What species are the sharks at Chumphon Pinnacle, Koh Tao?
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Bowmouth
Contributor
Bowmouth
Contributor
lord khram
Contributor
From Bowmouth..
B]do a couple of early morning "shark-attraction" dives with fresh bait and get to meet the animals up close and personal. Such dives are exciting and a lot of fun (I think) and often the only way to get a really CLOSE look at the animals and take decent pictures.[/B]
Best way to get close to these creatures is to just chill or learn to use a CCR..
Baiting them in great idea ! till some muppet gets scratched or panics and everyone screams attack !
They would be fished out under the protecting tourists banner in a heartbeat, look at the madness in Eygpt lately.
If you really want to protect and enjoy sharks do nothing beyond being there,(which is distraction already) to disrupt there natural behavior.
Same goes for the muppets taking bottles etc down below to call them in .
Isn’t it thrill enough already to be down there sharing the water with these magnificent sharks ?
For the record I believe there is a mixture down there, grey reefs, bulls. Have also seen silvertips, blacktips ,oceanic whitetips and fished out Tigers in the gulf.
B]do a couple of early morning "shark-attraction" dives with fresh bait and get to meet the animals up close and personal. Such dives are exciting and a lot of fun (I think) and often the only way to get a really CLOSE look at the animals and take decent pictures.[/B]
Best way to get close to these creatures is to just chill or learn to use a CCR..
Baiting them in great idea ! till some muppet gets scratched or panics and everyone screams attack !
They would be fished out under the protecting tourists banner in a heartbeat, look at the madness in Eygpt lately.
If you really want to protect and enjoy sharks do nothing beyond being there,(which is distraction already) to disrupt there natural behavior.
Same goes for the muppets taking bottles etc down below to call them in .
Isn’t it thrill enough already to be down there sharing the water with these magnificent sharks ?
For the record I believe there is a mixture down there, grey reefs, bulls. Have also seen silvertips, blacktips ,oceanic whitetips and fished out Tigers in the gulf.
Last edited:
Bowmouth
Contributor
In my experience the only way to come real close to most sharks species while on scuba is either to solo-dive or bring down some bait and do a "controlled" shark attraction.
I'm well aware that both scenarios (solo-diving and bringing down some bait to "attract" sharks) are frowned upon by the majority of the main-stream scuba outfits.
Sure, re-breathers are another good choice for coming up and close to sharks and other marine-life but using them requires quite a bit of training, a fairly thick wallet and not too many dive operators are "re-breather friendly" either.
Personally I am a fairly fanatic solo-diver and I have done quite a few "controlled" shark attraction dives with a good friend for getting silvertip sharks up close and within an arm-length distance. We would only do these dives maybe 4 to 5 times a year and I don't think the sharks "changed" because of us. I also do not think there was at any time any real danger to us while conducting those dives.
Sadly the sharks have been fished out over the years and the last few times we tried to attract silvertips all that showed up was a great barracuda and a few snappers.
I never meant in my previous message for the diveshops on Koh Tao to start commercialize "shark-attraction dives" and to bring groups of divers day-after-day to Chumpon Pinnacle and to do "shark-attraction" dives.
I merely meant that if I would be working on Koh Tao, I would now and again take some experienced dive friends on a very early morning trip to Chumpon Pinnacle and try a well-planned "shark-attraction dive".
DevonDiver
N/A
Most dive boats on Tao visit Chumporn in the morning, but not early enough to catch the sharks active at dawn. The dive boats which visit in the afternoon get more activity because it is quieter.
The best shark encounters I've had at Chumporn have always been on afternoon dives...especially where it is a double-dive at that site... and you are still in the water as dusk approaches. The sharks get really active then... even coming up to the surface.
Master Divers always used to do PM Chumporn Trips. Still doing that Ayesha?
The best shark encounters I've had at Chumporn have always been on afternoon dives...especially where it is a double-dive at that site... and you are still in the water as dusk approaches. The sharks get really active then... even coming up to the surface.
Master Divers always used to do PM Chumporn Trips. Still doing that Ayesha?
By controlling your behaviour relaxing, picking the dive times around the crowds and diving just of the site over the sand. Trust me from experience if the sharks are there they will find you , if theres thermocline even better as they love to nip in and out of it.
There is some exellent close up (arms length) footage in circulation, none of it has involved baiting controlled or not or other means of attraction.
your right about CCR its expensive but opencircuit doing as above still works just fine.
Sharks have millions of years of evolution in effect ,let them do whats natural hang out be cool and investigate the odd SLOW moving creatures in neoprene.
Same applies for mantas , whalesharks, sunfish etc etc.
There is some exellent close up (arms length) footage in circulation, none of it has involved baiting controlled or not or other means of attraction.
your right about CCR its expensive but opencircuit doing as above still works just fine.
Sharks have millions of years of evolution in effect ,let them do whats natural hang out be cool and investigate the odd SLOW moving creatures in neoprene.
Same applies for mantas , whalesharks, sunfish etc etc.
OP
Yes - we do still do afternoon dives at Chumpon or late morning to miss the rush.
We went on Xmas eve but we werent lucky to see them.
We went on Xmas eve but we werent lucky to see them.
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