Whoa, folks, you need to clear your heads. Sorry to be the dissenting voice here, as I am a true shark lover. But, there is no way this is going to end well.
This particular operation was and is primarily a spearfishing boat, run by a highly respected, experienced captain, diver and spearfisher. Due to this heritage, however, their "shark attractant" is speared, bloody fish, or maybe chunky, bloody chum (see photo, could be either). This takes place, most often, in 130'. Florida has long banned "shark feeding" dives in State waters, and for good reason. The pretext of spearing is a convenient way to get around this ban as photographers are just "onlookers" and this is not really a "shark dive."
Exciting, sure, nice cowboy action and everyone can pound their chests, but does anyone doubt for a moment that it is just a matter of time . . . . .?
Spearfishers take the risk of shark problems as part of their hunting, and that is fine, but this should never be promoted as conservation or photography diving. The "photo action" that everyone brags about is from fending off aggressive sharks whipped into a frenzy by blood in the water. Even one of the most experienced and professional shark operators (not this one, for sure), has had bites and incidents (even a fatality), under safer, shallower, and far more controlled conditions than these cowboy dives.
I am saddened to see true conservation operations like Laz's signing on to this, and also a well known dive shop that, I wonder, does it really know what is going on when it sends divers on this charter? The persons marketing these dives to photographers or people who want to see sharks really need to sit back and re-think their actions. The lack of common sense with this is simply breathtaking.
Getting away with it once, or even many times, leads people to think that it can never happen, that a shark in a feeding frenzy still would never bite, and that we are invincible because we admire sharks or that we can "take 'em on" because we are armed with either spears or cameras to fend them off. On a borderline deco dive in strong current, no less. This is just hubris.
