[Rick Huggins]

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<font color='#0000FF'>Having watched a programe the other night regarding shark bites, I thought it would be interesting to find out how many of you actually want to dive with sharks.

Do you believe shark attacks are mostly by accident or do these first class preditors know exactly what their doing?

Personally, I'd hide behind a lesser swimmer (I know diving involves no swimming). Or possibly view from a cage.

There are only two things that really get me sucking the air, toilet paper and sharks!

 

[Sean]

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I wan't to the the chaged dive with the great white, its one on my things to do before I pop my clogs

 

[DanE]

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The more sharks the merrier as far as i'm concerned.  I think they're fantastic animals and much maligned.

I have 16 of them on my desk.
dan.

 

[Kate R]

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<font color='#000080'>more the merrier!

i dived with a whole posse (collective noun for sharks anyone?) of grey nurse sharks quite a few times when i was in sydney (aka sand tiger sharks or snaggletooth sharks)

they're the big ones that you see in aquariums, they look quite nasty and a lot of australians will tell you that they're really dangerous, but in fact they're fish eaters and are very safe to dive with.

(disclaimer - ok, they could take a bite if you freak them out or if they think you look like a fish - i.e. wearing glittery jewellry - but in general they're safer than the average dog)

but they were fantastic and i loved it! i've also dived with the ubiquitous white-tip-reef-shark, the grey reef shark which is a bit meaner and has been known to bite, hammerheads, wobbiegongs (bottom-dwelling australian sharks which can get quite big and nasty), and little bottom-feeding sharks which are basically glorified dogfish. sharks are beautiful animals and definitely much maligned

i think the only sharks i would be unwilling to dive with would be great white, bull, tiger and great hammerheads, as they're the opportunistic mammal eaters which would see a diver as prey. would love to do a cage dive though!

Quote[/b] ]I have 16 of them on my desk.

hmmmmm. no comment

 

[sprozman]

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Definitely the more the merrier, I love sharks and think they are wonderful creatures. Wouldn't dive with a GW without a cage though and would be a bit nervous round a bull, tiger or oceanic white tip.

I've recently joined the Shark Trust as there will come a time when there are no sharks left if things carry on as they have been.

 

[Rick Huggins]

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<font color='#0000FF'>Don't get me wrong, I like sharks and love watching them (On TV)!
I would also do a cage dive with em, but that's as far as it goes at present.

I know that there are relativley few attacks on humans compared with the number of sharks in the water, but come on lads n lasses, If one bit you, it would hurt a lot!

I can't believe your all that brave tho

 

[Kate R]

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Quote[/b] (Frogman @ Dec. 24 2003,10:39)]come on lads n lasses, If one bit you, it would hurt a lot!

to use the usual comparision - a car accident would also hurt a lot, but i still travel in cars regularly. and i'm much more likely to get hurt driving in car than diving with a shark

as i said, some sharks, like great whites, bull and tiger sharks, eat mammals, therefore in their eyes you have the label 'possible prey' and would be worth a bite. other sharks, like the oceanic white-tip mentioned above, are general opportunists that will take a nibble out of anything in case it's good to eat.

however, most other sharks eat fish and small stuff, and don't see you as prey. however, they are just like any animal, right down to mice and wee birds - if you are threatening them, they'll attack in self-defense.  difference is if a mouse bites you, it won't take your arm off.

unfortunately, you might not know that they see your behaviour as threatening. that's why it's important to have an understanding of shark body language. when i was diving with the grey nurse sharks in sydney, one diver with a camera got a bit cocky, and started moving towards a shark to get a better picture, and was cornering it against a wall. the shark started to arch its back and lower its fins, indicating that it was stressed and pissed off. fortunately there were enough people around to tell the diver to stop what he was doing, and the shark relaxed.

so in general, i'm not scared of diving with sharks that won't see me as prey, because if i control my own behaviour i can be 99% sure they won't attack

 

[Rick Huggins]

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<font color='#0000FF'>Fair one, but did you see the shark programe?

The scientist/Doctor that the story was based around has been working with/diving & studying sharks for 15yrs in the Bahamas.

I'm almost certain that I've seen him previously on discovery or something, walking/swimming with sharks and thought to myself "this blerks barking". He was proving that sharks are quite safe and if you read the signs, you can avoid "pissing them off".

Needless to say, all his study and theory went to rat shit when one took all the flesh off his right calf then tried to drag him into deeper water.

So freak accident (he wasn't pissing them off)

or

Nature of the beast?

Oddly enough, bull sharks remain his favourite and he continues to dive with them daily!

 

[DanE]

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Quote[/b] (Kate R @ Dec. 24 2003,10:31)]

Quote[/b] ]I have 16 of them on my desk.

hmmmmm. no comment

I'm well aware it's not considered normal behaviour to have a large number of sharks on your desk.  Especially by my boss.  But then I'm not considered to be normal...

I was lucky enough to swim with a Whale Shark earlier this year.  Only 4.5m,  but probably one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen.

dan.

 

[Snash]

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Bring them on,... but gently...

Been buzzed by 5 bull sharks off West Palm in Florida whislt doing a long deco stop. They came up from the depths and started cicling us when we were at 10ms. They just seemd curious. We were in a group and it was hilarious to see that one minute you were in the middle of the group and then the next you were on the outside. It was just like the film of the male penguins huddling in the Antarctic waiting for their mates to come back from a month's shopping trip  

Saw a couple of weeks ago a mate's video of him being bumped by an Ocenanic White Tip  whilst waiting for the baot to pick him up in the Red Sea. Awesome footage but I am glad it was him who took it, not me.

