First day of lobster season, first diver in critical condition

[KathyV]

...If you dive in the mid west like @KathyV watch out for "blue gills" -- But we do appreciate you concern and posting...

Thanks but I do NOT dive in the Midwest, it's much too cold for me! And I have not dived in California either for the same reason. The nearest I have come to California diving has been liveaboards in the Sea of Cortez and Hawaii - much warmer and not very near but there were some sharks.

The greatest numbers of sharks I have seen while diving have been in Florida, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos, and the Red Sea. The first time I saw sharks while diving I was amazed at how beautiful they are - I had seen Hollywood images of "terrifying killers" but they are lovely to watch, from a distance, and they truly are the masters of the reef. When we were younger we went on a shark feeding dive in the Bahamas so I've also seen a large group of sharks in a feeding frenzy - and it was kind of scary.

I do enjoy the sun and surf of the beautiful California beaches so maybe someday I will put on a 7mm wetsuit and don a lot of weights and try diving in California - or maybe not - and maybe someday you will try wreck diving in the Great Lakes - or maybe not!

I have not offered any speculation about this attack because I don't know anything, and I've never dived for lobsters because that is not of interest to me, but I have posted links to some articles claiming to have information about the event because I am interested in the ocean and sea creatures and diving.

I've noticed that some of the reporters used the phrase "brutally attacked" in describing the incident which isn't correct IMO. I am very sorry for the boy and his family and I hope never to suffer any traumatic injuries of any kind, but I don't think that the shark was being brutal - it was just being a shark. I've noticed that none of the reporters said that the lobsters were being "brutally attacked" by the divers.

We will be heading out on a dive trip to the Caribbean soon, very warm and easy and not many sharks, but as you say "Sharks are an occupational hazard of diving in the ocean" and we are likely to encounter at least a few.

I am very sorry about your friends, were you present during any of the attacks? How awful that must be for everyone involved. My sympathies for this young, handsome boy and his family; it is great that he is expected to recover but it won't be easy.

 

[KathyV]

...I have no idea how to estimate weight or length underwater - but will assume the witness had a method...

One of the articles said that he compared the size of the shark to his kayak to come up with the 11 foot estimate, and that sounds reasonable. Whatever the exact length might be, it was clearly a big fish.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@KathyV
no blue gills - al sucks - by gum ! ( all the mid west phrases I know)

I was not present at any of the GWS attacks
Al Sneppersnoff
Randy Fry
Debbie Fransman

Al was killed at Guadalupe Island- about 10 feet from the swim step - his 10 year old son was on the boat and witnessed the event - You can reads about his attack in a book "The Golden sea"
11years later Harry Ingram was also at Guadalupe island same general location, same general time of day, ready to r re-board the boat was also attacked by a GWS - it came after him with mouth open and he fired his 6 foot long spear gun directly into the mouth of the GW and rode the back of the shark-- His ordeal was documented in Carlos book "The last of the blue water hunters "

Randy was a corresponding friend of mine for many years He- was in NorCal diving for Abalone and a GWS bit off his head

Debbie was local. I knew her from the beach and she worked for my wife - A GWS bit her thigh and she bleed out on the local beach -- I arrived a short time later.

I have had a number of encounters of the unpleasant kind in our local waters but the closest I ever came to being a snack was in Vera Cruz Mexico

As I stated "Sharks are an occupational hazard of diving in the ocean"

Sam Miller, III

 

[KathyV]

@KathyV
no blue gills - al sucks - by gum ! ( all the mid west phrases I know)

I was not present at any of the GWS attacks
Al Sneppersnoff
Randy Fry
Debbie Fransman

Al was killed at Guadalupe Island- about 10 feet from the swim step - his 10 year old son was on the boat and witnessed the event - You can reads about his attack in a book "The Golden sea"
11years later Harry Ingram was also at Guadalupe island same general location, same general time of day, ready to r re-board the boat was also attacked by a GWS - it came after him with mouth open and he fired his 6 foot long spear gun directly into the mouth of the GW and rode the back of the shark-- His ordeal was documented in Carlos book "The last of the blue water hunters "

Randy was a corresponding friend of mine for many years He- was in NorCal diving for Abalone and a GWS bit off his head

Debbie was local. I knew her from the beach and she worked for my wife - A GWS bit her thigh and she bleed out on the local beach -- I arrived a short time later.

