Sharks

[Bash]

Back in my instructor days, back before the formation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, I was one of a handful of instructors to offer Environmental Orientation Tours out at Point Lobos. About once per month or so, I'd hook up with a client who was not only a jerk but a bully as well. Never a good idea to bully a scuba instructor. When I'd encounter one of these jerks, I'd take them straight to an area where I know we'd encounter leopard sharks. Leapards are great: harmless, but evil-looking if you're from somewhere like Nebraska.

So the clients would get into the sharks, breathe through their cylinder in 15 minutes, and then make up an excuse not to go on the second dive, for which I'd already been paid.

I always felt I should be tipping out the sharks.

[sarafina]

oh Bash, That is evil... I like it ; -)

I never bumped into big sharks diving Monterey, but I have had my share of shark sightings in Hawai'i, Panama and out at Las Perlas. The only time I was scared a nurse shark (typically pretty calm for a shark) came straight at me. I could have touched it when it finally took a right turn in front of my nose. I swear I came up so fast I was walking on the water as I clambered onto a shallow reef. She was maybe 10 feet.

I dove a wreck in Hawai'i that had a pet moray and a pet white. The divers fed them like you might feed the ducks on a pond. Moray eels are weird to touch, it's like you can't really feel them they are so soft and slippery. I did NOT pet the 4 foot shark...

Never seen sharks from the boat. Dolphins and whales yes, off the coast of California and in the Vancouver/Victoria area. And Hawai'i.

and you SHOULD have tipped the shark!

[GeoPowers]

Nothing like diving from the back of a boat in the Bahamas in nice clear water and seeing silhouettes of sharks right before you jump in! I've never had a problem with reef sharks, but it does give you an instinctive bit of excitement to see them on the first dive or two!!

I don't think I'd willingly dive w/tigers, whites, or bulls. I'd love to dive on schooling hammerheads, though!!

[ragdoll]

Humpback struck by oil tanker near Valdez: Marine Wildlife | adn.com

Oil Tankers and Whales

[Pelagic]

I am very comfortable diving with sharks, not very comfortable swimming with them.

In the 80’s I used to run a large live aboard Dive ship that made 2 week exploratory dive excursions to the many remote atolls between Pohnpei and Chukk (Truk) Lagoon in Micronesia.

Quite a few professional divers would join us and Ant Atoll was our first stop after Pohnpei.

You need to be experienced and aware of what is happening around you so I often took the roll of protecting the photographer's back when he is in amongst the sharks.

Anyone who says that fear and adrenaline was not running when experiencing this are kidding themselves, but the memory is only positive as one of my best dives

YouTube - Sharks and Mantas in Pohnpei, Micronesia

[scook1]

I swam with a tiger shark in Turtle Bay, Hawaii. Have seen tons of dolphins that love to swim with the boat, even rays but very seldom see sharks.

[GeoPowers]

Great vid Pelagic! You were a part of firming this? Very high quality IMO.

[Pelagic]

Can take no credit for the photography, but as the captain and dive master take great pride in discovering places like this in the early 80’s for them to document.

This was a great dive but even better dives having very close interaction with Silver-tips in passes at Orluk Atoll were never documented.

Maybe just as well as that brown stain behind me would have been embarrassing!

[onremlop]

I remember a time back in 1975, I was a Marine Biologist hired by a local summer resort community that had a problem with a great white. There was a tough, yet friendly local police chief trying to protect beachgoers from the shark by closing the beaches, but he was overruled by the town council because they wanted to make money from tourists during the busy season. After several shark attacks, they enlisted me and a surly shark hunter to handle the shark problem.

We laid chum and tried hooking him, but ended up using a harpoon with an attached flotation barrel as our weapon of choice, however, the shark pulled the 55 gallon barrel under. We again harpoon the shark and tied the barrels to the stern. But the shark dragged our boat backwards flooding the engine.