I thought the shark blokey on that TV prog was barking...

Simon

 

[Scuba1]

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<font color='#000080'>Yes but that ( scientist ) was baiting them with fish to get those shots ....vis turned to sh***t and bingo. Now you go into the serengeti with a rucksak full of stakes and a few pork chops in your pockets just for good measure and start feedind lions..... and then ...oh what a srprise you get hurt..... Bad Bad pussycat.
Get the drift

?

Dive safe
Michael

 

[Snash]

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Quote[/b] (Scuba1 @ Dec. 24 2003,11:11)]Yes but that ( scientist ) was baiting them with fish to get those shots ....vis turned to sh***t and bingo. Now you go into the serengeti with a rucksak full of stakes and a few pork chops in your pockets just for good measure and start feedind lions..... and then ...oh what a srprise you get hurt..... Bad Bad pussycat.
Get the drift

?

Dive safe
Michael

Good point

He was also quite happy to tell the woman who got bit by the GWS, why it happened (ie flapping around, boat seen as another predator), but we never got his view on why he got bit.

Simon

 

[John Gulliver]

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The more the merrier! I've been lucky enough to dive with white-tips, black-tips, nurse sharks, leopard sharks, grey reefs, scalloped hammerheads, silver-tips, threshers, zambesis (a species of bull shark) and whale sharks. Only once have I seen a shark react with threatening body language (arched back, lowered pectoral fins and wagging head) and that was my fault. I swam towards a grey reef shark to get a beter photo and encroached on its territory. I wouldn't knowingly dive with great whites without a cage but we were warned at Protea Banks (South Africa) that they do occasionally show up there and that didn't stop us diving. I wouldn't approach too close to ocean white-tips or tigers but I'd love to see them from a safe distance.

 

[Kate R]

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Quote[/b] (Frogman @ Dec. 24 2003,11:01)]I'm almost certain that I've seen him previously on discovery or something, walking/swimming with sharks and thought to myself "this blerks barking". He was proving that sharks are quite safe and if you read the signs, you can avoid "pissing them off".

Needless to say, all his study and theory went to rat shit when one took all the flesh off his right calf then tried to drag him into deeper water.

So freak accident (he wasn't pissing them off)

or

Nature of the beast?

well it does seem like he was pushing it

yes in general sharks won't attack if they don't see you as prey and you don't piss them off. which it sounds like he's adequately proved previously

but if you do something a lot, like hang around with sharks, dive, or drive a car, then you obviously run a higher risk of something going tits-up. even if the chance of anything bad happening is small to start with.

so i'd say a combination of freak accident (sh1t happens, especially if you're pushing it) and nature of the beast - you're messing with something that is intrinsically dangerous. there's a chance of an accident when you're driving a car, even if you're a good driver in good conditions. this is because a chunk of metal moving very fast with you in it is dangerous. as is a very highly tuned predator with lots of very sharp teeth.

 

[Scuba1]

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<font color='#000080'>Almost all shark attacs happen in low vis . And those guys have been arond for a long long time and things with yellow humps on there backs and bubbles coming out all over the place are just not on the menue for them ( if they can see ) if they can`t they may just have a nibble because all they can detect then is the movement under water. That is why people get bitten once and not eaten up .

Merry Xmas

 

[tom]

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Quote[/b] (DanE @ Dec. 24 2003,09:59)]I have 16 of them on my desk.

No wonder the buggers are endangered!  

Seriously though: I've dived with black-tip and grey reef sharks, and 2mish lemon sharks, and loved every minute of it. Probably less worried than I would be in the presence of a large barky-type dog.

 

[380]

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I love them. The more the merrier (usualy).

I actively look for them and have dived with: Great Hammer Heads, Scalloped Hammer Heads, Silvertips, Grey Reefs, Wobbigones, White Tips, Angel Sharks, Leopard sharks, Black Tips, Grey Nurse, Tawney Nurse, Dog Fish round the UK and probabaly dozens more I couldn't see.

Same bad boy list as most of you guys: Great White, Tiger, Bull, Oceanic White Tip and the Great Hammerhed. Would not dive with any of these intentionaly.

As for the nutter hand feeding Bull sharks in the name of science - very intelligent man, but no common scence.

There seems to be a lot of interest in a GW shark cage dive, probably in South Africa. Would this be a possible venture for YD 2005??

James

 

[Scuba1]

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<font color='#000080'>Yep some people wold give an arm and a leg for that one.

 

[Kate]

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<font color='#3BB9FF'>I’m really sorry, most of you know my views on sharks and you probably think that I’m very ignorant towards them, but I am genuinely s**t scared of them and that programme REALLY didn’t help!!!!!

x x x

 

[Scuba1]

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<font color='#000080'>Treat them with respect and you`ll be O.K....the same goes for Bee`s ,Cat`s , etc. In waters where there are sharks just a few simple rules.
1. Don`t dive in murky conditions
2. Don`t dive at dawn or dusk ( because it is the time when most of them feed )
3. Don`t carry fish in your goody bag
4. Dont dive in south african seal colonies