A friend of mine is vacationing in Rhode Island this week. He's not sure if he's going to go diving or not. He'd rather do something like a shark cage dive where he is protected from sharks rather than a shore dive where he might feel he's being stalked by sharks. He could do it. He just may not enjoy it. He was a combat vet and I wonder if that feeling of concern of being stalked by a great white shark in murky New England waters might be a trigger for PTSD and something he really would not find fun at all. Kind of like going out on patrol and knowing you are a target for IED's, snipers, etc. Not exactly the same sort of Middle Eastern experience one would have relaxing by the pool in Dubai.
I get where he's coming from. New England gives me the creeps, too. I saw Jaws at the drive-in movies in my mom's station wagon with my family and friends when I was a kid. I can't help hear the, "Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum daaaaaaaa ..." when I'm submerging to Cape Cod style homes and murky salt water. But, I put it out of my mind as best as I can and have an adventure. Getting attacked by a shark ... well, I suppose that would just add to the adventure. I know some of you think I try to stay in shape to meet girls or be a better instructor. Nah. I just want to out swim my buddy.
My friend is okay scuba diving in freshwater -- even doing solo tech diving -- and diving in warm, clear tropical water where you are FAR more likely to get bit by a shark. We just watched that bull shark encounter with the spearo on YouTube. How many of us have been there? You are on the surface 40 or 50 feet above a reef. You are looking around totally excited, giddy with anticipation of the dive to come, waiting for your buddy to put his or her fins on ... BAM! You could get hit by a missile with teeth. I once had a large oceanic white tip follow me right up the ladder and veer away at the last moment. The crew told me about it and I didn't believe it, until a diver who was underwater as I came up the ladder surfaced and confirmed, "I thought you were going to get attacked!" Fortunately, that's rare. It's even more rare to be attacked by a shark in New England, but childhood and primordial fears don't vanish easily. One of my friends is truly afraid of ... wait for it ... vampires! He's 50 years old, but that scene of a kid turned vampire floating outside his friend's window in the 70's TV movie version of Steven King's, Salem's Lot, still affects him to this day.
Warm tropical reefs. Paradise. Provide us with a false sense of security compared to New England given shark bite statistics.
My personal favorite "false sense of security" in the diving industry is the buddy system. Two insta-buddies who have never shared gas before are now "good" because they have C-cards and each other. They are more likely to dive deeper and take more chances than if solo diving and they don't have the unified team thing going on like cave and DIR divers. But, it's okay ... not!
Anyway, my friend's false sense of security that he will see the shark coming in clear water and the false sense of security we sometimes have diving with a stranger are but two of the common false senses of security we find in diving. What's yours? What do you think makes people feel safer, but in reality, not so much?
I get where he's coming from. New England gives me the creeps, too. I saw Jaws at the drive-in movies in my mom's station wagon with my family and friends when I was a kid. I can't help hear the, "Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum daaaaaaaa ..." when I'm submerging to Cape Cod style homes and murky salt water. But, I put it out of my mind as best as I can and have an adventure. Getting attacked by a shark ... well, I suppose that would just add to the adventure. I know some of you think I try to stay in shape to meet girls or be a better instructor. Nah. I just want to out swim my buddy.
My friend is okay scuba diving in freshwater -- even doing solo tech diving -- and diving in warm, clear tropical water where you are FAR more likely to get bit by a shark. We just watched that bull shark encounter with the spearo on YouTube. How many of us have been there? You are on the surface 40 or 50 feet above a reef. You are looking around totally excited, giddy with anticipation of the dive to come, waiting for your buddy to put his or her fins on ... BAM! You could get hit by a missile with teeth. I once had a large oceanic white tip follow me right up the ladder and veer away at the last moment. The crew told me about it and I didn't believe it, until a diver who was underwater as I came up the ladder surfaced and confirmed, "I thought you were going to get attacked!" Fortunately, that's rare. It's even more rare to be attacked by a shark in New England, but childhood and primordial fears don't vanish easily. One of my friends is truly afraid of ... wait for it ... vampires! He's 50 years old, but that scene of a kid turned vampire floating outside his friend's window in the 70's TV movie version of Steven King's, Salem's Lot, still affects him to this day.
Warm tropical reefs. Paradise. Provide us with a false sense of security compared to New England given shark bite statistics.
My personal favorite "false sense of security" in the diving industry is the buddy system. Two insta-buddies who have never shared gas before are now "good" because they have C-cards and each other. They are more likely to dive deeper and take more chances than if solo diving and they don't have the unified team thing going on like cave and DIR divers. But, it's okay ... not!
Anyway, my friend's false sense of security that he will see the shark coming in clear water and the false sense of security we sometimes have diving with a stranger are but two of the common false senses of security we find in diving. What's yours? What do you think makes people feel safer, but in reality, not so much?
