Sharks - Diving With These Beauties

[AndyNZ]

K....ya'll are scarin' me.....I've not seen one yet and really don't care too. But, living in the Virgin Islands, it is sure to happen at some point. EEEEK.

How can you say that you wouldn't care to?! Sharks are awesome creatures, and seeing them in the water in a natural state (no feeding) is a humbling experience....

About the only thing better is maybe Orca. We had a small pod swim past an O/W group last weekend, how stoked were the students?!

Okay: What are some signs that a shark has you on his menu?

Circling, and increasing their normal swimming speed. Watch the tail, if it looks a little "thrashy" rather than "glidy" then they are a bit agitated.

 

[Bratface]

I believe your raggies are what we call Sand Tigers in North Carolina. They live on the wrecks off shore, and on one dive there were about 50 of them! The babies were on the deck, about 3 feet long. They were so cute. The adults were around the boat and we swam with them while looking for teeth. They are docile, so just leave them alone and admire them.

I have also been on a shark dive in the Bahamas. We lined up against a reef then the DM in the dingy lowered a chum stick and they came for it. Some of them were waiting patiently in the water when we descended. Quite interesting watching them tear into the barracuda on the stick. I suppose there were about 15 or 20 of them, black tipped reef sharks. When the food was gone, they left.

Both experiences were awesome. Although, I will admit, it is a little unnerving when you first realize you are surrounded by sharks. I do not like to see them in low viz conditions.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

That's not to say that I didn't have a little adrenaline rush when one decided that noise from the autofocus in my camera was interesting and ran at me head-on, only to turn away about 3 feet from me. I just held up my housing, ready to ram it in the nose and give him a good mouthful of polycarbonate if he wanted a bite. When he turned aside, I at least had the presence of mind to get a good picture.

Took my heart a couple of minutes to slow down after that one....

I've dived with sharks a number of times since then and been fine. I just keep my distance, keep my cool and keep an eye on them. I don't chase them, I respect them and I'm always grateful when I get to dive with them.

Oh man... Just reading that gave me an adrenaline rush! Awesome!

 

[JOHN DE KLERK]

Thanks eveyone for your relaxed reassuances! I will let you all know how the dive at Aliwal went on my return in Jan 2006. Happy diving. John de Klerk.

As an aside, my daughter (13) and I did a fun dive at Ushaka marine world tank (Durban South Africa) with the rays and guitarfish ("shark")- it was amazing. One of the guitar sharks took an inquisitive "bump"at me, which was a rush of note. Fortunately it likes crabs etc. and I wasn't to its liking. What a beauty!

 

[riguerin]

Another usual sign of shark agression is holding the pectoral fins at a sharp 45 degree downward angle instead of relatively flat. It indicates a relatively "pissy" mood (as well as the arched back).

These are big clues. These, and the exaggerated side to side wobble are believed to be warning signs that feel threatened. Of course, depending on the species, you're never guaranteed a pre-warning ;-)

 

[SadiesMom]

Originally Posted by SadiesMom
Another usual sign of shark agression is holding the pectoral fins at a sharp 45 degree downward angle instead of relatively flat. It indicates a relatively "pissy" mood (as well as the arched back).

These are big clues. These, and the exaggerated side to side wobble are believed to be warning signs that feel threatened. Of course, depending on the species, you're never guaranteed a pre-warning ;-)

Mind you, I've never actually *seen* any agressive shark behavior in person - only heard about it and seen photos/video of it. Any dives I've done with sharks have been with happy sharks . (i.e. flat pectoral fins, lazy finning, no bumping or circling, no jerky movements, no arched backs)

I did have that little moment of increased adrenaline when that Caribbean reef shark came straight at me and veered off to go alongside me at the last minute, but that appeared to be because it was checking my camera out. The captain of our liveaboard (we were in the Exumas Land and Sea Park) said that they seem to find the noise of a camera autofocus intriguing and worth a "looksee." While it definitely blew my SAC for that dive , I did get a pretty decent picture. (OK, so I'm not going to win any awards...but I like it.)

However, even during that moment, I had the presence of mind to notice that that shark was showing no sign whatsoever of any aggression - the pass was slow and lazy, if a bit close for my comfort level at the time...(and I was prepared to feed it my camera and housing if necessary ).

 

[rawls]

Try the Papoose or the Nancy Lee off off Cape Lookout, NC. Plenty of Sand Tigers. They are very docile sharks as long as you don't get too close or corner them. They are docile, but are also listed as #7 on the most dangerous shark list. I hadn't thought about the idea of cutting your buddy if things get sticky....Hilarious

 

[RumBum]

Anyone had a shark get mad at you for taking his picture?

I was watching a shark show last night, 10 Most Dangerous Sharks - the narrator is a photographer who has been bitten and seemed pretty angry at sharks in general. BUT one thing he said which was interesting was that he thinks that strobe light (camera flash) is irritating to sharks.

ps - I am hoping to do a hammerhead migration dive in March (weather permitting), and also have an upcoming shark dive with baiting in May. I havn't seen a shark while diving yet, and I used to be scared of them but I am now overcoming that with knowlege.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

The photographer was angry with sharks for being sharks? Hrmmm...

Good luck with the dive in May! It sounds exciting!

 

[Kind 1]

Sharks are awesome. I've done the bahama dive 3x was knocked forward by a reefy who bumped my tank on my first time. While i was a bit freaked it was still awesome and earned me a few beers. On the second trip some dumb ***** forgot his belt and was trying to stay down with him his arms D"OH that was scary until the guy next to him gave hime a big rock for his lap. Oh yeah and down the keys for mini season I had a bull take interest in my bag. He was just curious, came slow but what a mouth full of teeth. (I brought 3 keepers to the boat) and was told not to play with the bull sharks. Ohh boy do i love those big fishies.

Where is the hammer migration (Panama?) I've heard that they cyclone and you can drop down the center....ohhhh I wanna go I wanna go.