Riding marine life

[MXGratefulDiver]

Whatever your personal feelings, wanting to impose your personal views on others only makes them not take you seriously. Wishing ill of those who disagree with you only makes you a whole bunch of enemies.

After the dive, he has overheard saying he thought I was an ass. It's funny because during the dive, I KNEW he was an ass.

If you want people to stop doing things that bother you, you have to find a way to get the message across that doesn't end up making them think you're an ass ... otherwise you've accomplished nothing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ermaclob]

on the first checkout dive for my certification we went on something called the creature feature where they feed nurse sharks, Goliath grouper, and barracuda. the people feeding the sharks would line up us divers and then just grab a nurse shark and chuck it at us. and then we pet it for like a minute till the shark goes right back to the guy giving them food and sits on his lap till its his turn to get patted again. im pretty sure it sounded like the sharks were going WEEEEE!!!! when they sent them our way.
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i personally think its ok to touch. as long as you don't hurt the thing your touching.

!!!! also very important to know what it is your touching !!!! back like 5 years ago i was snorkeling and ignorantly grabbed a big ball of FIRE sponge of some tall sea grass at penicamp* Park........... never ever ever going to grab any type of organic looking anything in the water ever again with out gloves!!!

 

[NeptunusRex]

Jack Sparrow was saved by riding sea turtles. :dork:

 

[master00sniper]

Jack Sparrow was saved by riding sea turtles. :dork:

That's right. Did he not use his own hair to tie them together and make a raft? If sea turtles can withstand that kind of stress, a simple grab and ride should be no problem

 

[Soakedlontra]

Sometimes what you "let" happen has nothing to do with it. You dive Keystone a lot ... betchya there's still a camera or two in that old octopus den under the rocks at about 40 feet. The former owners of that gear didn't "let" the octopus grab their camera ... but since they eventually had to come up, they did have to "let" the octo keep it ... :depressed:

These animals have a mind of their own. No, they're not pets ... nor do I want them to be. But if they don't feel threatened, they are often curious. I see no harm in interaction, as long as it respects the animal's ability to flee if it so chooses. We ... like they ... are a part of this world. Interactions with other inhabitants of our environment are part of life. Besides, if you think we stress 'em out ... think how they feel when approached by a ling cod or other predator ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I understand and agree after all! It all boils down to common sense, being respectful and establishing boundaries. Personally I am not interested in diving with operators who feed sharks and groupers and think that's OK riding big marine animals.

Yesterday a marine critter initiated an interaction that I was not even aware of until I decided to move forward and suddenly felt one of my fins being as heavy as hell! :shocked2:

 

[Soakedlontra]

Jack Sparrow was saved by riding sea turtles. :dork:

Yah but that does not mean that's OK for the turtles. I think deliberately riding big marine animals for selfish fun is a sad sign of lack of respect for those animals whether they get hurt or not. Would you like do be ridden by another diver?:shocked2:

 

[ScubaSteve]

Would you like do be ridden by another diver?:shocked2:

Depends on who that diver is (you know it had to be said......)

 

[chazrich]

I have to admit having "interacted" with dolphins a time or two. One day crab hunting a curious dolphin figured out what we were doing and started pointing out crabs to us (not that they were hard to find). He was so playful, swimming around us and rubbing up against me on his way by. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is interacting with (harassing) who.

 

[wrybosome]

Yes, but only mermaids.

 

[Zippsy]

I have to admit having "interacted" with dolphins a time or two. One day crab hunting a curious dolphin figured out what we were doing and started pointing out crabs to us (not that they were hard to find). He was so playful, swimming around us and rubbing up against me on his way by. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is interacting with (harassing) who.

I don't have any issue with that (except that I am jealous). Now if you grabbed a fin for a ride...., then I would be pissed, and yes, I would still say something if I saw it.