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Be afraid....Be very afraid...You have been warn....
Well if you are not a fan of boating or swimming in the ocean ( or Great White Sharks) then think twice before watching this...
Just off Steward Island NZ
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So much for my dream of snorkeling in the south Pacific.
No, dreaming is ok....
lol for the most part, snorkeling is completely safe. You're much more likely to die in a wreck on your way there than to be attacked by a shark in a few feet of water. I just got back from snorkeling and nothing would keep me from going back, except maybe an in-process hurricane. Honestly, I find it more creepy to snorkel here in our lakes, because the water is less clear and you never know where a 4 foot muskelunge is lurking! Generally you stick to 10-12 feet of water or less, not the ideal place for a 20 foot great white. Though you do see little sharks, they swim away. So, don't give up just yet on your snorkeling dreams! Scuba might be another story The ocean is fascinating. It's amazing how little we know about it.
Box jellyfish! That's what scares me the most about swimming in tropical waters.
My fear..
As a snorkler in temperate waters, the more recently identified, peanut sized, translucent Irukandji jellyfish scares me the most. Too small to see but I've see videos of paramedics using tongue depressors to stop it's victims from biting their own tongues for the pain it can cause.
The chances of a shark attack for scuba diver, snorkelers, surfers, etc. is extraordinarily small. Professional dive associations all quote that the risk of shark attack against divers is "virtually nil". They say you have a better chance of being injured using the toilet! lol
Either way I'd be shitting!
I had a shark encounter surfing once. A 7' spinner shark. I didn't get bit because it recognized I wasn't food right away. But when you see a huge fin pop up 8 inches from your face, it's pretty scary! And then it goes under the water and circles around underneath you, still pretty scary! But, I did not soil my pants! I just yelled like a little girl, ha!
Kayaking on the Indian River I had a similar experience...I didn't shuffle my feet...I was in a hurry to catch up with the group and stepped on a sting ray. I chewed a hole right through a beach towel on the way to the ER.
OP:
I'm with the ones here who say jellyfish are a far more bigger problem to humans than sharks.
I'm not comfortable being watched by sharks while snorkeling. What do those dive associations recommend when a shark shows up in one's vicinity? Ignore it, because the risk of it attacking is low? I've always been advised to slowly head to shore and get out of the water. And I've always carried a spear gun, just in case.
The shark in the OP's photo looked pretty hungry. And I bet there were more where he came from.
When I lived in Sydney (at Coogee Beach back in the 70s) I would be at the beach most days and there would be hundreds of people in the surf and then all of a sudden the shark warning siren would go off ...You would be amazed at the speed the water would be empted of people...I'm sure the shark watchers at times would sound it off for a laugh, just to see how fast they could empty water of people...
@Dakini The Kiwi guy with the dreadlocks (who speaks towards the end of the video "They are not malicious, but they do kill things for a living" ) he was attacked by a great white a few years back whilst diving for seafood there, he almost became the shark's seafood lunch and he was lucky to survive and has got scars to prove it...
The worst enemy when watersporting is me, myself and I. Should I swim at all? Am I too drunken? Anyways, nature is evil...
A work friend's father is a local fisherman and takes people out for the day...He often stops just outside the entrance to Matiatia where the passenger ferries go, to feed the sharks...
There's quite a few sharks around the island, however the Bronze Whalers in this clip (taken just outside Matiatia) are not known for attacking human, this is not to say that they won't if really hungry ...
Just use your Buddhist magic and stay aware, and you are unlikely to run into problems wherever you are. A lot of encounters are due to lack of attention. There isn't really anything in the water where I live that'll eat you. You might get unlucky and have a northern pike check you out if you have shiny earrings on, but that's about it. The most dangerous animal here, by far, are the local people. I'd rather encounter a bear or wolf in the woods any day than another person. If you bother to learn about the animals you share your space with, generally their behaviors are readable and predictable. Humans are another story all together, and when I travel solo in the woods, I carry a weapon solely because of people.
I was told not to make any sudden moves when you see a shark, because the flurry of movement will cause it to rush and strike. It's much better to move slowly away, toward the beach.
I haven't watched the video, I can't bring myself to do that. The view that's posted is scary enough.
I live on the Southern coast of Australia which is one of the world's most populous areas for the Great White Shark.
I rarely enter the sea here but more because the water is so cold as opposed to any fear of sharks.
I remember years ago swimming on an island near home for the day then going into the local pub for a cleansing ale. Up on the wall was the carcass of a Great White (about ten feet long) that had been caught off the beach I had just been swimming at a number of years before.
Needless to say I didn't hurry back in to the water the next day!
These Salmon sharks are the ones that cause us the most trouble. They can bite a 20lb salmon in half without trying too hard. We release the rare ones that get up to the boat.
Good pic @robot !!
Anyone here canoe over a group of manatees? Calm and nerve wrecking at the same time!
@seeker242 it would seem the black wetsuit could be mistaken for a seal by the sharks and quite often the scuba divers who were spear fishing carried the dead fish hooked to the belt around their waist ...
So you have black shiny wetsuit and fish dangling from it... a recipe for disaster....an appetizing meal...For the most part some experts say the sharks were actually going for the fish hooked around the waist when they bite/attacked the divers...
@Vastmind you might have mistook a Mermaid for a Manatee
I remember reading a while back that the Manatees were mistaken for Mermaids ( Yeah I known it's a bit of a stretch but true) hence the myth Mermaid & Manatee
Where I live there are only over-inquisitive seals to worry about, not that I can swim and the water's too cold anyway.
Most dive experts consider the risk of sharks to be very very small. Mostly because of the shark attack statistics. Since 1820, there are only around 224 recorded attacks on divers, 19% of which were fatal. That's about 42 deaths in almost 100 years. Technically, you have better chances of being struck by lightning. Some shark experts claim your chances of winning the lottery are greater than being attacked by a shark.
The guys in the first video were intentionally seeking them out and feeding them, so they could tag it with a tracker. Not exactly a normal persons activity. When you go feeding the sharks, having them approach your boat is to be expected. But yea, as a diver, you're not supposed to swim near a pack of sharks with a belt filled with shark bait!
But technically, as far as being scared of things, there is much more reason to fear being struck by lightning than the reasons to fear sharks. If one uses injury and death as the basis for fear of something, then statistically, one should be the most afraid of driving your car to work. Simply driving to the beach is much more deadly than sharks are, statistically speaking.