Does anything about diving spook you?

[Sarah]

Bat rays bumping into you from behind on a night dive?

The sound of base cellos playing ominous chords while diving in waters known to be the grounds of great white sharks?

The thought of a packed large dive boat discharging the head on your head while swimming to the front anchor line?

Titan triggerfish during nesting season do it for you?

Sea snakes do you a treat?

Is there anything about or during diving that creeps you out?

[lars2923]

Now,

I think you scare me the most....
Where do you come up with this stuff?

I have nitemares, but yours sound more interesting...

Thanks for the thoughts...

lol

Cheers,

[rubber chicken]

Boat drivers who don't know what a dive flag means, I was once hanging off my reel on a safety stop when my buddy went goggle eyed in front of me as a yacht's drop keel sliced through the water just behind my head!:eek:

Large marine animals who seem to deliberately wind me up, There is a popular dive spot locally which has a resident bull seal who positively enjoys swooping through your torch beam at its very extremity and then sneaks up on your shoulder so that you only see him from the corner of your eye. I swear that i can hear him laughing every time he does it to me!

Any diver who treats advice from the internet as gospel. It's worth what you pay for it, for crying out loud!

Anybody who tells you that diving becomes really cheap once you have your own kit!:D

[Quero]

To be honest, the thing that most weirds me out is feeling all the little worms and other planktonic beasties coming up and tickling my hands during night dives (they're obviously attracted to the light).

[ereediver]

My credit card bill

[amtrosie]

Nothing spooks me, I am a tough.........wellllllllllll, maybe one or two things, small teeny, weeny, little things.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:



Snakes. I can not stand them!!!! (it's a child hood thing)

I was doing my obligatory deco stop after a cave dive in Ginnie Springs, When I noticed my two partners VERY close to each other. They were within an inch of each other, hugging each other in sheer terror!! When I ascended to my 10' stop, I discovered that I had been in very close company with a 15' water moccasin. Alright, it was more like 1 meter or so, but it was huge!!!!! Any way, I too, joined the "group hug". As the water monster moved, we moved, to remain 180 degrees opposite of this vicious creature. ;) Hey, it's my story....... When my dive partners finished their deco obligation, they quickly exited the premises. At this point the snake started to get very restless and move about the area we "shared". He slithered back and forth quickly, and then went straight up the wall and disappeared. Well, when I finished deco, I peered over the edge of the hole I was in. Shining my light all around, from the surface to the river bed (it was about midnight) I concluded he was no where to be seen. So, firming my resolution, I shot through the water to the steps at the water's edge, and raced up the stairs.......with all my gear on,....... fins included!! Now you have to realize that I had doubles on with a deco bottle, and all the other gear needed to dive in caves. The ensuing ruckus that I created, was straight out of a Three Stooges set. To the incidental bystander, this was worthy of a straight jacket, to me? Well, it did nothing to allay my well founded fears of that slithering vermin.

As a conclusion, a water moccasin was caught that very night, a short distance from my dive site. And released, unharmed!!!!!! Needless to say, I split a gasket after learning of this act of complete insanity. :eek:

[Sarah]

"Split a gasket", lol. Guys have all the good sayings...Great story Bama.

[BamaCaveDiver]

...Great story Bama.

Huh??? (done in my best scooby voice :p )

[BamaCaveDiver]

Grew up in central FL, so snakes and gators really don't bother me all that much (I do hate spiders though, especially the big yellow and black wood spiders that like to hand their webs at eye level!) The thing I most fear from diving (other than the sight of an spg reading "0" underwater) is all the idiots that I have to share the road with going and coming. I wish we could devote as much time and energy to find a cure for stupid as we devote to cancer, aids, and other ills.

[acelockco]

Between Bama and amtrosie, I can't stop laughing.


amtrosie, your story is really entertaining and I know you must have almost s*%t your dry suit! I am not very fond of snakes that close either. I had a pet snake when I was a child, it thought my finger was a mouse and chomped down on me. Anyway, later that day I was at the pet store trading my snake in for a fish tank.

