Scary experiences with aquatic life

[lmorin]

In Bonaire, my wife and I saw a big green moray about 3/4 exposed and 15-20 ft ahead. We approached it slowly and were about 5-8 ft away when another, bigger (as in huge!) green moray swam over my wife's shoulder from behind, right past her ear. She was gesturing at the first one and did not see the second one until it swam in front of her, a couple of inches above her hand. I saw it just as it passed my wife's head. Needless to say, she was a tad startled and pulled her hand back rather quickly. Number two swam right up to the first and they "mouthed" each other. Amorous, I guess, but it must take practice considering the number of needles in their mouths.

 

[kathydee]

In 25yrs of diving I had my first "scare" this year with a silky shark. To be honest I was not so much scared as wondering "when will this guy get bored with this." I did get a little concerned when the second silky came into view. I was actually snorkeling, not diving. It is part of this video, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so...

Sharks of Cocos and Malpelo Islands, Costa Rica on Vimeo

Beautiful video. Great footage sandwiched inbetween such grace in beauty. Nice contrast.

I don't know much about silkies - Why is it charging you? - Are they false attacks-threatening gestures? Are they actually dangerous? Where do they live?

 

[Zman96]

Teamcasa awesome video, somebody walked past my computer while I was watching your video, who isn't a diver, muttering "you divers are all crazy!"

Thanks for sharing

Brian

 

[Pocestnik]

The fish attacking in the video looks like a common bluegill, or "bream" to some folks. They display this behavior when protecting their nest.

 

[IamTaz]

my buddy and I went out to my local beach pier(navarre,FL)to snorkel a little bit. When we get halfway out I decide im going to hang out at the bottom for a little.. well im at the bottom for about 10sec when i notice a long tail sitting in front of me. i follow it and find out i came down right next to a 6'6" (across) stingray that was half buried. it startled me more than anything because i had never been that close to one.

 

[ArmyAirborneDiver]

i was down in Key west the other week and was diving some shallow reefs a couple miles off and i dropped down about 35 ft on a bottom and looked over, lying under a ledge of the reef was about a pretty big reef shark, i just remained calm and boogied out of there.

on a later dive i came face to face with a smaller nurse shark that met me face to face and began to circle around me, it was a real weird feeling.

 

[Noboundaries]

No boundaries I think thats the scariest thing ever is to have a ticked off dive buddy LOL Hope she forgave you!

I guess I'll figure that out on our next dive. To keep an eye on her when I'm leading her through the kelp I'm having those little mirrors bicyclists wear installed on my mask!

 

[CON8IV]

In 25yrs of diving I had my first "scare" this year with a silky shark. To be honest I was not so much scared as wondering "when will this guy get bored with this." I did get a little concerned when the second silky came into view. I was actually snorkeling, not diving. It is part of this video, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so...

Sharks of Cocos and Malpelo Islands, Costa Rica on Vimeo

Well, I guess that pretty much blows my Seargeant Major episode out of the water, lol! Very nice footage, I just added this to my "next place to visit" list. What time of year was this, or can you see sharks in numbers like that year-round?

 

[Hoomi]

We came darn close to having an unpleasant marine life encounter this weekend. On our fourth cert dive, one of the new divers didn't pay as close of attention to her buoyancy as she should have, and settled onto the bottom. As she moved her one fin, I noticed the Stone Scorpionfish right beneath it. If she'd been six inches farther back, she would likely have taken a spine in the foot or leg.

Between the Scorpionfish and the stingrays, whenever we needed to kneel on the bottom before an exercise, I was very attentive to be sure there wasn't anything beneath me before I settled down. When we were swimming along, I was careful to stay off the bottom and the rocks (which they stressed in our classes for both preservation of marine life and our safety as well).

A Scorpionfish wouldn't be deadly to most people, but I do understand they can be very painful. I'd rather not find out from either personal experience, or seeing someone else on our dive find out directly.

 

[k ellis]

I have been with a person who was snorkeling (Open fin without boots) when she went to stand up she stepped on a sea Urchin. That was very bad news for her and I heard about it for a week. I also know some one who unknowingly swam into a batch of jelly fish. Both instances remind me constantly to always pay attention to the surroundings