61 replies to this topic

[Walter]

Darlin',

I didn't take my vintage gear to Bonaire (why do I have an urge to speak in Russian?), so 'chie saw me wearing my Jets, not my Duck Feet.

Walter

[drbill]

Walter- I never used a horse collar and didn't remember any of us using them in the 60's and early 70's until I looked at a picture of a marine biology class I was teaching and one student had one on. I never used them myself, prefering to dive without added bouyancy using my hard back pack. Didn't switch to a BC until 1989 when it was required on the ship I was working on. It failed (kept auto-inflating) so I just disconnected it and kept diving.

Still see an occasional horse collar in the park, and less frequently a diver with just a hard back pack! I keep wondering if they are "purists" or just haven't dived in decades.

Doc

[jextract]

When I had my encounter with the Tiger Shark...

ZD, the master of understatement ... sort of like saying Jeffrey Dahmer had a mild eating disorder.

I also have had great whites follow my kayak as I paddled near the island's West End and backside.

And this didn't concern you any? Those guys in the Mexico restaurant were right!



By the way, did anyone see that show on Discovery Channel last night about the guy hitching a ride on the great whites? I've done a lot of crazy things in my life but that was truly insane!

[zendiver]

Jamie, I have been watching shark week all week this week. It has been truly awesome. That guy was a complete nut...swimming over and petting them, riding them, grabbing their tale. I almost had a fit when I saw that.

[drbill]

Jextract- the great whites that have followed my kayak off our coast were small (10-12') and therefore still fish eaters most likely. I think they were just curious. Of course I kept close to shore in case. It's a rare event given all the times I've kayaked here in the past 30+ years.

I was told by a film crew "filming" our around-the-island paddle from a helicopter in the mid-70's that a much larger (15-16') great white was following my boat as we rounded the West End. I didn't hear this until I got back to base camp two days later. I said "let me see the footage." Their response was "uh, we forgot to load the film in the magazine." To this day I don't know whether they were kidding or not.

Doc

[triggerfish]

Jamie, I have been watching shark week all week this week. It has been truly awesome. That guy was a complete nut...swimming over and petting them, riding them, grabbing their tale. I almost had a fit when I saw that.

that was me in my man-suit....

[ddierolf]

that was me in my man-suit....

Was Helga out at that time?? or was it one of the others????

[H2Oaddict]

Sharks - what an awesome sight underwater!

The most breath taking experiance happened about 25 years ago on a dive in the keys. I was with a buddy and a private student on a checkout dive. Almost in the space of time it took my student to do mask clearing - a 14' hammerhead (known as Freight Train, a regular in Pennekamp) came in over the reef, did a "drive by", and moved out of sight. To me it froze time. Huge, powerful yet graceful. It sent shivers down my spine. My buddy and I watched then looked at the student and locked eye again. WE WERE NOT GOING TO TURN HIM AROUND UNTIL THE SHARK WAS GONE! Ok, on to the next skill. . . .

We see nurse sharks fairly often. Anything from sleeping loners to 5-6 in an area, they ARE like underwater puppy dogs which is somewhat un-nerving for students trying to do skills. Then some keys locals turned me on to a secret spot where Caribbean Reefs frequent. It's an alley they come up to feed off the reef.

Another adventure was taking a group of lawyers to Walker's Cay for the local Shark Feeding Dive. They all felt safe claiming "Sharks don't eat their own" I didn't want to break the illision......

Off Jupiter we do yearly Lemon Shark surveys taking note of the numbers of male, females and the various sized. Sometime there are 30-40 in the area. That's a rush! They move around in packs of 3 or 4 then get in single file and follow each other for awhile then break off in packs again. The little courtship moves are interesting to watch. On one dive the DM got freaked because a big male came in just to check me out and turned at the last minute. Watching thier behavior, I was never worried and enjoyed the close look. Gee does that mean I'm desperate for attention

OK that's the update - and yes I also remember the horsecollars, CO2 cart. and the joke to always carry a knife. If you see a shark cut your buddy and swim away.....

[drbill]

I remember hearing of how Jean-Michel Cousteau free dove with great whites off Africa, accompanied by a man who had been doing it there for some time. The info I heard from other Cousteau asociates was that JMC had a great white swim beneath him, and he held onto the dorsal fin and was carried along by the shark with no aggressive response. Then, while in Fiji, I saw the pictures from that encounter.

Incidences like that really make me wonder about the media-induced fear so many have of these animals. Come here nice sharkie. Here let me remove that rotting sea lion flesh from your teeth. There, isn't that bet.... OUCH!

Doc

[wreck_maniac]

wreck_maniac:  does the repellent you use look like the one on page 2 of this thread? 

Wow! you've found my secret nice photoshop work

[triggerfish]

that's not PS...
they sell it at costco up here.....
lots of sharks in lake michigan

[ryvor]

3 questions you're most likely to get asked when you talk to a non-diver about diving:
1. How deep did you go?
2. Did you see any sharks?
3. How big were the sharks?

Sharks is a very interesting topic. You're more likely to win the lottery and get hit by lightning both in the same day than get bitten by a shark, or even worse, die at the jaws of a shark. Did I mention that 40% of all statics are inaccurate?

#1 spot for sharks attack in the world is...Florida. Since about 1989 shark attacks around the world have been recorded. Florida has the most with just under 300 attacks. Less than 2% were fatal and about 96% percent occured at the shore in less than 4 feet of water. Now with all the divers that enter the water in FL each year and all the millions beach goers that enter the water each year those are some pretty good odds. (Discovery Channel has a lot of info!)

How do you change your odds? Lets make them worse for a sec.

Spearfish. Spearfishing will attrack sharks. Just the sound of the bands popping will bring nosey sharks. Sharks associate the sound with free food so they will come. When you spear a fish, this will make the sharks more excited as now they smell the blood in the water. But still not enough to attack. What really gets the shark doing is the thrashing movement that the fish is making if you didn't get it with a kill shot. What's worse than having a thrashing fish? A thrashing fish on your stringer that you thought was dead and suddenly decided to wake up!

Awareness. Sharks are predators, so when in the water, make sure you make eye contact with the Sharks to let them know that you know that they know that you know they are there. Sharks are very delicate creatures, and an injury can mean death. So they are very careful when they attack. They will try for your blindside.

If you see see a shark and it starts circling you, it's sizing you up. It will get closer and closer until it bites. They don't have hands and that's their way of checking you out. They take a bite and see what you taste like. You can make yourself vertical to look bigger and you can also release a jet of air from your second stage. They usually will circle when you're spearfishing and have food, best bet is to drop the food and go the other way. If they're circling and you don't have food, then you're the food

Also, don't touch the sharks. They can whip around and bite you.

[scuba1231]

DrBill what is the Water Park you keep talking about?

[WreckWench]

DrBill what is the Water Park you keep talking about?

Catalina Island in CA!

[drbill]

Wow... I just discovered this past weekend that bull sharks HAVE been sighted off Catalina Island. I wasn't aware of that. Apparently they are seen very infrequently during warm water (El Nino) episodes.

Dr. Bill