[Daddy-h2O]

I am not very fond of overhead enviroments, and I take great care when I do find myself in one.

Large pipes submerged or the School bus or helo @ Dutch Springs I doubt I will enter a cave or other location I can not see daylight through. It is also a result of my Big Brother's spending time with me...

[DeepThinker]

I don't like Moray Eels that are accustomed to being fed! I can be happily minding my own business, when suddenly I see six feet of green coming straight towards me, hell bent for Ballyhoo....very unnerving. I wish divemasters would stop feeding them!

[The Publisher]

I disliked descending feet first, heads up and having my feet hit the bottom before I could see it. Creeps me out.....I hate silt mud muck bottoms and horrendous visibility, why bother?

[Roual]

Anyway, later that day I was at the pet store trading my snake in for a fish tank.

And thus was born your love of diving, right? ;)

I don't think I've come across anything underwater that spooks me yet, but I must admit I'm not very experienced, so it's probably part ignorance and part inexperience :)

[Sarah]

Hi Roual, welcome to the SMN Community!

[Like2dive]

How about this: Your moored up on the wreck there are 9 big white mooring balls - you are geared up - siting on the back of your boat - Ready for entry - You look up and what do you see??? A Boat full of Cubans ( at leat 10 of them on a 20 footer! ) pulling up to the very closest ball next to you - Then all at once they start casting their fishing lines with big bright silver hooks all over and within 15 feet of your entry point. This happens all the time here and it creeps me out.

[Papa Bear]

Cold water! I hate being cold! I hate to have to put on my Drysuit or my 7mm!

[Tigerbeach]

Does it spook you?

I have run into whales; chased sharks away from students, Dove too deep, Dove while impaired: come to think of it, I probably spook everyone else!

[Roual]

Hi Roual, welcome to the SMN Community!

Thank you, I suppose my first post should have been an introductory one, but I prefer to just jump right in (bad pun completely intended)

[allisonfinch]

Last week, in Belize, I was chased out of the water on a pier night dive.

No one had dived off this pier at night before. I was in with my camera and lights. As I was taking a picture of a moray, I pointed the camera up and saw a sea wasp (box jellyfish) swim by my head!!! I got out right away. Knowing that they are attracted to light, I went onto the dock with a light tied to a rope. I dangled it into the water and 11 box jelly fish swam into the light!! It was amazing to see them swim back and forth in the light hunting the other things attracted to the light. They swim FAST too.

I'm not scared of sharks, barracudas, or rays, but I have to admit that these little box jellies gave me the heebie jeebies.:eek:

[acelockco]

How about this: Your moored up on the wreck there are 9 big white mooring balls - you are geared up - siting on the back of your boat - Ready for entry - You look up and what do you see??? A Boat full of Cubans ( at leat 10 of them on a 20 footer! ) pulling up to the very closest ball next to you - Then all at once they start casting their fishing lines with big bright silver hooks all over and within 15 feet of your entry point. This happens all the time here and it creeps me out.


Don't they know what a dive flag is?

Funny short story:

When I was 14 or 15 years old I was on a dive boat off the coast of NJ. We were doing our SI waiting for our 2nd dive when a large sportfishing boat started heading right towards us. We had divers in the water and dive flags up. They obviously wanted to fish the wreck we were diving on. Our captain tried to reach them on the VHF, but they did not respond or were on a different channel. He then blasted the boat horn a few times, but they did not respond to that. What I saw next I really did not expect.

The captain went below deck and came back up with an AK-47 (it may have been something different, but I am pretty sure it was). He fired about 7 shots in the air (sort of in the direction of the boat heading towards us). Well, guess what, the other boat responded within seconds by making a complete U-Turn and slamming down on the throttle! I don't know the legal issues of something like this, but it definately worked!

