As a general rule, fleeing is not a good idea as critters tend to chase potential food down. Better to move bitable parts like hands away from the
approaching critter and hold your ground. Turtles will often swim right up to you if you keep your hands away from them. When they see hands, they flee. I've had sharks swimming right beside me as well as barracuda and big tarpon and grouper. I share the space and do not swim closer nor do I wave my hands at them. This has rewarded me with some closeup experiences with the critters just hanging out. Happened at Cozumel when a big turtle swam right under me and we paired up for a minute or so.
A tip for snorklers: If a critter starts swimming towards you, get your hands as close to your body as you can. Don't wave your hands about as they might well interpret the waving hand as something potentially edible; particularly moray eels who have notoriously bad vision. A hand fed moray is doubly a problem because they are used to taking food from people's hands.
http://www.dlpco.com/2005AquaCat/crw_7145.htm
Was taken with a wide angle lens and the shark was literally beside me; perhaps 15" away.
http://www.dlpco.com/2007Fiji/_mg_2543.htm
Is a shark dive sequence. The sharks appeared to respect the presence of the diver opening the container with the head of a tuna in it. The diver tied the head to the reef using a rope and while doing this we were floating in a sea of tuna bits and blood. Until the diver swam away from the head, the sharks just circled us patiently and then came in to feed. The sharks were feeding no more than 4 feet from me in this sequence. Shark feeds on live aboards are very common and I've never heard of anyone being seriously bitten.
In October we do Fiji again and are supposed to see a shark feed with Tiger Sharks (confirmed man eaters...). One of the Fijians feeds a BIG tiger by holding fish in his mouth and the shark takes it from him. There is some evidence that sharks are smarter than we think they are. But, you do have to respect them which means not grabbing them and not hand-feeding them. I think the Fiji guy is taking a serious risk plus teaching a big shark to be hand fed is also a recipe for problems as Floridians have discovered with hand feeding the big morays. It may be unkind to say so, but the Australian guy that got killed by the stingray (Mr. By Kracky...), he richly deserved his fate IMO.
Tags: man eaters, wave your hands, Federal Government
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