Fear of sharks (don't hate me!)

[drbill]

There's a lot more people walking under trees full of coconuts than swimming with sharks. I've got a different feeling about a shark that is more than twice as long as I am tall, weights >1/2ton can swim at 30mph and can bite through fat, musucle and bone while doing it. I don't hang out with polar bears, lions ,gators......big animals..with teeth.

True. Likewise for vending machines, dogs and bees all of which kill more people than sharks.

 

[TMHeimer]

True. Likewise for vending machines, dogs and bees all of which kill more people than sharks.

But what does this mean? There are so many more people worldwide around these things at a given moment than there are people in or even near the water.

 

[DiverBeth]

Last year when I was in Turks and Caicos I got bumped by a reef shark it gave me a watch where you're going look but at no time did it take an aggressive posture and I really felt I was in no danger. On another dive on that trip a juvenile nurse shark kept swimming on top of me, under me, between my legs seeming like it wanted to play. The other divers thought this was funny and I kept spinning to see what my playmate was going to do next. Now there are some sharks I wouldn't be happy about an encounter like this but I love sharks and I've educated myself a bit about different species and behaviors so I'm comfortable in the water with them.

The other thing you might do as a form of protection is if you're not a lawyer become one, out of professional courtesy they should leave you alone.

 

[lozadora]

Thanks guys - really enjoyed reading your thoughts and stories.

One step at a time...although I really do want to see a Whale Shark at some point in the future, I think that would be magical.

 

[SnorkelLA]

I've had a total of 4 shark encounters in 7 years of diving. 3 in Key Largo (of all places, one nurse sleeping on a reef night dive, one nurse that let me get very close, and a 8' reef shark on Molasses reef that didn't care for me much at all). And 1 10' bull shark on the Oriskany. The bull shark was a solid 40' deeper than me, I was at 98' and it was at maybe 140', and I was nearing the end of my second dive, so I couldn't descend to get a closer look

Absolutely fascinating creatures

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Allison Finch]

Just keep remembering, real life is NOT what you see on TV. Those sharks have been teased with hours of chumming, mostly. What you see is not natural behavior.

It is like throwing a big mac into a room full of hungry Frat boys!! Get my meaning?

I have been diving since 1970. I try to see sharks. I will often carry a half empty plastic water bottle that I roll between my hands. This makes an excellent shark caller. If I am extremely lucky, I will catch a fleeting glance of a shark which leaves as soon as he sees me.

In all of the time I have been diving, and all the sharks I've seen, the only time I have been "threatened" by a shark was once off Rose Island in the Bahamas. A great hammerhead was doing a threat posture (swimming with pecs pointing down, nose up, throwing its body right and left). I saw it as an invitation to LEAVE, and I did. No problem.