Fear of Jaws

[Dwag766]

LOL......I did have a fear of encountering sharks in the water for some time after becoming certified but the overwhelming beauty below soon won me over. I am atually more afraid of encountering a shark while swimming and not diving. I am more afraid of what I can't see with the aid of my mask, etc....... We have seen a few sharks while diving and they pretty much get away as fast as possible.

Best of luck.......

 

[drbill]

I had been diving for about 15 years when Jaws came out. I stopped diving after seeing it (and being introduced afterwards to a surfer with a huge bite scar on his torso from one). Three years later I was working with Jean-Michel Cousteau and he saw me suiting up to dive. "I thought you gave up diving, Bill?" I responded, "Yes, but I recently saw Jaws II." That movie helped break me of the fear!

I have dived waters where great whites are seen for 40 years now. I have only had one "incident" where a great white shark was within visible range of me (not counting cage dives with them). According to my dive buddy (the artist Wyland), the shark simply swam past us as I was filming giant sea bass. It had little interest in two guys with hard "shells" over their bodies and was heading towards the sea lion hauling grounds.

You have already recognized the fear is irrational. That is a good start. If you are diving in reasonably clear water, the chances of anything happening with a GWS are pretty minimal... like my odds of winning the California State lottery (and I don't even buy tickets). The only time I'd be at all worried is in highly turbid waters where the visibility was poor.

 

[txsamantha]

I appreciate all of your advice, and sharing your experiences. I am honestly feeling a little more at ease about it... I think watching the movie as a kid planted a LaBamba like premonition in my head like "that's how you're going to die" so I've got that goin' for me... lol

But I am "running towards the roar" as my mother would say, and going to face this fear head on and try and keep my cool (which I'm actually unusually good at luckily).

This forum rocks! What awesome support...

 

[ChristyV]

My son in law (SIL) recently had the following conversation with a non-diver (ND)who expressed concern about sharks and diving.
SIL: "Well, I don't really think about sharks too much and almost never see them. I read that donkeys kill more people than sharks." This remark was followed by a long silence and a frightened look on ND's face. ND then inquired with great concern: "You mean donkeys are killing people?"

 

[RoyN]

If you see a shark, sit back, relax, and watch the beauty of it. You might not see it again in a lifetime. In area of Carmel and Monterey, I'm more likely to get pinch by a sheephead crab, or get my hand stuck in a lingcod's mouth.

 

[sinduda]

Hi again Samantha. I did something a couple weeks back I never thought I would do given my innate feeling of being prey at the surface. We were diving with around 50 hammerheads plus several white-tipped reef sharks. (Still don't count them as sharks.) After ascent, the sailor yells out to tell me there are fins all around me in the water. I thought he was joking with me and replied, "Where? I want to see!" I lifted my gear up and climbed into the boat and he was not joking...there were fins everywhere! So without hesitation, I grabbed my snorkel and jumped right back in. I have to admit it I wasn't seeing anything through my mask, but the minute I would lift my face out of the water, the fins were still everywhere. Finally, a hammerhead swam by almost close enough to touch. Amazing. That, however, was after 10-15 minutes of snorkeling. Next day, second dive, groups of about 35+ hammerheads. Love that. I guess the long and the short of it is that I have grown so comfortable with them in the water that even snorkeling was without fear.

 

[paddler3d]

So any tips for conquering my fear??

I went on a shark feed in the Bahamas.

It was one where they had the bait ball suspended mid water. The instructions were you can stay on the bottom or you can hover above, at, below the bait. Just stay 10ft away.

It was awesome.

I went from being the 2nd person in the water to the 1st. I figured out that if I wanted to see a shark I needed to get to the wreck first.

I worked on my fear of sharks

 

[farsidefan1]

Pay for a shark dive. As you prepare think to yourself , if they lost tourists on these things they wouldn't keep doing it. Then position yourself between two of the more "meaty" tourists (in case of an incident the sharks will be full before they get to you) and enjoy the show. After that you will probaly have lost the irrational fear. If not just always position yourself between... I qualify and would be happy to "protect" you. All you have to do is pay my way :0. I'm only semi kidding, well, full on kidding about some arts of that post, but perhaps a shark dive would help you overcome the fear. They have excellent shark dives in Roatan and the Bahamas and a shark snorkel in Tahiti. I have heard of them in Fiji and the Philippines but I don't have first hand knowledge of them.

 

[WestoftheSun]

This video is a great example of why we shouldn't fear sharks, it's footage from a French TV crew in South Africa filming great whites without a cage.

Unbelievable stuff



youtube.com/watch?v=PMiZ1xwPm2w

 

[MarineResearch]

My wife is hooked on shark diving. We went many years without seeing more than a glimpse of a shark (I guess we stink). Here's a few pictures of her doing her thing:

Oblivious to the shark right behind her:

Looking real "stressed" as she frames her next shot:

In the middle of the shark scrum:

Somewhere in the middle of the shark scrum and no longer breathing...