away, but not actually one up close.
I guess I will just hold on to my reg and just remember to breathe!
I guess I will just hold on to my reg and just remember to breathe!
I would say I see sharks about 60% of the 175+ dives a year I do. I've even seen a 10 ft bull pass under my feet while waiting for a boat pickup with 40 lbs of fish on a stringer and a bag full of lobster. He didn't stop, kept on going. I have never experienced yet a truly, truly aggressive no-win incident with a shark yet WHILE DIVING.
For the record, I've been bitten by a good sized shark, not while diving. I'll have to say, if I had my usual tools in spearfishing with me, and I come across a no-win situation...a shark is going to die. Sorry, but I'm speaking from the 'been there...done that' club and have permanent damage in my ankle. I'm sure every single one of you on this forum would consider the business end of your knife if the situation were that serious. The nose and gills are the sweet spots. However, luckily for us, most all experiences w/ sharks are just curious encounters.
For the record, I've been bitten by a good sized shark, not while diving. I'll have to say, if I had my usual tools in spearfishing with me, and I come across a no-win situation...a shark is going to die. Sorry, but I'm speaking from the 'been there...done that' club and have permanent damage in my ankle. I'm sure every single one of you on this forum would consider the business end of your knife if the situation were that serious. The nose and gills are the sweet spots. However, luckily for us, most all experiences w/ sharks are just curious encounters.
Amber
Contributor
Most sharks that start to swim towards someone for the first time are not aiming at biting. They rub their nose (highly sensitive) up against the person to get a "taste". It's their curiosity most of the time that makes them do this. I've learned that when they approace to do this, tap them on the nose in a definate matter. I'm not talking about going Ali on them and slamming them in the nose, just a tap to send them the message that you are not food. This will make them turn around and swim away.
Now while this works most of the time....it doesn't always work. In the event that a shark goes in for the bite..or god forbid...has ahold of you, if at all possible it is advised to take your thumb (as it is the strongest finger) and ram it as hard as possible into it's eye. Sharks are extremly protective of their eyes. That's why when they attack, their eyes roll back.
Now while this works most of the time....it doesn't always work. In the event that a shark goes in for the bite..or god forbid...has ahold of you, if at all possible it is advised to take your thumb (as it is the strongest finger) and ram it as hard as possible into it's eye. Sharks are extremly protective of their eyes. That's why when they attack, their eyes roll back.
Amber
Contributor
My mom lives in Sarasota so I am down there a lot. Durring tarpon season...there is an INSANE ammount of hammer heads. I know it sounds crazy...and I might not ever have the gall to do it...but I would love to be under one of those massive schools of hammer heads with an underwater video camera.:mean:
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