We harpoon it some more and still the shark is towing us. I am about to cut the lines, but the shark pulls the cleats off the dang boat! We wanted to get the shark into shallow waters where we could beach it and it would drown and call it a day, but the stupid shark hunter Captain blew up the dang motor!

We were dead in the water, so I put on my scuba gear and got in my shark proof cage hoping to kill it with a speargun. So what happens? Shark destroys my frigging cage and I lose my new West Marine speargun!

Shark destroys the boat and finally the local police chief kills the shark by shoving an airtank into the shark's mouth and then using a rifle, blows up the shark by shooting the airtank.

Everything ended up well except for the shark hunter got eaten earlier by the shark. It was a long day, so the police chief and I swam back to shore and went to Taco Bell and got a couple of burritos. We still laugh about our little adventure to this day.

[GeoPowers]

Originally Posted by onremlop

I remember a time back in 1975, I was a Marine Biologist hired by a local summer resort community that had a problem with a great white. There was a tough, yet friendly local police chief trying to protect beachgoers from the shark by closing the beaches, but he was overruled by the town council because they wanted to make money from tourists during the busy season. After several shark attacks, they enlisted me and a surly shark hunter to handle the shark problem.

We laid chum and tried hooking him, but ended up using a harpoon with an attached flotation barrel as our weapon of choice, however, the shark pulled the 55 gallon barrel under. We again harpoon the shark and tied the barrels to the stern. But the shark dragged our boat backwards flooding the engine.

We harpoon it some more and still the shark is towing us. I am about to cut the lines, but the shark pulls the cleats off the dang boat! We wanted to get the shark into shallow waters where we could beach it and it would drown and call it a day, but the stupid shark hunter Captain blew up the dang motor!

We were dead in the water, so I put on my scuba gear and got in my shark proof cage hoping to kill it with a speargun. So what happens? Shark destroys my frigging cage and I lose my new West Marine speargun!

Shark destroys the boat and finally the local police chief kills the shark by shoving an airtank into the shark's mouth and then using a rifle, blows up the shark by shooting the airtank.

Everything ended up well except for the shark hunter got eaten earlier by the shark. It was a long day, so the police chief and I swam back to shore and went to Taco Bell and got a couple of burritos. We still laugh about our little adventure to this day.

I think I've heard this one before....

Mmmm....taco bell! I could slay some toxic hell right now for sure!

[s/v Beth]

You forgot the stories about Jaws 2-4. Or did they just make two sequel's. I forget.

[Pelagic]

Hi Onremlop….

Were you the guy with the appendix scar?

[Randyonr3]

Comming down the west coast about the California - Oregon border was catching a cat nap while the wife was behind the wheel.. She started yelling at me about the sharks behind the boat.. sure thing, stacked up across the stern about 20 yards back were 4 sharks, almost in formation following the boat..
A day or so later while at the fish market in Fort Bragg, I was telling the story.. A guy there said it was normal in those waters as many of the fishing boats toss over the lose crap and remains of the cleaning of fish. The sharks have learned that if a boat passes by, chances are they will get a free meal if they follow it...

[David M]

Originally Posted by beau

There are plenty of sharks still out there. Here in Australia a girl got killed not too long ago at Stradbroke Island.
I have done a lot of diving on the great barrier reef and the black tipped reef sharks never worried us.
However three of us did get attacked by a medium size Bronze whaler.
We were very lucky to get away. The shark circled us and came in three times.
One of the group (braver than me) swam towards the shark and fired a speargun at it (less the sharpened tip) the shark took off and we made it back to the boat.
I will never forget the long swim back to the boat, All of us tried to get the inside position.
That was where I learnt you can reduce the chances of being taken by sharks by 66% by diving with 3 friends.

So it pays to be Michael Phelps?

[getlostonpurpose]

I've pretty much seen sharks every time I've been in the water since the Marquesas (now we're in Tonga). In my mind, if you aren't snorkeling where the sharks hang out, you aren't snorkeling in the best places! Where ever the sharks are is where the most marine life is. Big and small.