Shark Week Phobia

[MSilvia]

barring freshwater where can we dive and minimize the chance of encountering these brutes?

The New England coast north of Cape Cod is a pretty safe bet. I remember once about 20 years ago there was a basking shark off one of the beaches, and you'll occasionally see schools of 2' dogfish, but other than that it's pretty shark free.

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

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

What about Cozumel? Are there sharks there? I wouldnt mind starting off seeing some small one's
Stacy

 

[RV]

never seen anything other than a whale shark or a nurse shark in CZM

 

[VinceDS]

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.

With the "Bump" sometimes they are curious and somtimes they may have other intentions - Bulls are known for this type of behavior...

"Bump and bite" attacks and "sneak" attacks, while less common, result in greater injuries and most fatalities. These types of attack usually involve divers or swimmers in somewhat deeper waters, but occur in nearshore shallows in some areas of the world. "Bump and bite" attacks are characterized by the shark initially circling and often bumping the victim prior to the actual attack. "Sneak" attacks differ in having the strike occur without warning. In both cases, unlike the pattern for "hit and run" attacks, repeat attacks are not uncommon and multiple or sustained bites are the norm. Injuries incurred during this type of attack are usually quite severe, frequently resulting in death. We believe these types of attack are the result of feeding or antagonistic behaviors rather than being cases of mistaken identity. Most shark attacks involving sea disasters, e.g. plane and ship accidents, probably involve "bump and bite" and "sneak" attacks.

Food for thought...

 

[pterantula]

Need to dive shark free? Try Bonaire, no sharks.

WARNING: This post was made by a shark, posing as a Scubaboard member. While diving off Bonaire, listen for the malicious giggling of sharks in the reef bushes.....

 

[pterantula]

There is a statistically greater chance of you getting killed or injured in your car or plane on your way to a dive site than getting attacked by a shark.

I've often wondered about these statistics. (As with photography, yes you can outright lie with properly composed statistics - politicians and journalists do it every day.)
Auto accident and lightning strike statistics are compiled based on gross populations. Are shark attack statistics based on the same population? Then of course the number is lower - only a small fraction of any given population is going into the ocean.
Or are the attack numbers based purely on available numbers of swimmers and divers, and then compared on real percentages of segregated populations to the number of people who drive and are at risk for auto accidents?

I personally stand a much lower risk of auto accident than most people, since I don't own or drive a car, but a much, much higher risk of "marine animal incident" than most since I dive with fair regularity.

And since my "local" diving is Monterey & Carmel, murky water is simply a given. I can't say with any certainty that I haven't been spied by very large predators each time I went out - there's just no way to know, short of their possible extreme curiosity....

 

[Sharkgrl]

Obviously seeing a shark coming out of murky water would scare anybody. But as previously mentioned by others, shark attacks are rare among divers. It is a privilege to have the chance to see such a beautiful animal in the wild. I myself have not seen a shark on a dive, but I hope to someday. Overall I don't think that divers need to be worried about a shark attack unless they spend a lot of time in the breaker zone or diving at dawn and dusk.

 

[Daylonious]

Just remember, you have a greater chance of being killed by a vending machine (apparantly moronic people tip them to get the goodies to fall out, and the things wind up falling over and crushing them....personally I just think it's darwinism at work) than by a shark... sharks kill 15 of us every year, we kill 100 million of them every year -

So go diving, and stay away from that coke machine!

D.

 

[pterantula]

Just remember, you have a greater chance of being killed by a vending machine (apparantly moronic people tip them to get the goodies to fall out, and the things wind up falling over and crushing them....personally I just think it's darwinism at work)

Well there you go. I don't have that much of a chance of being killed by a vending machine at all (so rarely use them), so here we are again with statistics that are misleading when interpreted raw... (-I have to say, if people are willing to be stupid, let 'em, as long as I have time to get out of the way... if we can't have natural predators, let there be vending machines.)

 

[havnmonkey]

If your afraid of sharks come down to Daytona and I'll take you to New Smyrna and we'll go surfing...No, thats a little too risky. The little baby bulls and spinners are the ones you have to look out for, they have no experience and are learning what their prey is.

I have been bumped by "wild"--sharks on most dives will see you and then disappear-- sharks nearly two dozen times (while surfing)... Yeah it is freaky but as long as they know your hands and feet aren't fish, and there not stupid, you'll be fine.

As for the Discovery channel and their sharkweek? I watch it and learn some cool stuff...But, many of the shows based on attacks use stock footage of many different varieties of sharks. Some shows are right on, but others will be talking about the Bull shark attacks in FL and the footage they use are 99% grey reef sharks, sand tigers, and great whites. The use of confusing scenes like those are the most discrediting thing about the Discovery channel.

By the way, My g/f's mother is one of those that think everyone's going to be eaten by sharks, like they're going to crawl right up on shore and start chomping away. Sharks have just gotten a very bad rap... And there is too many humans on this planet so we need to be thinned out!