can I touch?

[MoonWrasse]

Sure you can touch... you can also be bitten, stung, impaled, poisoned, battered, repremanded, ostracised, humiliated, and worse. Resist the urge.

Then there was that fellow who was raped by a dolphin...

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Then there was that fellow who was raped by a dolphin...

:lol: That was truly one of the more horrifying stories I've ever heard...

 

[MoonWrasse]

Ok I have to ask,generally whats ok to touch? I know this may be hard to answer because "turtles" or "fish" are too general, but whats definitely ok to touch?

Rocks, be sure it's just a rock, a one or two finger hold if you got caught in a rough current.
I hesitate to state this as too many divers IMO confuse coral with rocks.

 

[Walter]

Come dive with me in Florida, I'll show you things it's OK to touch. Buy Dee Scarr's books (see the link in my previous post) or dive with Dee in Bonaire. If you aren't sure, don't touch, but it's not that hard to study, learn about what's down there and touch a few things. Some things you should never touch, others it's OK to touch and some you have to be extremely careful, for example, I frequently pet Long Spine Sea Unchins. A little mistake with them can be painful. Most people are merely repeating what they've been told, they've never questioned to see what is true and what is not. They plan to never touch anything, but they dive with gloves and sissy suits. I watch my buoyancy very carefully, rarely wear gloves (unless I'm hunting or wreck diving) and don't even own a sissy suit. You have a healthy attitude - question, learn before proceeding.

BTW, that was an excellent Twilight Zone episode, I haven't thought of it in decades. "Don't play with them now, honey. They must be tired, daddy brought them all the way from Earth.

 

[docmojo]

Think about but don't do it... Now grab your friend on a shark dive..... I gonna have to try that.....LOL

 

[fishb0y]

Yeah, this has been done before... Unless you know what it is, don't touch (ie. urchins fire coral, etc). Don't ride air breathing animals (turtles). Some coral may get damaged if you touch it (someone showed me a picture, so I'll go with it).

HOWEVER... mother nature isn't as fragile as people say. Sure play with an octopus. Flip over that rock to grab that lobster. What little contact scuba divers make with the underwater world isn't gonna harm mother nature enough to matter. Think of it as going on a nature hike.

Commercial fishing does exponentially more damage than scuba divers will ever do.

And so it begins...

 

[Gary D.]

Sure you can touch, hug and hold everything you see down there.

But to help nature along a little try and remove all the knives, shears and spear shafts from your body before the great white consumes you. It gives them heartburn.

If you feel an uncontrollable urge to fondle everything take a bunch of pictures and play with them and not the stuff that's down there.

Gary D.

 

[Fred R.]

You touch the ocean every day, when you drive to work, buy things, flush the toilet, water the lawn and in so many ways. Most of these contacts are not really good for the ocean.

When you are actually in the ocean, you have a chance to touch it in a positive way. It is possible to help and nurture the small area you can reach.

As part of a program we are running at the end of next month, we will be teaching divers how to remove harmful algae from the reef to make room and conditions to enhance the recovery of long spined sea urchins.

Lots of things can be safely touched. Dive with someone who knows, go slow, ask questions and be gentle. You might be amazed at how many sea creatures will respond to you.

I hope the picture I attached comes through, I was not feeding, never fed this animal. I just made friends with it over time and it (she, really) loved to be stroked and cleaned. She would not let another diver touch her, but would always come out when I came by and swim into my arms for a cuddle.

By the way, when my wife took the picture I use for my avatar the turtle came right up and touched noses with her.

Anyone who would like, come on down and see some of the things that can go on under the right conditions, I'll be happy to show you.

 

[hedonist222]

thanks everybody, unfortunaytely I am very far away from the USA.

 

[Walter]

You might be neighbors with Fred R., neither of you has listed a location.