Why always shark-infested waters??

[Hollywoodivers]

RATINGS , Danger, sells product, sells newspapers sells advertising. Sparks and interest by the masses who think the ocean is place to dump their trash and to never go into because of those "shark infested waters"

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was diving in wolf eel infested waters on Sunday. One vicious critter attacked my dive buddy ... she just about loved him to death ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[The Chairman]

One of the accounts said that the sharks were getting ready to "pounce" on them. How on earth does a shark pounce? I with Bill... 20-30 years ago we were infested. Now seeing them is the exception and not the rule.

 

[scox]

I would bet that they have already found a lawyer to get some money out out the operation and it's the first strike from the lawyer to have it
tried in the media before it ever gets to court. We have dove all over the Gold Coast in the last 25 years and it has gotten to the point that you are lucky to see a single shark. These people give all of us divers a bad name.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

I went diving in those same waters this past weekend, and i saw 2 sharks in 6 dives. So it really was shark infested? Oh wait since I saw 4 eels, was it eel infested. Then there were a variety of fish, was it many fish infested??:shocked2:

 

[divealert]

Don't they realize that divers have to pay extra to dive in shark infested waters!?

 

[Po3]

They can't help it "They don't know no better"

 

[PETER V]

The issue here is not how the media reports this story; they will always try to sensationalize a story for ratings. The real issue is cattle boat diving, I believe that taking twenty divers out for a half day of diving and repeating this two or more times in a single day is a recipe for disaster. I am aware that businesses need to make a profit, however high turnovers rates can put a strain on dive masters and crew members that have a short time to get acquainted with their group of divers. Most dive operations have a system to keep track of their customers but mistakes can be made and the law of averages will catch up to you sooner or later.

 

[The Chairman]

I Oh wait since I saw 4 eels, was it eel infested.

Were they shrieking eels? I think the news writers scaled the Cliffs of Insanity before they wrote the copy!

taking twenty divers out for a half day of diving and repeating this two or more times in a single day is a recipe for disaster.

A recipe sans the disaster. Quelle domage! I had a few issues with the entire story and how it was sensationalized. Using the phrases "abandoned", "left to die", "shark infested", "predators ready to pounce" among others distorts the actual danger that they were NOT in. Its not like they had to swim from CUBA, but boy it sure sounds like it. I have swum a mile offshore looking for sharks teeth under water, only to swim that same mile back on the surface. The only injury I incurred as a sun burn! With fins its just not that hard to swim several miles on the surface. Of course, you have to be competent and comfortable in the water, but what are you doing diving if you're not? Maybe its my Boy Scout background that teaches me to "Be Prepared!", but I just don't see this as that life threatening. No, I am not trying to excuse the inexcusable, I just feel we need to put this in perspective. BTW, checking my marine maps, I don't see much if anything where you can be three miles off shore and in 60ft of water. That would be more like 600 feet of water.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't recall how I got there, but yesterday I stumbled on an article in a local (Florida) newspaper discussing this incident from the perspective of public reaction. The dive op has apparently been swamped with emails, Facebook messages, and phone calls from all over the country from some really abusive people. My recollection was that they had to shut down their Facebook page, quit answering the phone, and even cancel some dives due to public response.

This is what comes from media sensationalism.

Seems to me that we'd be safer with the sharks ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)