Shark stories..............

Anyone here ever had a nasty encounter with a shark? I don't mean a horror story of Jaws proportions just encounters that might have sent a chill down your spine.

Everyone I've spoken to who has nothing to do with diving always asks - "Aren't you scared of the shark aspect?"
Sharks are always the first thing that people think of when the sea/diving is mentioned and I know that a lot of people will say that sharks are as scared of us as we are of them but sometimes it's of little comfort.

All the sharks that I have ever seen were indifferent to our presence. They showed no interest in us whatsoever.

Sharks are the top of the food-chain predators, the lions and tigers of the sea. Beautiful, slick, fast, sharp and strong fishes.

I can only wish anyone to see as many of them as possible, as often as possible too.

first time i saw a shark, i couldn't get the JAWS soundtrack theme out of my head... the second time, i was in awe of it... the third time, i just wanted to get as close as i could...

i fully agree with vicky... sharks are beautiful and captivating creatures

I only dive in the waters of New England. I have never seen what would be termed as a real shark.
The visibility in my area if often short and I have at times seen a glimpse of something never knowing what it was. However something interesting did happen to me on a particular dive. Last summer I was making a dive at Nubble Light in the state of Maine. This was a solo dive as I often do at this location. I made my dive following the bottom contours as usual. When I reached a depth of 60 feet something caught my eye to my left. It was the unmistakable tale fine of a small shark. I sat still and watched for a moment but nothing could be seen. I continued on. At around 65 feet of depth something again caught my eye this time to my right. I now could clearly see a small shark, which I later termed to be a Spiny Dog Fish ( very common in New England waters ). This fish was approximately 4 feet long. As I continued my dive I tried to get closer to this fish but it was being elusive and not letting me near it. The fish swam around to my left and out of sight. The next thing I knew it was about 10 feet just to my right. I thought to myself, wow he circled around fast. As I watched this Dog Fish it was soon joined by another from my left. Now I knew there was more than one. As I continued my dive the Dog Fish were joined by others. When I reached a depth of 69 feet, I had a total of 7 Spiny Dog Fish directly in my sight. They were no longer elusive, but now very curious. They came in very close. Close enough to touch, but I did not do so,as they have spines that can inflict injury. I began to feel a little nervous. They were swimming all around me and it was hard to keep track of them all. I was nervous but not in fear, however I was well aware that they too were not in fear of me. My planed dive was to go to an area that was at a depth of around 75 to 80 fsw. Because of the number of these fish that were around me and not knowing if there were more out deeper I aborted my dive plane and returned to shallower waters. Spiny Dog Fish for the most part are harmless, but the shear numbers that I encountered were a little to much to fast for me. When I headed for shallower water I did so in a slow deliberate calm manor. I continued to dive slow and relaxed as I always do………… But I did look back a lot.


Arduous

I bought my wife a Hawaiian Sling for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. On her first dive with it, she had just speared a nice flounder (and was about to spear a second one) when a 5 ft Bullshark cruised in (vis was about 20 ft). I had to keep my speargun darn near up his nose while we got the flounder off Candy's pole.

Who says you can't Shark feed in Florida anymore?

I have never felt threatened during a shark encounter. But my encounters have never included great whites, tigers, or bulls. My sightings have been fascinating and beautiful. Three weeks ago I was lobster hunting off of the Channel Islands. I made a grab for a bug, and it backed up into a crevice with an overhang. When I dropped down and reached in, I saw the familiar markings of a decent sized leopard shark. Leopard Sharks aren't known to be very pugnacious, but as he was backed into a corner I opted to search elsewhere for a lobster rather than grabin front of its face.

I was filming sharks off Bahamas. Had a few gray reef sharks cruising close up. One small male was particularly interested in my camera. I think his mother told him that he does have teeth. Swam up to the camera, bumped it and swam off. Came back and bumped the camera again, and the third time. On the next pass he came straight at the camera. He hit the camera so hard that the camera hit me in the mouth, the regulator split my lip and the latches on the back plate of the housing popped open. The pressure held the backplate watertight. The shark dove down, grabbed my fin and proceeded to trash me like a doll. Luckily it?s the fin that split in half. Like a trooper I never shut the camera down, damn, I had no time. I have been with sharks many times before and am very comfortable with them. On this shoot I did go through some serious air. All was fine and the footage great. What we will do for a shot.

Can't you put a link to where we can see some of this film? Anything? Please..

The footage is nice to watch and a nice and true fish story to tell but not exactly to be publishable. However here's my link.
http://www.delfin-uw.com

The closest I ever get to a shark attack is having to deal with my wife when she is in a bad mood.hehehe, just kidding.