Bull Sharks in Playa Del Carmen?

[Sully3]

Hey all,

just wondering if anyone has done the bull shark
dive in playa del carmen. I heard about a non feeding
bull shark dive in Sport Diver magazine, and now would
like to know if anyone had dived that site or playa del
carmen as a whole. We are debating going there in april
thanks
matt

 

[Mike]

We were debating doing those dives too in November. I've watched the videos, read the reports, seen the diver operators web sites. But I keep thinking... Bull Sharks?

Bull Sharks???? Those are some of the most notorious sharks in the oceans. I can't keep wondering if we are just a post away from somebody posting about a dive gone bad with them? Nobody in other parts of the world would even think about diving with bull sharks, what is going on in Playa that is different in other parts of the world, or are we all just waiting for the first incident?

 

[aku321]

Let us know when you get back, Thanks!

 

[ibj40]

Heading to PDC early December, working on booking with any dive op that will take us to the Bulls! Dove with their Pacific cousins at Bat Island, Costa Rica, and need to know if the Caribbean versions are just as nice!

Cheers!

 

[AZdiver1279]

We were debating doing those dives too in November. I've watched the videos, read the reports, seen the diver operators web sites. But I keep thinking... Bull Sharks?

Bull Sharks???? Those are some of the most notorious sharks in the oceans. I can't keep wondering if we are just a post away from somebody posting about a dive gone bad with them? Nobody in other parts of the world would even think about diving with bull sharks, what is going on in Playa that is different in other parts of the world, or are we all just waiting for the first incident?

I had a similiar question when I was ther for a week earlier this month. Readers digest version of the answer is:

The visibility is great there, the sharks can see you and you can se the sharks, not much chance of mistaken identity you're probably OK as long as you don't look like a turtle. There are few incidents with bullsharks anywhere but when they do occur the majority of the incidents occur with swimmers in bad vis.

That's the short version of the answer I got, we were there a couple of years ago and I got a similiar answer from another dive op. They look forward to the fall when the bulls come back.

 

[patrick.m]

trained and NEVER do feeding.

It is extended that in winter bull sharks go to Playa del Carmen to eat, that's the best time to be able to see them. But lastly some dive centers take divers no more than 300 meters or less to feed the sharks, you know, sharks feeded by divers, what a nuisance !!

It must be exciting but divers are now something strange to sharks and in general to marine life, what if the sharks, and one of the most dangerous sharks, make a relation between divers and meal? Besides the distance to the beach is so close that swimmers will pay the consecuences. We are about to hear about an accident if this situation does not change, it would be the normal consecuence, and nobody at Playa del Carmen, RM, etc...would be strange, that day the dives will be damage in the area for sure.

Besides, bull sharks do not alert when they are going to attack, other sharks first make some approximations, beats and bites, but bull sharks will go directly to you, and there were no place to hide. Some people say that we don't taste well for sharks, but we are an easy prey...

I hope you dive as ever to see whatever it appear, please do not feed the sharks, do not get confidence on these wild animals, and do care for marine life. Sharks are necessary, but like they are.

Peace to everyone,

 

[Mike]

.

Besides, bull sharks do not alert when they are going to attack, other sharks first make some approximations, beats and bites, but bull sharks will go directly to you, and there were no place to hide. Some people say that we don't taste well for sharks, but we are an easy prey...

Peace to everyone,

The other thing I understand is bull sharks don't 'taste' their prey and are not very discriminatory once something is in their mouths. Aren't bulls the ones they find every odd damn piece of junk in their stomachs? Tire, fire hydrants, rocks....As I understand it once it's in their mouths, it ends up in their stomachs, unlike other sharks that will spit you out or stop biting you once they figure out you're not food.

From doing some research it also appears this is a dive op feeding frenzy right now over there with every diver / dive shop with the means to get to them is doing so.

This is a lot different then the more controlled environment in the Bahamas with Stuart Coves or the shark diving in Roatan where basically one dive op is the steward of the sharks and is controlling what is happening on a day-to-day basis, managing the resource.

It appears that while there are some dive ops in Playa trying to manage these bull shark dives as a long term resource, being careful and smart about the process and not wanting to kill or hurt this new cash cow, it also seems there are others who are looking at this as a gold rush opportunity and just trying to get a piece of the financial pie no matter how they do it, taking risks, feeding and even chumming!!!! :shocked2:

It's an interesting phenomenon right now for Playa and the dive shops, I hope it gets sorted out before something goes wrong. All it will take is one incident that makes national headlines and the ***** will hit the fan.

Just one more thing - don't great white shark dive ops dive with cages. The great white is usually beind the bull shark on the most dangerous shark lists, yet no cages diving with bulls?

 

[AZdiver1279]

trained and NEVER do feeding.

It is extended that in winter bull sharks go to Playa del Carmen to eat, that's the best time to be able to see them. But lastly some dive centers take divers no more than 300 meters or less to feed the sharks, you know, sharks feeded by divers, what a nuisance !!

It must be exciting but divers are now something strange to sharks and in general to marine life, what if the sharks, and one of the most dangerous sharks, make a relation between divers and meal? Besides the distance to the beach is so close that swimmers will pay the consecuences. We are about to hear about an accident if this situation does not change, it would be the normal consecuence, and nobody at Playa del Carmen, RM, etc...would be strange, that day the dives will be damage in the area for sure.

Besides, bull sharks do not alert when they are going to attack, other sharks first make some approximations, beats and bites, but bull sharks will go directly to you, and there were no place to hide. Some people say that we don't taste well for sharks, but we are an easy prey...

I hope you dive as ever to see whatever it appear, please do not feed the sharks, do not get confidence on these wild animals, and do care for marine life. Sharks are necessary, but like they are.

Peace to everyone,

I hads imiliar concerns when in Kona last May. There was a 24 ft Tiger in the harbor, the dive op got some close up photos. Everyone then wanted to go down to see the nice tiger I thought tiger's were the indicriminate garbage eaters. But everyone there says they dive with them all of the time and it was no problem. I still didn't feel impelled to be in the presence of a 24ft tiger.

It's apparently a similiar situation in Playa, they have been diving with bulls for a long time. I have not heard of any incidents with divers. Again, just from what I've seen and heard the bulls reputation comes mostly from areas were the streams and river empty to the ocean or there are another situation that causes bad vis.

That being said, there are dive ops that simply view the bulls and do not try to feed them or get needlessly close, they just observe and then leave, that's who I will dive with. I had one DM tell me 'his record' was diving with 12 bulls at once. Personally I don't want to challenge his 'record'.......I'm happy to see one or a few and then leave.

 

[Where2Next]

Jesus! A 24ft tiger!!! No thanks.

 

[beth_castroll]

I saw a bull shark off the Momma Vina a week ago while diving with Marco from Geo Diving. I was never afraid as it was a good 500 yards away, but saw it I did. The current was too strong to get a picture.