How to handle "friendly" or "curious" sea life?

[girldiverllc]

Up in the Pacific NW we have Ling Cod. Normally very docile fish that lay around on the bottom. However, let a Ling lay its' eggs and come too close? I had been keeping two students well away from nesting Ling when I swam unknowingly too close to one myself. It circled quickly around and nailed my drysuit arm. Thought it hit/bit me hard enough to break a hole in...none found however. I was spooked by any fish that moved the rest of that dive. Now, I leave even more distance and watch even closer during that season.

Cindy
http://www.girldiver.com

 

[RICHinNC]

I dont have a problem with sea snakes. The Warhammer floating fecal matter leaking out of my wetsuit seems to keep them away. Obviously, not wild about snakes of any kind.

 

[wreckchick]

I regularly have barracuda shadow me for parts of a dive. The key is understanding the behavior. They think I'm a BIG fish and they're looking to pick up scraps if I'm eating. When I don't produce any leftovers they wander off.

Rachel

 

[CBulla]

I have had to explain to a smaller black grouper that he would also be following me back to the boat against his will by demonstrating on a larger legal grouper how a spear gun and stringer work. He was still very friendly, mostly because I believe he wanted to eat his now dead buddies eyes.

 

[divetraveler]

I had four groupers following me while diving in Tobago. They were 2-3ft in length and kept bumping me...running into me...swimming under me and around...followed me for a good portion of the dive. I wasn't sure what to do...they pushed me and finally I pushed the big one back...probably not the smartest thing to do...they left on their own a while later. It seemed funny at the time

 

[MarkH]

All marine life wants is to be loved. Romance is waiting under the waves.

 

[kjundvr]

I have had several interasting encounters with sealife. A few years ago a very playful sealion in the Channel Islands decided that it would be fun to grab my fin and drag me about 100ft. Really could not do anything other than stay calm and wait for him to loose interest.
Another great encounter happened about 2 weeks ago I was diving at Monastary Beach in Carmel bay DMing an advance dive class. We were working on their deep dive in the canyon head I headed back with 2 students and in the shallows at arround 25ft we were just sitting on the bottom and this pod of spinner dolphins starts buzzing us. We had plenty of air left so we just sat there on the bottom. After a few min they started to get closer and closer. I even had one that swam slow on the bottom and was within arms reach of him, I was checking him out and he was doing the same. We stayed on the bottom for about 15 min and only came out because we were low on air. Needless to say it was one of the best dive I have ever had. So basicly just stay calm and let the critters come to you.

 

[erparamedic]

I had a very interesting encounter with 3 dolphins off the coast of Key West, just over 9 years ago.

My husband, parents, and sister were all diving. I was almost 8 months pregnant, so I snorkelled above them. They were perusing a wreck, and between me and them was a very large school of barracuda. Now... it didn't bother me with all the cuda around, and there were 2 barracuda quite close to me (6-8 feet away... keeping that perfect distance all the time... like barracuda's do). Suddenly, I felt a nice, hard, bump in my thigh.... and I turned and didn't see anything. I went on snorkelling, didn't think much of it... my thought was that it wasn't a cuda, cause it would have just bit me, and not bumped. The bump was definitely enough to get my attention, but it didn't hurt. A few minutes later, the same thing happened again. This time, I turned and there were 3 dolphins swimming about and jumping in the water.

Now, while I can't say with 100% certainty that it was the dolphins that bumped me, I can say that they sense "ultrasound" and considering I was VERY pregnant, they may have sensed that... or maybe they were "warning" me of all the barracuda around. I don't know. The charter Capt. mentioned that he has NEVER seen dolphin come that close to any person out swimming/snorkelling in his history as a captain, and he says they don't come around unless the boat is moving, but it was, of course, anchored. Also... when I went back to the boat, I sat on the little platform on the back of the boat, and my feet were in the water... the dolphins came within 2 feet from my legs, jumping thru the water. I jumped back into the water and you could hear them squeeking... and I watched them till they swam off. It was incredible!

 

[JohnnyH]

In my job I work with and handle sharks, eels, turtles and just about every other type of caribbean marine life and have therefore received my share of bites. With that said, the critters I deal with are used to us divers being in the tank five times a day.

My only advise is 'hands off' and 'stay calm'. (Lame advise)

It used to be somewhat stressful when a seven foot green moray wraps itself around your neck and stares you in the mask, but you learn to stay clam and let it work its way into the feeding bag and pick out its own snack.

Turtles? Our biggest gal - 650lb Green Sea turtle named Myrtle - well I've learned to put her underneath me while I feed and kneel on her shell - that way you know she won't land on you or bite you in the back of the head... But be careful not to startle a turtle 'cause those suckers can move when they want to.

Now as far as marine mammals go - dunno...

J

 

[dannobee]

Marine Mammals-gotta love 'em. A couple of months ago I was doing a safety stop in the kelp at Bluefish Cove (Point Lobos), just looking at the critters living on the kelp. I thought I'd felt something on my left thigh and sort of shooed it away. Scared the bejeezus out of me when I hit a little harbor seal on the head. He seemed to like the texture of my knee pad (the DUI kevlar ones) because he came back to nudge up against it twice more.

Once at Monastery I had another harbor seal take off both of my fins, leaving me tumbling like a lost in space character. It made me mad that he could get both of my fins off so fast, while I fumble around and have to pull like crazy to get each one off.

As someone else mentioned, whales and dolphins don't seem to like bubbles too much, but harbor seals and sea lions don't seem to mind them at all. I see them as little kids; if you ignore them, they'll go away. If you scratch their bellies or play back, they'll hang around for awhile.