Tiger Shark - Jupiter, FL 03/23/2014

[mntlblok]

Good to see she was docile. This one from one of Ramon's videos in February made me glad I wasn't out that time - at 1:26 I would have sounded a retreat. I imagine Randy may have had a few brown-water incidents here: Tiger Shark Fedding Interaction with Randy Jordan - YouTube

I'll bet he's no longer sporting those white epaulets on his BCD.

 

[dreamdive]

I remember there was an aligator in little river hanging out watching divers going in and out of the cave. People started feeding him. Then he became more friendly, swiming with the divers in and out of the cave. Finally, somebody complained or felt threatended and they took the poor thing away. My guess is they killed him and sold his hide.

There is so much work on shark conservation I would hate to see go bad because of this. Why can't we just leave them alone? Oh,......because it's cool???

Big green eel was being fed and then started searching divers for food. A divers complaint because she got "scared" and suddenly the eel was gone.

So please, don't think for one second what you do is benign and without consequences to the (wild) animals you "adore" and feel the need to feed.

 

[Murfdizzle21]

that mistake would be feeding a wild animal. Those don't feed the bears signs are not meant for Yogi and Boo-Boo

That mistake would be reaching out to touch her as she came by, or sticking any of my limbs out which would look like I have food for her, in turn she may bite. We kneel in the sand and if she comes too close, you bump her with your camera or your gun, in the video nobody bumps her away because she's not interested in us, just the food. She didn't want to bite any of the divers, she just wanted the food, and it's quite obvious from the video. If anyone is going to get bit, it will be Randy who has the food in his hand. Feeding sharks can be done safely, I've done over 400 shark feeding dives with Randy, not once have I seen a shark act aggressive towards a diver (besides Randy, a Dusky shark got a little aggressive with him, but he's got the food).

 

[JesperS]

Good to see she was docile. This one from one of Ramon's videos in February made me glad I wasn't out that time - at 1:26 I would have sounded a retreat. I imagine Randy may have had a few brown-water incidents here: Tiger Shark Fedding Interaction with Randy Jordan - YouTube

The phrase only a matter of time springs to mind.

 

[diver 85]

Is that the same shark in the 2 videos linked???.......tia..

 

[Murfdizzle21]

Randy has changed a lot of divers attitudes towards sharks, instead of people seeing them as monsters. Last year the season to catch sharks open on Jan 01, 2013 and divers in Jupiter, barely saw any lemon sharks last year because they were all caught and killed by the fisherman. This year that season opens on June 01, 2014 instead of January because divers who wanted to help the sharks (lots of divers from Randy's boat) voted and lobbied to change it. This year lemon sharks were all over jupiter from Jan - mid March when they migrate here. So Randy is helping the sharks, if you ask me. Does he have a horse in the race, yes he's making money showing people these sharks, he's also having things done to protect them. Dreamdive there is not enough evidence to show that these shark feeding dives have an effect on their behavior.

---------- Post added March 25th, 2014 at 10:03 AM ----------

Is that the same shark in the 2 videos linked???.......tia..

I'm not sure, we've seen about 4 or 5 different tiger sharks in palm beach and jupiter ranging from 7 or 8 feet to 12 and 14

 

[diver 85]

Good to see she was docile. This one from one of Ramon's videos in February made me glad I wasn't out that time - at 1:26 I would have sounded a retreat. I imagine Randy may have had a few brown-water incidents here: Tiger Shark Fedding Interaction with Randy Jordan - YouTube

This guy(1 of 2 Italians that started Cara a Cara dive on Roatan--pic circa 2002) used chainmail gloves & hood for a reason....

 

[djtimmy77]

Dreamdive there is not enough evidence to show that these shark feeding dives have an effect on their behavior.

I have to disagree, many of us have seen with our own eyes a change in how the sharks behave over the last year. A year ago the sharks would pass by at a distance and you'd have to swim really hard to get close enough for a photo or decent video. Now they come right up to non-feeding divers. Sure they might not stick around but that is a definite change in behavior. A lot of folks who enjoy the shark feeding dives generally won't admit/recognize this change, but more objective folks will.

What is more debatable is if this is bad/dangerous. I am not sure what the answer to that is. Definitely a hot-button topic though.

Nice video as usual by the way!

 

[shellmoundal]

I read that Shark feeding is illegal in Florida. It is on posted on this Forum. Is the post about FWC not correct? I ask that because I am a cave diver but I am going to Jupiter for a dive. Need clarification.

 

[diversteve]

It's illegal where Emerald (Randy) and the other boat were caught doing it. Outside the 3-mile limit it's not. Just stupidity.