[mismail]

Jackson Reef is a wonderful site to dive specially in summer time in the very early morning where you can see schools of hammerheads on that spot. We were a group of divers on a liveaboard, it was our last dive before we head back to the shore after a great diving trip where we had tons of nice sites to visit the best was Thistlegorm. Anyhow,
WE HAD A TERRIBLE DIVE DUE TO:

- BAD INSTRUCTOR PLAN.
- UNCALCULATED RISK FOR CURRENT CALCULATION.
- NO BRIEFED PLAN TO SKIPPERS OR ZODIAC ON HOW TO ALLOCATE US AND AFTER HOW LONG.
- THE INSTRUCTOR WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BUDDY WITH ME WAS THE FARTHEST FROM ME TO SAVE HIS LIFE.
- WE SPENT ALMOST 90 MINUTES STRUGGLING IN A VERY BAD SEA CONDITION, WE WERE DIVIDED IN 2 GROUPS 3 AND 2. FIRST GROUP OSS, HAY AND FAN, THE SECOND GROUP ME AND BAS WHO WAS A DIVE MASTER CANDIDATE ON BOARD WHO USED TO BE A COOK!! BUT HONESTLY HE WAS A REAL SUPPORT TO ME. THANKS TO HIM. To be honest I saw nothing at all but the OPEN WATER 1 movie, i was imagining what could happen to us, my right leg start to be almost paralized cause i had an operation in it in the ankle screws and plate, so it was as if it was not there. So the boat cant spot us, noway of communication , the sea conditions were really terrible, waves of up to 2 meters high, unbelievable very strong current taking us to the huge boats way crossing at high speeds in and out from the Gulf of Aquaba in the Red Sea.

[acelockco]

You already told us this story!

[mismail]

to acelockco
It was in a different forum, i am answering what spooked me. I am not writing a book, the same story can be said in different occasions and forums, and from each you can concentrate on something.
Sorry if i bothered you, but you were not obliged to quote or respond or even read what i wrote. Finally we are grown ups and no need to say silly comments to each other.

[acelockco]

I was aware it was in a different thread, but it was not in a different fourm. Anyway, like I said you already told that story.

[PinayDiver]

Backrolling into the water, I hate the sound of sudden freeflow (because no one wants their air wasted that way).

During a dive, I've been
- startled by dive buddies caught by surprise themselves (ex. I once had this dramatic moment of holding out my hand and finning after an assigned buddy who tumbled off during a drift dive even as she frantically searched for a reef hook in her bc pockets);
- occasionally appalled by DMs with strange ways (one had us finning against the current the entire dive and still we missed the site);
- and horrified by how a surge during a night dive (a storm was then whipping the surface) nearly slammed me into a bed of sea urchins (I had a vision of being a human pin cushion).

While waiting for my turn to get back on the boat, at different times, I've been spooked by: jelly fish, an anchor drop, propeller blades starting to turn.

[acelockco]

- occasionally appalled by DMs with strange ways (one had us finning against the current the entire dive and still we missed the site);

- and horrified by how a surge during a night dive (a storm was then whipping the surface) nearly slammed me into a bed of sea urchins (I had a vision of being a human pin cushion).

While waiting for my turn to get back on the boat, at different times, I've been spooked by: jelly fish, an anchor drop, propeller blades starting to turn.


Sounds like you need to find a different dive operator. The DM should be smarter than that, they should call off a dive when a storm is whipping at the surface, and under no circumstances should they be dropping an anchor or starting the prop. blades when divers are in the water!!!!! This is REALLY bad!

[lottie]

propeller blades starting to turn.

I had something similar to that when I was doing my OW - we were in the house reef and a boat went close by us...luckily we'd (my instructor and I) noticed it, so were able to get right down on the sand and stay away.
Even though we had a Diver down float, it seemed the boat didn't even notice it. Suffice to say, my instructor had a quiet word with the guys on the boat, to be aware that there are divers in the waters.

[PinayDiver]

Sounds like you need to find a different dive operator. The DM should be smarter than that, they should call off a dive when a storm is whipping at the surface, and under no circumstances should they be dropping an anchor or starting the prop. blades when divers are in the water!!!!! This is REALLY bad!

