swimming with a Great White

[drbill]

Didn't like the frequent contact with the shark by the diver. However, I wouldn't doubt this could be real (but edited). I have several friends who have free dived with GWS over the years without any aggressive incidents. Not sure I've got the cajones to do it myself.

By the way, Meng-Tze, I've had two friends on different trips to Guadalupe Island have great white sharks go right through their cages. They seemed to have no interest in doing so when I was down there!

 

[wardric]

Ok, i made a quick search and it turns out it IS genuine. The guy's name is André Hartman, he is south african. He worked with J-M Cousteau, Discovery channel, BBC and even the croc hunter himself.

here are a few links:

in english
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Hartman
http://www.andrehartman.com/

in french (you can always look at the pictures )
http://www.longitude181.com/dossiers/requin/seigneur.html
http://www.membres.lycos.fr/grandblanc/cousteau.htm
http://discmat.free.fr/plongeur.html

 

[sea nmf]

Well, the footage of the animal was beautiful. I didn't like the special effects and the fake stuff, though. And I wish he hadn't touched the shark and "rode" the shark, both for the shark's sake and his own. But I know it was for the drama of the filmmaker.

I like to think I would swim outside the cage with GWs but I've never been put to the test.

 

[Carribeandiver]

I wonder why the shark made repeated attempts to 'feel' the diver out? Could it be the shark was that curious about this infrequently seen 'fish' in the water? Then suddenly 2 GWs appeared.
I can understand observation by the diver but all that contact seems counterproductive. Was he trying to show the shark he has nothing to fear from us and the GW should let us ride him?
It would be a heart racer to see one close up but I do know I would not volunteer for the thrill.

 

[grassyknoll]

As I was told as a child "it's all good fun until someone gets hurt", and with a GW "hurt" may be terminal.
I have seen the guy from S Africa swimming with the whites (which he does fairly regularly) on a Discoery Channel Shark-Week episode. I imagine he must get his wet-suits custom made to accomodate the extra bulk in the crotch area.

 

[carlcz]

I was in Gaansbai, SA a few years ago (cage diving with great whites) and did see a couple of divers freediving with these magnificent fish. I have no doubt that the majority of the shots are real.
Hartman was there, but not one of the divers that I saw.
THEY are a beautiful animal.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I did a series of GW cage dives...............there is NO way I am going in the water with those fishies free swimming.

Here is a report from Shark Research Commitee that gave me the willies:

Black Rock, Catalina Island — On November 4, 2006 Ken Hill was SCUBA diving at Black Rock, West End of Catalina Island. He was wearing a black wet suit, hood, booties and gloves. His accessory equipment was a spear gun, 72 cubic foot tank with black and white fins and a white silicon mask and a black BC. It was 1:30 PM and he had only been in the water 5 minutes. The water was 65 – 70 feet deep with a sandy ocean bottom littered with large boulders. The ocean was flat and calm with little or no current. He recorded the air and water temperatures at 74 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit respectively. Hill recalled; “I was carrying a spear gun while scouting for scallops and lobsters, but had not taken any prior to the encounter. I was the dive master of the boat and it was our third dive of the day. We had made two prior dives at Farnsworth Banks but because a large swell was hitting the backside of the island we decided to move around to the front side. We anchored the boat at the edge of the kelp in 35 – 40 feet of water. I entered the water and dropped down to the bottom and started working my way to deeper water. I was above a desk size boulder, covered with sea fans in 65 feet of water, when I looked and observed a grayish/white line 15 feet in front of me. I could not figure out what it was for several seconds until it started moving slowly from my left to my right. I watched as it circled to my right side and when it turned toward me I recognized it to be a white shark about 15 feet in length. I immediately pulled myself down behind the rock for protection. The shark was about 6 feet off the bottom as it started circling the rock. I kept moving around the rock in an effort to keep the rock between me and the shark. I had made almost a complete 360 around the rock when the shark suddenly turned and swam directly over the top of the rock. I watched it go overhead and when it got about 10 feet away it turned around and started swimming back at me. This time it was only 3 feet off the bottom. I was trying to lay as flat on the bottom and as close to the rock as I could, while pulling myself around the rock. I was rubbing the rock so close that my BC buckle came undone. The shark followed me around the rock again and then turned and swam over the rock again. This time it was just about 18 inches above me and its body looked to be almost 3 feet wide. As it passed overhead its pectoral fins passed on both sides of me. The shark was swimming very slowly and I could clearly see what I later learned were claspers on its underside. I watched as the tail slowly moved above me and then the shark just continued to swim straight until it disappeared. I waited next to the rock for about 5 minutes to see if the shark would return. After checking my compass I started moving from rock to rock along the bottom toward the island until I came up to the kelp bed, found the anchor chain and followed it back to the boat. None of the other divers saw the shark. I am still amazed at how well the shark was camouflaged when I first saw it. When I was looking at that white line in the water I could not see any other part of the shark and it was only 15 feet away.” Caution should be exercised when utilizing this location for your ocean water activities. Please report any shark sighting, encounter or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

 

[Fastmarc]

Some of it might even be real.

Watch it again. The close ups were shot later and edited in for effect. So all the timing is off. We show the diver going down (no GW in the shot) then cut to the shark swimming in (no diver in the shot). Then that shot from the shark's perspective (shark-cam) with the guy reaching out and pushing on the camera... Funny!

So much is camtrickery that the whole is to be view with a grain of salt.

There is a very good chance that it is real.
I saw a fellow on Discovery Channel doing the same thing, but minus the spear gun. He 'rode' the sharks quite a lot and there were more that one with him at a time.
Not too sure why anyone would want to do that though.

 

[drbill]

I should have guessed it might have been Andre Hartman... the way he touched the "nose" of the shark. He was the one who took Jean-Michel Cousteau free diving with the great whites.

 

[drbill]

Hadn't heard about this encounter. Although rare, divers here on the island do encounter GWS occasionally. The West End and windward coasts are the more common sites, although the area from the East End to Lover's Cove has had a few sightings as well. Ship Rock, Eagle Reef and Farnsworth Banks have had a few sightings and even a "bump" or two from what I've heard. I know some of the "old" abalone divers have had encounters as well, although nothing involving a serious attack or a fatality that I'm aware of.

I've dived here off-and-on for 38 years now and never had a single encounter underwater (only topside while in boats). Of course it may be because I keep my eyes glued to my camera viewfinder and wouldn't see a shark if it were looking over my shoulder ("ignorance" is bliss?)!

I do know videographers/photographers who have tried to "shoot" one that seems to hang out in the Empire Landing-Eagle Reef area. They've tried to film it, but every time they get "close," it peels off into the void!

I stopped worrying about great whites (a big fear of mine when I first arrived here in the late 60's, and even more so after Jaws but not after Jaws II) some time ago. i just don't shower before I go in the water!

Here is a report from Shark Research Commitee that gave me the willies:

Black Rock, Catalina Island — On November 4, 2006 Ken Hill was SCUBA diving at Black Rock, West End of Catalina Island...Caution should be exercised when utilizing this location for your ocean water activities. Please report any shark sighting, encounter or attack to the Shark Research Committee.