Stuart Cove Shark Adventure - How scary?

[Pisces Diver]

I know this may be a silly question, but I'm planning on doing this dive to celebrate my birthday this month, and have never been in the water with a large number of sharks before, so am wondering how intimidating it is? I've been on a manta ray night dive in Kona, which was awesome, and not at all scary - they were huge, but at least didn't have any teeth that I could see! Any input for those of you who have been on this dive would be great. I saw the video posted on the Shark forum, and it looks pretty exciting!

 

[DaleHall]

My brother in law and sister did the shark dive with S/C a year ago last November. My sister is "Diva Diver," which is, she will only dive in warm water, no current and nothing scary. She LOVED the shark dive.. I went and did a two tank dive with S/C last year and was kicking myself afterwards for not doing the shark dive. Go for it.. You'll love it..

 

[Scuba65]

My husband and I did the SC shark dive 2 yrs. ago...and boy was it fun..but, i also love sharks and it wouldn't bother me at all. It's not scary at all...it's exciting to be up on the boat when you arrive at the site..and as you are getting ready you see all the sharks surrounding the boat...(ooh..maybe i shouldn't say this)..my husband was nervous when he saw all the sharks from the boat..and he was leary about jumping in between sharks..he did do it and he loved it. I had no second thoughts about jumping in. you will love it and don't worry it's not scary. make sure you get the video and pictures. worth every penny. if you like you're welcome to take me along..ha,ha,ha..

 

[Footslogger]

I know this may be a silly question, but I'm planning on doing this dive to celebrate my birthday this month, and have never been in the water with a large number of sharks before, so am wondering how intimidating it is? I've been on a manta ray night dive in Kona, which was awesome, and not at all scary - they were huge, but at least didn't have any teeth that I could see! Any input for those of you who have been on this dive would be great. I saw the video posted on the Shark forum, and it looks pretty exciting!

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Scary ?? ...guess that depends on the individual. It's a "staged" shark feed. The sharks are conditioned to arrive at the feeding spot when they hear the boat motors. Divemasters jump in carrying a large plastic milk crate full of fish heads. Divers are positioned in a semicircle and the show begins. Granted, the sharks do swim in directly above (and sometimes next to) the divers but they could care less about you ...they are headed for the fish heads. About the most exilirating thing I remember was when a few sharks got too close to each other and a major space violation occured. After some wild swimming and ruffing up the sandy bottom they each grabbed a hunk of fish and headed off. Another interesting visual during the shark feed are the large groupers. They literally sit on the bottom (sometimes within touching range) of the divers and wait for a stray scrap to fall from a sharks mouth.

All in all it's a fun experience ...but not something I would call "scary"

 

[OceanObsessed]

Whatever you do...just don't let the sharks know that you are scared!

But seriously, it is not a scary experience but if sharks frighten you then you could let yourself get pretty worked up because they are all over the place, shooting right next to you, etc. Its all in your head . When I was there our boat had a big guy 6'4" ish probably in his mid twenties that was pretty shaken up about the whole thing. He was the only person on the boat that got scared. We also had a 14 year old girl with her father and she seemed to be right at home with the sharks.

Just do it...even if you are a bit intimidated. It is a great experience that you will not regret.

 

[rje634]

I know this may be a silly question, but I'm planning on doing this dive to celebrate my birthday this month, and have never been in the water with a large number of sharks before, so am wondering how intimidating it is? I've been on a manta ray night dive in Kona, which was awesome, and not at all scary - they were huge, but at least didn't have any teeth that I could see! Any input for those of you who have been on this dive would be great. I saw the video posted on the Shark forum, and it looks pretty exciting!

My wife and I did the SC shark dive about a year ago and believe me it was the highlight of the trip!
At first you are a little leery of be in the water with a bunch of sharks, but after a few minutes when you realize they aren't going to eat you. After the initial fear you start to get hypnotized by these amazing creatures.
The first dive of the day is a wall dive near the feeding area, you'll see a few sharks but they keep their distance. The second dive is the feeding dive and you'll go down to about 40 feet and kneel in the sand and wait for the shark wrangler. Once he shows up so do the sharks and there will be 30 - 40 swimming all around. IT WAS GREAT!! We would do this again in a second
My only advice is to be way overweighted so it is easy to stay kneeling on the bottom.

Take a look at my photo gallery to see some of the pics form the feeding dive.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/page/1/ppuser/30518

Here is the picture that Stuart Cove took:

Here are a couple of my pictures:

 

[SelkieDVM]

I did the Stuart Cove shark dive a few weeks ago and it was great. I did not find it scary at all, but then I've never really been very nervous about sharks. They do come very close to you and there are dozens of them swirling around, but they are focused on the feeder, not you. The most challenging thing I found was remaining on my knees for a long time.

Enjoy, you'll have a great time.
L.

 

[Pisces Diver]

:blinking: Thanks, everyone, for the reassurance! I don't tend to be at all panicky in the water, but it helps to hear from those of you who have actually done this dive. I guess it can't be any scarier than turning the big 5-0, right!

 

[Footslogger]

:blinking: Thanks, everyone, for the reassurance! I don't tend to be at all panicky in the water, but it helps to hear from those of you who have actually done this dive. I guess it can't be any scarier than turning the big 5-0, right!

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I remember when 50 was old ...but yeah, compared to rounding the half century milestone a shark dive is a walk in the park !!

 

[tvictory]

Some shark dive operators recommend that you put a few extra pounds of lead in your BC before the shark feed. It makes it easier to stay steady while kneeling in the sand. Divers often start breathing faster because of the excitement of the scene and the accustomed buoyancy confidence takes a hike.