All these happened on out-of-town dives with various dive operators assigning a local DM to us for the day.

We were actually more exasperated with the DM who had us finning against the current the entire dive for nothing (we asked for another DM on the very next dive) than with the DM we were with when the storm hit (there was no sign of it when we entered the water, and he made sure we – although shivering miserably, overcoming the joy of having seen seahorses that night – got back to shore, broken outrigger and all.

As for the anchor and propeller incidents (admittedly the stuff of nightmares), both times, it was the DM who gave the boatmen a dressing-down.

I guess out-of-town DMs are in a way similar to dive buddies assigned on-the-spot...in the sense that they can be trusted to generally either exceed or fall short of expectations (human nature comes into play). Like you guys stress here, the important thing is to be self-accountable/responsible (ah, yes, she knows the lesson in all these, lol).

[littleleemur]

At 135ft & still being sucked down a 350ft wall and not being able to swim out of it, weights already out & my BC's lift already maximized. :eek:

Luckily my buddy caught up at 140-ish, made use of his overlarge BC, overlarge mass ( :D ) & helped me out of it. Once I get my new (bigger) BC, he's swapping his in for his correct (smaller) size :p

Other than really strong currents I can't swim out of, nothing else spooks me in the water.

[acelockco]

What?

How is that?

[Papa Bear]

The fear of not diving! Being out of the water too long! I just had one of the worst ear infections ever and it almost kept me out of the water! Oh no, nit that!!!!! So I dived anyway! Covered my ears with Lycra and Neoprene took Sipro and went diving!

[lars2923]

Have you ever dived with low visibility?
See the perceived shadow of an object or a creature just out of sight and visibility?
Ever wonder if what you are believing to see is something really there and
if it is something will it be some large unknown creature never seen before
that will inhale you into its mouth.

These are just some of the things that run through my mind while diving.

That's spooky.

[Papa Bear]

Have you ever dived with low visibility?
See the perceived shadow of an object or a creature just out of sight and visibility?
Ever wonder if what you are believing to see is something really there and
if it is something will it be some large unknown creature never seen before
that will inhale you into its mouth.

These are just some of the things that run through my mind while diving.

That's spooky.

Dude, I was a Sheriff's Dive Team Diver for 61/2 years, all we had was Zero Vis! Sometimes in complete darkness looking for a dead body, can you say spooky?

[lars2923]

Dude, I was a Sheriff's Dive Team Diver for 61/2 years, all we had was Zero Vis! Sometimes in complete darkness looking for a dead body, can you say spooky?

If I came upon the face of a body I was searching for in zero vis..

Boooo! Ah!!!!

[littleleemur]

Ace,
Something about my displacement vs. mass in the water. The current really like me :(

On the brightside, I do have the most awesome drift dives :D

Papa Bear, we have a lot of Braille diving here too :)

[acelockco]

Something you are doing is not right, that is for sure. If you drop your weights, you should go to the surface without any air in your BC, let alone if you fill your BC.

I think I found your problem.....you are a rock, like granite or marble. That is why you don't use any air and you still sink without any weights and a BC full of air.

[littleleemur]

The current gets really strong past a certain depth on that drift and starts to pull downwards. & I've grown a little (okay, a lot) horizontally and soooo I need a new BC w/ more lift...and...um...growing room.... :p

Still the current likes me a lot, when I have my BC on, at depth or on the surface :(

As for your theory, hmmm....., that would explain why I keep having that heavy & full feeling in my head - I'm not getting enuf o2 to my brain! :D

[acelockco]

I don't know, something does not sound right. I don't care if you are 500lbs, you are going to float without any weight on and with any size BC (even a kids size) and you definately won't sink.

Maybe there is some 20 knot downward current where you are diving, but that wouldn't make much sense either. Maybe there is something you are forgetting to tell us???

