Fear of sharks
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pteranodon:
I gotta call bull**** on this one. In general, I'm not afraid of sharks, but Oceanic Whitetips are one species we should all fear. They are extremely aggressive and is a species that has been known to prey on divers. You are either afraid of Oceanic Whitetips or you are a fool. One more point, I know from personal experience, when a large shark is trying to eat you, there's plenty of room for fear. All thoughts of beauty go out the window and you concentrate on how to survive
Dive ireland
Registered
My first shark was an angel shark, a nice big one buried under the sand... It was a cool moment, specially considering we saw another 10 minutes later!
goldenbear01
Contributor
AbyssalPlains
Contributor
I left out a tidbit of info that you may find interesting: During that said encounter with the Oceanic Whitetip, I was bleeding a little from an abrasion on my hand. I wondered if that may be a problem but the desire to see the shark was stronger. And guess what? Everything was cool. The shark that according to your post is supposed to be "extremely aggressive" even swam toward me and then turned slowly away. That said dive site, Elphinstone Reef, is being visited daily by scores of divers and has been for years, if not decades, and no attack has ever been reported.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should not respect sharks, but it is important to keep things in perspective. Also, sharks rarely, if ever, try to "eat" people. In the overwhelming majority of shark "attacks" the shark is not trying to eat the person. Think about it: If any reasonably sized shark was trying to eat a swimmer or surfer, do you really think those people would get away with a flesh wound? A shark that really wanted to eat a person would do just that.
If you have personal experiences of a shark trying to eat you, it would be great if you could tell us more and expand our knowledge.
AbyssalPlains
Contributor
goldenbear01:
Made them think we wanted to eat them. Search for Running With the Bulls.
pteranodon:
You are correct, such things are not just rare, but extremely rare, but it does happen. I have no doubt your experience went exactly as you described, but they don't always happen like that. Pay special attention to post 25. We should all fear Oceanic Whitetips.
pteranodon:
I posted about it right after it happened.
Understanding behavior is the key to being in the water with sharks. It's the same thing when you are in the woods with bear and cougar. I have hiked in Washington State and Alaska and had to always be aware of these animals. This is their world and one cannot fully understand what the other is thinking. Oceanics and Makos are deep water shark. They are also opportunistic since food is scarce, and they tend to go after food or what they think is food more aggressively than other species of sharks. Knowledge is the key and being aware and prepared is what will hopefully keep you from harm. The shark attack story Walter shared with us is very extreme and it is a rare occurrence for divers. But things like this can happen. In the end, they are still predators and we are just another big fish to them. All we can do is respect them for what they are.
Happy diving with my sharks!
Carolyn:sharks:
Happy diving with my sharks!
Carolyn:sharks:
Thinking about it today, I decided that swimming with sharks couldn't be such a bad thing after all. If the rare occurence happens and I was attacked, it would still be better than what I've watched my Dad going through in hospice the past few months.
I'm far more afraid of that, than I am of anything in the wild. When my time comes, I want death to be clutching his chest when he catches up to me, out of breath after working his bony butt off to overtake me. I don't want to be lying helpless for months, waiting for him to take his own sweet time to get around to me. I don't want death to find me dying; I want him to find me living.
I'm far more afraid of that, than I am of anything in the wild. When my time comes, I want death to be clutching his chest when he catches up to me, out of breath after working his bony butt off to overtake me. I don't want to be lying helpless for months, waiting for him to take his own sweet time to get around to me. I don't want death to find me dying; I want him to find me living.
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