Shark attack in Egypt

[HalcyonDaze]

Why is there a BC with tank laying in the bottom?

What happened to the diver who was wearing it?

That was at Tiger Beach. Bottom depth is about 12-13 meters; the guy we were diving with preferred to freedive but took his tank and BC down with him just in case. The two big tigers we had tried to steal it three times, twice while he was breathing off of it. After the third attempt he put the BC back on and kept it on.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

This one that I saw last week almost every time we dove in Manuelita, is definitely a big mama.

View attachment 631283

Yeah, that one is definitely at the upper end of the scale.

 

[Jafo19D]

That was at Tiger Beach. Bottom depth is about 12-13 meters; the guy we were diving with preferred to freedive but took his tank and BC down with him just in case. The two big tigers we had tried to steal it three times, twice while he was breathing off of it. After the third attempt he put the BC back on and kept it on.

View attachment 631284 View attachment 631285

After the 3rd attempt he finally got the clue?

 

[drrich2]

That was at Tiger Beach. Bottom depth is about 12-13 meters; the guy we were diving with preferred to freedive...

I've read of people free diving with tiger sharks before, and I'm curious about that. In Jupiter, I was told when a tiger shark shows up, keep your eyes on that (makes life interesting when there are two...); at that point, the lemon sharks take a back seat. It's also my understanding that while they can amble in/through rather nonchalantly, they can also be 'sneaky.'

Free diving doesn't give you as much space to 'hold your ground' and stare at the shark. Pretty soon you've got to go up. Which could in theory create at least the possible appearance of a 'fleeing prey' scenario. And then there's the lack of bubbles, which can be off-putting to sharks.

Any thoughts on why free diving with tiger sharks seems to work out? Any particular thoughts that people considering it ought to know? (Note: I have no intention of doing such a thing. Scuba with tigers not clearing 10 feet was rich enough for my blood).

 

[Dan]

Yes, I don’t know what he’s thinking. There are few things wrong with that idea.

1. Tiger sharks like to crush objects to get a meal. I have seen it crushed turtle shell, let the turtle bled to death before ripping off its limbs. The shark feeders seem to like leaving a milk crate, full of dead fish, for the sharks to crush and toss around to get a meal. So they are sort of ”conditioned” that way. Leaving a set of diving gear may look like the milk crate to those sharks. It’s lucky for the diver to still be able to reuse his gears without busted hose or regulator.

2. To me, free diving & scuba diving don't mix. You are either a free diver or a scuba diver. Free diver is trained to breath hold lungs full of atmospheric air. So at 10m depth, your lungs would shrink to half the size of the ones at the surface. So you can swim up to the surface quickly without getting a lung over expansion. On the other hand, scuba diver is trained to breathe compressed air normally at depth, so at 10m depth your lungs are of same size as those at the surface. You will need to ascend not faster than the rising bubbles and to exhale to avoid lung over expansion and possible embolism.

 

[mcohen1021]

I had them come too close, i panicked... The dm swam interference and ran it off... its all cool until they come from UNDERNEATH you

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Yes, I don’t know what he’s thinking. There are few things wrong with that idea.

1. Tiger sharks like to crush objects to get a meal. I have seen it crushed turtle shell, let the turtle bled to death before ripping off its limbs. The shark feeders seem to like leaving a milk crate, full of dead fish, for the sharks to crush and toss around to get a meal. So they are sort of ”conditioned” that way. Leaving a set of diving gear may look like the milk crate to those sharks. It’s lucky for the diver to still be able to reuse his gears without busted hose or regulator.

2. To me, free diving & scuba diving don't mix. You are either a free diver or a scuba diver. Free diver is trained to breath hold lungs full of atmospheric air. So at 10m, your lungs would be half the size of the ones at the surface. So you can swim up to the surface quickly without getting a lung over expansion. On the other hand, scuba diver is trained to breathe compressed air normally at depth, so at 10m your lungs are of same size as those at the surface. You will need to ascend not faster than the rising bubbles to avoid lung over expansion and possible embolism.

