No-chumming shark diving

[GLOCKSCUBAG!RL]

Hi, I'm against chumming sharks, simply because I don't think it's smart to associate ourselves with food, and I'm wondering... Does anyone have advice on where to dive with sharks (Lemons, Nurses, Tigers) chum-free and perhaps an excellent professional to dive with in those situations? I have respect & fascination for these beautiful creatures and I've done so much research on their behavior that I am obsessed with wanting to go diving near them! Any advice would be much obliged! :]


*~ Adventurer for life ~*

 

[Wookie]

An easy drive for you are the wrecks of North Carolina in the summer with Sand Tigers. This time of year the Lemons are in Jupiter, FL. I recommend the Jupiter Dive Center. Although chumming is illegal in Florida, some boats are spearfishing reef fish, including angelfish and other tropical to attract sharks. It isn't hard to figure out who that operator is.... For the more adventurous, we offer a summer trip to Cay Sal bank, well known for being sharky. We'll be going third week in August this year.

 

[drrich2]

Does anyone have advice on where to dive with sharks (Lemons, Nurses, Tigers) chum-free and perhaps an excellent professional to dive with in those situations? I have respect & fascination for these beautiful creatures and I've done so much research on their behavior that I am obsessed with wanting to go diving near them!

That's sort of a contradiction in terms. It seems like most sharks avoid divers, and they can detect us long before we detect them. The sand tigers congregating around wrecks that Wookie mentioned are an approachable exception (I'd like to dive with them someday). Whale shark diving is another, although I read that there's some whale shark feeding going on to train them to some area where op.s can take people to see them.

You can see sharks occasionally without chumming; I saw a few reef sharks & nurse sharks in 20 dives out of Key Largo back in September. But the reef sharks were shy; only one got in fairly close, and guides at least on one occasion used a mirror to attract them (I think it looks like a struggling fish).

Bottom Line: divers look like big, weird aliens to sharks. No predatory species you'd likely be comfortable getting close to outside a cage is likely to swim up to within 20 feet for a special encounter. I'm not saying it can't happen, but you could be looking at a whole lot of diving to eventually get lucky.

Richard.

 

[tracydr]

Galapagos. Schools of hammerheads and Galapegos sharks. Whale sharks,nurse sharks. But, get more experience, first.

 

[GLOCKSCUBAG!RL]

An easy drive for you are the wrecks of North Carolina in the summer with Sand Tigers. This time of year the Lemons are in Jupiter, FL. I recommend the Jupiter Dive Center. Although chumming is illegal in Florida, some boats are spearfishing reef fish, including angelfish and other tropical to attract sharks. It isn't hard to figure out who that operator is.... For the more adventurous, we offer a summer trip to Cay Sal bank, well known for being sharky. We'll be going third week in August this year.

That sounds awesome! Thanks!


*~ Adventurer for life ~*

---------- Post added January 4th, 2014 at 02:30 AM ----------

Well it's a good thing I plan on getting more dives under my belt!


*~ Adventurer for life ~*

 

[tomfcrist]

I most strongly recommend diving the deeper wrecks off NC.

 

[GLOCKSCUBAG!RL]

The 2nd mention of NC, so it must be great, thanks!


*~ Adventurer for life ~*

 

[djtimmy77]

You can pretty reliably see reef sharks in Jupiter especially during the winter. JDC and Kayalami are the non-chumming ops. Both are great!

 

[drrich2]

In the meantime, as I see you've got under 25 dives per your profile but it lists you as already having just gotten the AOW cert., consider getting Deep Diver specialty training, since the wreck diving off NC tends to be deep, from what I understand. Or at least do some advance research into the depths you'll face at any that sites that are proposed. I've not dove there. It's been my experience elsewhere that planned dive sites are tentative, depending on conditions. So even if you plan to dive site A, if conditions there are bad, you might end up diving site B.

Richard.

 

[GLOCKSCUBAG!RL]

I've gotten a couple deep dives under my belt, as it was required for my AOW, but of coarse I want to get even more.


*~ Adventurer for life ~*

---------- Post added January 4th, 2014 at 02:45 AM ----------

What are the best wrecks off NC coast to dive in terms of visibility and health of coral??


*~ Adventurer for life ~*