How much does shark sightings change your dive?

[R-balljunkie]

Depends on the shark and there behavior. I have seen many sharks on many dives and it is usually fine. However...on one particular dive I ran into a mako that made me really uncomfortable........ finally swam off into the blue abyss. I can tell you my heart was pounding and the rest of that deco we were both on "high" alert searching the water for the mako.

i think this is my problem when im down collecting.....the sharks swimming off into the blue abyss.... when im down on the slope of the reef at 130', the viz is 30 to 40 feet, at best, plus there's a drop off around 140'. This is where the sharks hang out, in bunches. 30' of viz isn't a lot to work with, and they can fade in and out of sight easily. normally, i see them on the reef and pass them going up or down in passing, and singular sightings BUT not 4,5,6 sharks. yes, worried about pack mentality and i find myself looking around, verses trying to read the terrain to catch fishies.I'm a total shark lover and I dont really have a deep fear of them, but seeing them in numbers puts seems to put me on my toes.Do you think swimming into the bait ball to take photo's could be the problem too?

 

[ajduplessis]

Shark sightings have changed my diving quite a lot, if they are sighted I go diving!!

 

[fdarden]

It depends on the shark, and what it's doing. If it's in a threat display, I leave the area. If it's an Oceanic White Tip, I leave the water. Otherwise, they are beautiful animals and I enjoy watching them.

Why do you leave the water when a White Tip is in the water? Seriously? You call the dive? I plan to be diving in areas where White Tips are (Hawaii) and would like to know this.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Taking everyone's opinion on what they do when they see a "shark" is about as useful as asking what people do when they see a "dog".

Is the dog a Chihuahua being walked on a leash by an 80 yr old lady or are you being confronted by 3 unknown Dobermans and a Rottweiler who look like they just escaped from their night duty as guard dogs and you are all alone?

 

[oldschoolto]

If you bring a bag of bloody fish snacks.... :shocked2: They'll do tricks for you.....:shark: All joking aside.... No, Never been bothered by sharks... They don't like the way I smell I'd guess...

Jim...

 

[Jai Bar]

Why do you leave the water when a White Tip is in the water? Seriously? You call the dive? I plan to be diving in areas where White Tips are (Hawaii) and would like to know this.

There are White Tip reef sharks, small/cute/mostly harmless- and there are Oceanic White Tip sharks- curious animals, not so much coward/timid/shy as most sharks are... They behave different.

Can't mistake them- they have very long pectoral fins, nicely rounded tip- and of course- white tipped.


Sent from my myTouch 4G

 

[GrimSleeper]

I dont know what it is, but on the last 4 dives, I've been harassed by multiple sharks. I dont know if its the "time of the year" or what. I like to collect fish for my aquarium, and mostly go down to around 130' to collect certain species. Its hard enough to focus on netting fish at these depths.....throw in a half dozen sharks trolling the slopes and i cant keep focus on my task and end up blanking out, finishing my collecting early on.On other dives, where im focused on taking photo's at shallower depths, I've noticed loads of sharks buzzing closer to normal. This doesn't bother me as much as seeing sharks when im +100', not really sure why the psychology is different.Back to my original question....does seeing sharks while you are diving change your dive?

I don't know about the Marshalls, but it's been mating season for a couple of species, including the Grey Reefs, here in the Solomons right now, so there have been groups of males wandering about showing off how manly they are and looking for females to, erm, impress. Don't know if I'd call half a dozen sharks in the vicinity being harrassed, though, unless they're consistently within about one-and-a-half times their own body length of you or are making a threat display.

Grey Reefs are wusses anyway - I was in the middle of a 'dispute' between a school of Spotted Eagle Rays and a pair of Greys over who had the rights to a cleaning station yesterday, and the rays were actually swooping in and bumping the sharks, who were giving way. Great fun to watch, at least until a Great Hammerhead cruised in to eyeball us and we got distracted...

Anyway, in answer to your question, seeing sharks makes the dive a happy place. Seeing lots of sharks or big or rare sharks makes me make an effort to get their attention and keep them around for a bit. Seeing very big or quite pissed-off sharks, especially Silkys, pelagic Black Tips or Oceanic White Tips, does tend to have me making sure I've got the reef at my back so I only have to pay attention to what's in front of me, and getting my mask knocked off by a shark going past my face (it's happened. It's an interesting moment.) does make me question the wisdom of shark-calling in limited viz or when they can come at me from any direction. Until the next time, when I inevitably do it all over again...