Shark Week Phobia

[Charlie59]

Really, no sharks in Bonaire, sorry. Big ones in Grand Cayman, Roatan, Hawaii, Bahamas if need to dive with sharks.

 

[LI Diver]

I am a minimally experienced diver(21 dives) and have encountered nurse and caribbean reef sharks while diving, it was a great experience and they were in no way agressive.

If you want to overcome any unrealistic fear of them I highly recommend the shark feeding dive by Stuart Coves-Nassau, Bahamas. I did this last spring and it was a great time and a definate rush. The first dive you are on a wall dive and there are 5-6 hanging around at a distance. For the surface interval they come up to the boat in anticipation. For the feed, you kneel on the bottem and 10-15 4-8 ft. reef sharks swim all around you, touch you with their fin tips, swim between your legs, etc. They never were real aggresive, but they do speed up when the food comes out of the box.

There are 3-4 species that I dont think I would go out of my way to be in the water with (bull, gwhite, tiger, mako) but maybe someday if it felt right!

For me the thrill overcomes the fear, like alot of other things Ive done(auto racing, sky diving, mountain climbing).

I don't think my thought process is unrealistic and I won't call it a fear because I don't have a fear of sharks. I have caught and released many species of shark while fishing and held them with my bare hands on many occassions. I hand fed lemon sharks in curacao (ok through a hole in the plexiglass) But the point is I don't go scurrying away in their presence. However, I think it is unrealistic to think that the trained puppies that you fed in the bahama's (on my schedule for next year) compares to the rogue shark that comes in out of nowhere, might not have had an easy meal in a couple of days and possibly has a few screws loose. I have no meat on a stick for him and my (2) children at my side. Of course yes you were in the open ocean and anything is possible but I bet if the feeders noticed any real aggressive shark on a repeat basis that it would meet a bang stick when the clients were not looking. ED

PS Don't take me wrong I'm not flaming you I appreciate your reply as I do all of them.

 

[adurso]

I have the perfect method that guarantees no shark sightings, my CAMERA! Also guarantees no large animal sightings, works every time! Most recently in the Keys sans camera there was an eagle ray, nurse sharks, black tips and a variety of other things for me to photograph, I surfaced, grabbed my camera, and POOF! everything vanished, including the cuda that had followed me to the surface. Carry a camera and everything will stay away

 

[rexman24]

es601-I see your point but the reason I think its unrealistic is because of the mathmatical chances of it happening. Everyone who goes in the ocean has those thoughts at one time or another. If you let your mind pursue that train of thought, as has been pointed out, you would never-

get in your car, get on the plane to go to the dive spots, get on the boat to take you to the dive spots, cross a street, go outside-lightning bees etc,

in short if you take that way of thinking to the logical conclusion, youre better off not being alive because its dangerous, no matter what your doing.

if you lived in a big plastic ball filled with styrofoam it would be pretty safe but it wouldnt be to much fun would it?

just my take on it.

 

[rexman24]

I would also say in addition to the "conditioned" but still wild ones I dove with in the Bahamas, I have encountered others in Costa Rica and Mexico.

The feeding dive is just the closest and most "in your face" experience that I have had with them.

 

[LI Diver]

Hmmmn

 

[LI Diver]

es601-I see your point but the reason I think its unrealistic is because of the mathmatical chances of it happening. Everyone who goes in the ocean has those thoughts at one time or another. If you let your mind pursue that train of thought, as has been pointed out, you would never-

get in your car, get on the plane to go to the dive spots, get on the boat to take you to the dive spots, cross a street, go outside-lightning bees etc,

in short if you take that way of thinking to the logical conclusion, youre better off not being alive because its dangerous, no matter what your doing.

if you lived in a big plastic ball filled with styrofoam it would be pretty safe but it wouldnt be to much fun would it?

just my take on it.

Well that depends could you squeeze Jessica Alba in there with me?

 

[LI Diver]

Also Rex, I have issues with the accuracy of the statistics.

 

[Lamnid]

I think it is unrealistic to think that the trained puppies that you fed in the bahama's (on my schedule for next year) compares to the rogue shark that comes in out of nowhere, might not have had an easy meal in a couple of days and possibly has a few screws loose. I have no meat on a stick for him and my (2) children at my side

okay i just got one more thing to add. The rogue shark concept - just because it's not used to being hand fed does not mean it snaps up everything in its path - otherwise there'd be no more fish in the oceans! Predatory species stick to one kind of food for a reason - they know they can catch it and they can handle it. A shark does not know if it can catch a human or eat a human and it cannot risk being injured by attacking an "unknown" food source. Injury=death for most predatory creatures. Of course, sharks do attack humans sometimes and we all know the tale of the adorable "garbage can with fins" that is the tiger shark - but there are exceptions to every rule. Just don't think that just cos a shark might appear and see you it will try to attack you cos it actually has very good cause not to.

PS.

Well that depends could you squeeze Jessica Alba in there with me?

I'm sure it could be arranged if you did a David Blaine style "give me money for my crazy antics" thing. LOL!!!

 

[Lost_At_Sea]

I have dove with a lot of sharks. They really do not care about eating people. If they bump you thats just because they are curious. But, when it comes to sharks just stay away from murky water, and dont dive when it's dusk or dawn (that is usually when they feed). Sharks can see about as good as you can in murky water. There is no reason for concern. Sharks are just animals, animals do animal things. When a shark does attack a human, (not very often), all it is, is a case of mistaken identity.