I have had a number of encounters of the unpleasant kind in our local waters but the closest I ever came to being a snack was in Vera Cruz Mexico

As I stated "Sharks are an occupational hazard of diving in the ocean"

Sam Miller, III

Very terrible and sobering reminders that the ocean does present some unusual and terrible perils as well as great beauty and bounty.

I've never heard that Midwest phrase before but I grew up in Chicago so I may have missed it. In the Midwest our perception of California colloquialisms include phrases like "Oh my God, totally!"

 

[Sam Miller III]

All shark attacks are sobering reminders that there for the grace of God go I One of my old long term friends suggested diving and sharks was like the lottery- but one your pray you or your fiends never win !

Interesting I can recall so vividly where I was and what I was doing when I received the news of Al's attack -- like when President Kenney was shot and 9-11 occurred - imbedded memories that will last my life time.

Chicago ?
Then you enjoy wind ,sleet. rain and snow and drink pop and pronounce creek strange
My wife and I and several traveling friends visited Chicago for a week- had a great time.

Southern Illinois aka "Little Egypt" is so bucolic and beautiful-- ever been south of St Louis ?

Sam Miller, 111

 

[KathyV]

All shark attacks are sobering reminders that there for the grace of God go I One of my old long term friends suggested diving and sharks was like the lottery- but one your pray you or your fiends never win !

Interesting I can recall so vividly where I was and what I was doing when I received the news of Al's attack -- like when President Kenney was shot and 9-11 occurred - imbedded memories that will last my life time.

Chicago ?
Then you enjoy wind ,sleet. rain and snow and drink pop and pronounce creek strange
My wife and I and several traveling friends visited Chicago for a week- had a great time.

Southern Illinois aka "Little Egypt" is so bucolic and beautiful-- ever been south of St Louis ?

Sam Miller, 111

There are some memories that will forever remain sharp in one's mind, and often they are painful and traumatic.

I do NOT enjoy wind, sleet, rain and snow; how do you like earthquakes, droughts, smog and brush fires - or mudslides when it finally rains?

I do enjoy having a good job and living near my family, but I am no fan of the Chicago weather - but today is actually a beautiful, sunny, fall day in the Midwest.

I pronounce "creek" exactly the same way as "creak", so if you know someone that says "crick" then they aren't from Chicago.

I have been south of St. Louis (in July!) and it was much more humid than it could ever be in Egypt, and not nearly as exotic or pretty.

 

[drrich2]

Quick tangent since Sam mentioned people diving Guadalupe - how common is it for people to dive there, aside from the GWS cage diving via live-aboard we hear so much about?

Richard.

 

[jfe]

@Sam Miller III, you are spot on with the Durban shark attack however it is more spear fisherman (free divers), surfers and swimmers and the culprit is the Bull Shark, called Zambezi Shark by us (basically cause like in the US and Aus they swim up river and in SA it's the river's name). Shark attacks on scuba divers are not frequent.

There is a lot of baited shark dives (not caged, open water) done by dive operators on the east coast about 1.5 hours south of Durban and I've done a few but yes you do have many shark encounters while diving in South Africa. One particular popular dive at a place called Umkomaaz is raggie cave, which is a breading spot for the raggies and year round you'll find an abundance of them there.
I live on the west coast in a town called Mosselbay which has its own resident GW's and is a hotspot on their migration route due to a seal colony on a small island in the bay. By grace I have not come across a GW while diving our local reefs, which is shallow (7-10m) reefs shore entry, but have a list of species seen while diving off our east coast, raggies, mako, oceanic white and black tip, tiger, bull and.............

Reading about the conditions this attack happened in reminded me of one of our "house reefs" that is at similar depth and distance from shore. Make you appreciate every save return especially in GW territories.

 

[Kensei]

Thanks but I do NOT dive in the Midwest, it's much too cold for me! And I have not dived in California either for the same reason.

Well this summer the surface temp. here in SoCal has been as high as 76F down to 15 feet so it's not cold now!

 

[SoCalRich]

Geez, It was the first day & he was scuba diving.