You're at 84 ft and you see a school of bullsharks. Now what?

This was never covered in any detail in training. I'm not sure if it's better to make an orderly retreat to the boat, does that make you more vulnerable, or to be watchful and swim away? Are you safer at depth, or do you go shallower? If you are attacked, do you use your knife to rupture gills, does that put blood in the water and make it worse, or go for the eyes? Do you band together as divers or spread out? Do you act differently with different species of shark, or is there a proper thing to do with ALL sharks?

It seems a lone shark does not pose the threat that a school of sharks would. Not sure how I'd react.

I can hardly wait for all of the cyber experts to jump on this one.

My instructor pointed out that sharks that are seal eaters , feed/attack on the surface ... maybe thats where you don't want to be

Edit: he also said that purging your reg. would scare them away, as is pointed out below

DB

Get as many photos as you can!!!!!!!

Seriously though, if you can send me to a link where a scuba diver has been attacked by a bull shark i would be impressed. Sorry but most sharks are extremely wary of divers and will not get close to you. Please don't be afraid of sharks, they are amazing, graceful, and one of the best encounters you will ever have in the ocean.

HOwever, if you do feel threatened (it does happen as they can be territorial in places where they are not used to divers) the best thing to do is swim away in a slow measured pace and clear yourself of the immediate area. Do not go straight up but just stay at the level you are at and get out of their area. The vast majority of sharks you will encounter while scuba diving are reef sharks and they have a very noticeable "threat posturing" display. However, i have spent countless hours amongst thousands of sharks and have only seen this twice, once when i got to close to a large group of mating sharks and once in an area we were doing exploritory diving. In other words, don't worry about it, the chance of you ever being threatened by any sort of shark is extremely extremely minimal. (Unless of course you are spearfishing and keeping the dying fish on your body... )
They do a great hand feeding of bull sharks dive in Fiji, up to 20 show up at once. Or you can go to French Polynesia and see a huge school of 200+ Grey Reefs that are all natural, no feeding. Talk about a great dive.

Here is a photo of the sharks in French Polynesia i mentioned (no feeding) I went on this dive perhaps 200 times, this is as close as i could ever get to them!!!!!
The sound of bubbles they just don't like!
Speaking of which, one of the best shark deterrants is to take your octopus and purge it, inquisitive sharks will veer away immediately

Mike Veitch:

Here is a photo of the sharks in French Polynesia i mentioned (no feeding) I went on this dive perhaps 200 times, this is as close as i could ever get to them!!!!!
The sound of bubbles they just don't like!
Speaking of which, one of the best shark deterrants is to take your octopus and purge it, inquisitive sharks will veer away immediately

Click to expand...

Incredible photo!

Mike Veitch:

Get as many photos as you can!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Rats, Mike, you beat me to the line again
Although I have to admit that over here, seeing a single shark is a rare enough event, let alone a school of them!
Hmmm.. French Polynesian, how do I get there!

pilot fish:

If you are attacked, do you use your knife to rupture gills, does that put blood in the water and make it worse, or go for the eyes?

Click to expand...

Someone's been watching old Sea Hunt reruns ...

I'd kick back and enjoy the show ... sharks don't eat scuba divers, the crunchy bit we carry on our back makes 'em fart ... :11:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

"Incredible photo!"

That is what I was thinking, look at all those sharks!
It's not something I would be comfortable seeing though , without some prior experiance , even if I know It's really OK (brain telling hart to stop pounding so hard, heart yelling back at brain ... Sharks!!!)

DB

Edit: "....crunchy bit on our backs ..." LOL

Mike Veitch:

The sound of bubbles they just don't like!
Speaking of which, one of the best shark deterrants is to take your octopus and purge it, inquisitive sharks will veer away immediately

Click to expand...

Thanks for this info! I was told in my PADI class that first of all, it is rare to see sharks unless you go looking for them. Additionally, remain calm and still at first and observe the behavior. Odds are the shark will move on. A diver doesn't "appear" to sharks as "edible." The equipment divers wear make for unappealing "meal." Slow movement is the best thing. A panicked diver can appear to be injured bait fish. Hadn't heard about the bubbles, thanks again! Oh yeah, great photo!!!!