Persistent fear of sharks?

[Nemrod]

Heck, you guys got me skeeered now to go back in the water. Dang. Nah, walk it off, or swim it off or better yet dive it off.

Back when we was manly men and like to blow s--t up just cuz we could and like to make girls scream, there were these things called bang sticks and shark darts and there is the Sea Wasp. If you are that concerned about it-----.

Heck, I had a decent sized bull come at us three times on the Destin Jetty. And, my buddy never saw him. He came, I grabbed my buddy to show him and the shark veered off and then I spun around and he was coming from that direction and I grabbed my buddy and he turned to look only in time to see nothing. I started heading to the exit, at a hasty retreat speed, and my buddy now in front did not see the shark come right up to my flippers before veering off. That happened by the deep hole, the last sight of him. Buddy never saw him. As we climbed up on the sand, some typical beech party types, hey man, like scuba dudes, you see any sharks and I matter of factly said, yeah, like right there. Then they went right back to the drug induced stupor they were in.

Yeah, there are sharks in the ocean and bears in the woods. No one gets out alive anyways.

N

 

[TMHeimer]

I've dived the Destin "Thumb" jetty a number of times several years ago. Glad I didn't run into a bull shark. I was with a buddy and we came upon a bunch of really big rays. He signaled to let's go follow them. I signaled for him to go and me go in the other direction. Don't like big stuff, stuff with pointy tails......

 

[Nemrod]

I've dived the Destin "Thumb" jetty a number of times several years ago. Glad I didn't run into a bull shark. I was with a buddy and we came upon a bunch of really big rays. He signaled to let's go follow them. I signaled for him to go and me go in the other direction. Don't like big stuff, stuff with pointy tails......

To be clear, for posterity, I have dove that jetty and inlet area there many, many times going back to my college years and this was the only shark I have seen there while in the water. I do not believe we were in particular danger, I think he was being curious and perhaps a little territorial. But in any case, my buddy being a new diver and most of our dive behind us, I decided to exit the situation. We made another dive there the following day BTW.

Some years ago we were down with our boat and I saw a hammerhead right at the inlet cruising along (and a whale shark later), we were trolling just outside. I was also told, by the locals that the local group of dolphins, supposedly a calf had been killed by a bull shark. This is what I am told, I cannot verify if it is a fish story, but that several days letter the dolphins herded the bull shark into the west shoals outside of the jetty and killed him. In any case there is a group of dolphins that habituates the area. I have seen them in the water while diving a couple of times briefly and a number of times, up close in my kayak.

Anyways, a fish tale for the day.

N

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah, I've heard you don't want to run into a dolphin in the wild, especially a school of them--'nother big thing....

 

[Pavao]

Beachbummer, it's not like in the movies where the man-eating-machines just sneak up on you, you will hear the sound way, way before the shark gets to you, so you'll have time to be "prepared".

Just be alert and pay attention to this sound, means a shark is near!

 

[drrich2]

Yeah, I've heard you don't want to run into a dolphin in the wild, especially a school of them--'nother big thing....

Lots of people love seeing dolphin in the wild & long to interact with them.

Did something big scare you when you were very young? (Joke; no offense). I would have some trepidation about being in the presence of large sharks known for (very rarely) killing humans, sure, just as with large barracuda, but I'm also concerned about small things. Blundering into jellyfish tentacles, swimming to close to the bottom (e.g.: rubble crawl late in a shore dive before exit) & passing to closely over a scorpionfish or stingray, my bubbles jostling loose an overhead bristle worm during a swim through, etc...

One of the awfullest accounts of a marine life encounter I've read on the forum was when DevonDiver got nailed in the finger by a juvenile stonefish in the Philippines.

Richard.

 

[TMHeimer]

Well maybe it was that movie I saw when a kid where the giant spiders were hatching while these people ran for the cabin... I agree about the small things too though--they just don't seem as daunting.

 

[TMHeimer]

Shark Attack! | Gilliam

---------- Post added June 10th, 2015 at 09:44 PM ----------

List of fatal, unprovoked shark attacks in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sept. 13, 1995. Diver presumed killed by shark. I know that's only one of many attacks, but that's enough for me. I stopped reading the link.

 

[RonMele]

There's nothing nerdy about practicing the skills you'll be learning/doing in your certification dives....or else I'm a nerd too! Haha. I did the Discover Scuba course about 1 1/2 years ago while on a short vacation in St. Thomas. Afterwards the bug had bitten me hard....so I enrolled in the eLearning and then went back to St. Thomas a few months later to do the Open Water certification course. In the meantime I'd gone to my gym and practiced the same things you talked about...and it felt good to be prepared when I did the course. When I returned to the same dive shop last month to do the Rescue Diver course the instructor remembered me after we got going a bit...saying "I like it when students come prepared!" Granted, you don't want to teach yourself something wrong...but it's great that you are excited about the sport and prepping for your training. Have fun!


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[tech_diver]

I had a small shark mess with me when I was surfing once but never saw any aggressive behavior from sharks while diving. I'm sure someone already pointed out, the surest way to keep sharks away is to enter the water with a camera and an assignment to photograph sharks.

But we do have to remain vigilant, shark week is upon us and some sharks wait all year for this. It starts with just a week, then a shark month, next the sharks will rule the ocean and drive humans out of the water completely.