Funnily enough at Tiger Beach I didn't see them crush the plastic crates we were using. The DM will usually sit with it and make the sharks wait until he or she pulls a piece of bait out. If anything, they seemed to be conditioned to know they don't have to be too aggressive (then again, we got there and saw Dolphin Dream and Shear Water already there, so they had probably been getting treats for a few days). There also wasn't any damage I saw to the BC or hoses; the tiger sharks at Tiger Beach are famous for grabbing cameras and swimming off with them (one poster on here got grabbed by the tank once and carried for a little ways). I've heard with the cameras at least it's like they'll grab one, swim off with it, and if there's no pursuit they'll drop the camera after swimming a short ways.



They certainly can obliterate one of those milk crates; I've seen footage of a bull half that size easily chomping right through one. There's also the matter of, for lack of a better term, personality. The photo with the tiger going at a washing machine drum was from French Polynesia; after coming across four or five different tigers in two days there I came away feeling like the ones at Tiger Beach must be gulping down marijuana bales on a regular basis. My friend who does shark research in FP says they use old washing machine drums to hold the bait because anything less sturdy would get destroyed, and that ~14 footer in the photo was moving faster and hotter than I've ever seen a tiger move.


Here's footage of the infamous "Buttface" taking a camera at Tiger Beach; she's usually considered the most ornery regular there so it's not exactly representative of the locals. Mike Dornellas was the friend I was diving with that day at Tiger Beach; on that same Shark Week program they also tried night diving at Tiger Beach with no lights. I'll just say that while I could also see myself getting into a tug of war with a tiger over my camera, I'll pass on some other things.

 

[Dan]

No more night diving in Cocos after a diver bitten to death 3 years ago.

 

[scubadada]

No more night diving in Cocos after a diver bitten to death 3 years ago.

The swarm of Whitetip Reef Sharks hunting in the lights was quite the show. I was there March/April 2017. The fatal Tiger Shark attack off Manuelita occurred on November 30, 2017

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I've read of people free diving with tiger sharks before, and I'm curious about that. In Jupiter, I was told when a tiger shark shows up, keep your eyes on that (makes life interesting when there are two...); at that point, the lemon sharks take a back seat. It's also my understanding that while they can amble in/through rather nonchalantly, they can also be 'sneaky.'

Free diving doesn't give you as much space to 'hold your ground' and stare at the shark. Pretty soon you've got to go up. Which could in theory create at least the possible appearance of a 'fleeing prey' scenario. And then there's the lack of bubbles, which can be off-putting to sharks.

Any thoughts on why free diving with tiger sharks seems to work out? Any particular thoughts that people considering it ought to know? (Note: I have no intention of doing such a thing. Scuba with tigers not clearing 10 feet was rich enough for my blood).

I know people who freedive with tigers, bulls, makos, oceanic whitetips and other sizable shark species; there are tours that will take snorkelers out but generally speaking the rule is to stay at the surface and hang onto a trailing line. The idea is to keep sharks on one side and the boat on the other. The people you see diving down are typically either staff or photographers; in FP once "Hurricane Miley" got settled down Kori would escort one person down at a time for a closer look. With oceanic whitetips we were explicitly told not to dive down on them as even the little ~5 footer had a "bring it" reaction when someone forgot and Kori had to run interference.

As you stated, the disadvantage is obviously that you have a very limited amount of time before you have to head for the surface and potentially appear vulnerable. That's something you can really only address with experience, proficiency, and timing as well as teamwork; having another freediver at the surface ready to run interference seems to be good policy. When I do it with bull or silky sharks I try to look for a break so I'm not diving into the middle of them; this can be hit or miss as over the summer I knocked heads with a silky on the way down that I hadn't seen. Some of my friends prefer it for the greater agility and lack of bubbles.