Monterey sharks..?

[GoatLord]

I am going to be diving in Moneterey next week and am wondering how prevalent the sharks are... I am not wanting to see one, just trying to set my mind at ease (first ocean dive...)

 

[bedmund]

I am going to be diving in Moneterey next week and am wondering how prevalent the sharks are... I am not wanting to see one, just trying to set my mind at ease (first ocean dive...)

The only shark you might see is a leopard shark if you dive lobos or an area around there, but that's about 1 in 100. They aren't dangerous and I've seen one in about 400 Monterey dives.

You'll probably see some really cool fish, anemones, crabs, and a sunstar or two. Enjoy the dives and don't give sharks a second thought.

-Bill

 

[GoatLord]

Thanks for the reassurance, my friend is skeptical of the visibility and conditions next week, but we're gonna make the best of it... I am super excited to see all the creatures and just dive somewhere that isnt a lake....

 

[miskatonic]

Reassurance? Come on fess up. You are talking about Great Whites. Nope never seen a Great White. In fact never seen any kind of shark in the year that I have been diving there. They don't much like the kelp forests.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I've got 1100 or so dives in Northern California. I've see:

One angel shark
Two thresher sharks
A half dozen leopard sharks
A half dozen blue sharks (and we were ten miles offshore and chumming for them)
One ratfish (I think they are a shark relative)
No whites. No makos.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

I didn't realize how uncommon it was to see Leopards. We saw one at Lobos a few weeks ago and I was really excited about it. Guess it may be a while before I see another...

 

[Ishie]

Only thing I've seen in about 100 dives in Monterey is a dead angel shark being eaten by starfish. I was diving the day Chuck saw one of the thresher sharks. It wasn't going to give me love though. Sniff.

I really want to see a leopard shark, and I see them fairly consistently at a site I frequent, though it is an overhead environment. You go down Cannery Row, pay an admission fee, and go to the main tank in the center of the building. Saw a juvenile great white near that same area.

In the wild, nuthin'.

I did briefly see a shortfin mako in the Channel Islands, right at the outskirts of the vis, but it was a baby (~3.5')

 

[JamesD]

I've only done two dives, and was lucky to see a Leopard Shark, but other than that nothing, and Leopards seem to be a bit like Nurse sharks (in that they can lie on the bottom not moving) seemed very docile.

 

[Ishie]

In one of the diving Monterey books, it says the leopard sharks are regularly harassed by harbor seals that nip at their tails... ah, the fall of the fearsome shark... bullied by something that looks like a fat earless cocker spaniel.

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Yeah it talks about that in the Lobos section. It says a lot of Leopards come in to "pup" in Whaler's Cove and the seals don't like them. It's in the book published by St Brendans.