Having been asked dozens of times whether or not we saw sharks, and if so, were we scared, I felt compelled to create a post and video that was dedicated our shark sightings over the six days of diving.
Some of you may just prefer to jump right to the video. It quickly answers whether or not we saw any sharks. And the videos I captured are just a small fragment of all the shark encounters. By the second or third day of diving we stopped counting and didn’t even bother point to one another when a shark appeared out of the blue.
Amy and something that could eat Amy.
Most of the sharks we saw were in the 4’-5’ range with the occasional grey shark in the 6’-8’ range. The grey sharks also have a much more hulking stature.The question of whether or not we were ever scared is an easy one. I was never scared, but I was vigilant. I think this feeling formed on other dives, but became perfectly clear on this trip. Just by watching the sharks swim and stalk around the reef you can sense the physical power they are keeping in reserve. And you come to realize that if they really wanted to snack on you they could, easily. As a diver with maneuverability equivalent to a minivan in a Formula 1 race, there is very little you could do thwart an attack. They can come take a bite anytime they please. Therefore, a dozen or so encounters make you realize that they have no inherent interest in divers. So no, I didn’t feel any fear.
With that said, the power that you sense in them makes you very conscious not to provoke them by accident. Any marine animal small or large will protect itself if threatened. Although you might not think twice about getting close to a small lobster, when you are near a shark the risk calculator in your head calmly repeats, “it ain’t worth it homie.”
The most surprising experience we had was on a night dive. We were just poking along the coral wall shining ours light in little nooks. The lights give you a fairly small field of view. In an instant two shiny green eyes flew underneath us at an alarming rate. We shone a light in the direction it was heading and realized it was a shark on the hunt. I will say that this was a bit unsettling. But still zero interest in us. And very cool to see it going out for dinner!
In one case a white tip shark swam up behind me and overtook me on right. For a moment I swam as quickly as I could to take a video of him as he a passed [see it at the 3:00 min mark of the shark compilation video below]. Despite pumping my legs as hard as possible, I couldn’t stay close – and he was just gliding at the equivalent of a slow crawl. These are performance machines in the water - well honed competitors. I think you just have to respect that. We certainly did.
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