What do you think...

So I'm watching the Travel Channel the other day and happened upon this show (don't know what it's called-tall blond woman hosts the show....she travels all around and gives her TV audience a tour of wherever she's at....

Anyway, she happened to be in Bonaire, which is one of my favorite places to dive. She does some dives off of Klein, then warns her audience to beware because there are sharks lurking around the dives sites there. I literally laughed out loud.....seriously. I've done probably 70-80 dives on Klein alone, and have never seen a shark. I couldn't believe it.....so my question is......do you catch misinformation being given out by the media in regard to diving? Do you think it affects the way the public feels about the sport? How many times have you seen shows on diving, where the divemaster is entertaining his divers by playing with/feeding eels and other marine life? Is anyone else irritated by this?

Does the media put out incorrect information.....Do chickens lay eggs?

All kidding aside, I have never see a shark on Bonaire either and from what I hear from some of the locals, they are very rare with a few seen on the windward side. It really does not bother me when the media puts out this kind of stuff, if you watch carefully and know a little about a lot of subjects you will find they put out pure BS or at best half truths a lot of the time. Real divers know the truth and to the non-diver we look brave/crazy/adventuresome....kind of fun messing with them.

Herman is right about non-divers thinking were brave/crazy etc...and alot of it is due to the media.
I know the media feels the need to spice up the story. I've usually found that the facts, in almost any story, are just as strange/interesting/horrifing as any fiction. But the media doesn't seem to think so. So does all this inaccurate press keep people away from diving or bring all the 'extreme' sport enthusiasts out?

I deffinately think it affects the way the public feels about diving. Non-divers don't know any better so whatever they hear in the media they tend to believe. What's the first thing people ask you when they learn you scuba dive? "Aren't you afraid of the sharks?" I always say "What sharks?" They seem to be amazed when you tell them that it's rare that you actually see a shark during a dive, unless you're there on a shark dive. Here in Florida it used to be leagel to feed the fish during a dive but the media started spreading stories about how it made marine life less afraid of humans and caused shark attacks. Just last year the state passed a law banning the feeding of marine life while diving. That completely screwed up some great dive sites, like the Sea Emperor, because now you can't feed the rays or the eels. I'm not talking molesting the marine life I'm jusat talking about feeding them like in Stingray City.

I've seen many shows on TV and movies in the theater where the dive seens are so BS that, like SCUBAGRL said, I laughed out loud. And of course most of these media types aren't really certified divers in the first place, they take a resort course so they dive and do their show but really know little or nothing about what they're talking about.


Scott

The shark question is always the 1st question from non-divers. The movies w/ the terrible diving scenes are a joke. It's embarassing. Then you have the media trying to pump up the fear factor. It's amazing that some crazed, extremist organization haven't tried to ban diving 'for our own good'. :upset:

They haven't successfully banned diving yet but the insurance companys and the Lawyers sure are making it an expensive sport.

Scott