[lottie]

for 61/2 years,

Was that supposed to be six-and-a-half years or sixty-one/two years...if the latter...then wow man...you are reeeallly old ;) :rolleyes: :D :eek:

[Daddy-h2O]

61/2years = 30.5 years See he may not be soooooo old afterall.

[littleleemur]

I don't know, something does not sound right. I don't care if you are 500lbs, you are going to float without any weight on and with any size BC (even a kids size) and you definately won't sink.

Maybe there is some 20 knot downward current where you are diving, but that wouldn't make much sense either. Maybe there is something you are forgetting to tell us???

I dunno Ace, I'd love to figure this out too. I love the middle part of the dive just hate the beginning (surface current) & the end (downward current). The stupid BC is negatively bouyant even when filled; a nasty surprise I found on my rescue course a few years back. (I'm suspecting the BC was mis-sized/mis-labeled). I did the bouyancy thingy again w/ 500psi & it was all good. Then I did it w/ 1600psi which is more realistic for me & was good too. The BC just has so much drag to it in current :( As I'm in the market for a new BC, the sooner I figure this out the better. Just for the record, I'm a very decent swimmer.

Maybe it's also the dive profile, my buddy likes to bounce drift that one.

[acelockco]

Like I said, something definately does not sound right.

My advise, get someone that knows what they are doing to help you. I would definately stop diving until you have proper gear. This is your life you are talking about! If your BC does not bring you to the surface when fully inflated, there is something really wrong, maybe deadly wrong.

[littleleemur]

I have no problems w/ the gear on any deep dive & it functions as it should every single time. Somehow the wetsuit + BC + tank + me work out very well w/ the bouyancy in every other situation. The BC brings me to the surface at 150 -160 ft (Blue Hole Belize) with much room to spare. It's this specific site & I've stopped diving it. But I am still looking for a new BC with more lift & better trim. I have no problem calling the dive either. Thanks though :x

[Papa Bear]

Now lets see, witch one makes since, I always go for the easiest, simplest, and oh ya the one that would put me on the team 51/2 years before I was born! :eek: :rolleyes:

[littleleemur]

If your BC does not bring you to the surface when fully inflated, there is something really wrong, maybe deadly wrong.

Figured it out! Yay!

It was the ditchable weaight pocket's hard plastic backing that prevented the bladder from fully inflating. When the second velcro was released, the weights came out, but the pocket stayed! So while, technically ditching the 4lbs of weight I had (the other 4 were in my IW pockets), the bladder never fully inflated outward but instead tried to squeeze me.

I've obviously outgrown that BC in more ways than one so my next will be BP/W.

[nat]

Hi, I'm new to this site and just reading through...I wish I'd have discovered this a while ago! I'm an open water diver - still very inexperienced with 4 additional dives after my initial training. I did these additional dives in East Africa and found that in fresh water (amongst many other learning curves!!) I panicked during the descent on the first of the days dives. The subsequent descents were fine. I had taken a refresher course prior to these dives.

I'm planning to do my Advanced certificate whilst I'm on holiday in the seychelles this May. Does anyone have any tips for regulating breathing on descent? (I think I get nervous - trusting the equipment, the taste / sensation of diving etc). I notice I use a lot of air on these first dives.

Thanks for any advice.

Natalie

[BamaCaveDiver]

The only way I know to overcome the problem you describe Nat is to dive more. The more you dive the more confident you become in your skills, so the more relaxed you will be in the water column, hence you start noticing your sac rate improving. Regardless what the old pro's tell you about being born as fish, all divers go through this learning curve; some may start off better than others, but I have yet to meet anyone who started at their maximum capacity for greatness. So just go diving more often :)

[seasnake]

I second that, and would add that you should descend at your own pace. It drives me crazy when I have to chase people down to the bottom. Talk to your buddy and tell them you would like to lead the descent and stress that you want to take it slow. And then DO NOT WORRY about holding people up or going to slow on the descent. Focus on descending on a rate that is comfortable for you, that will allow you to maintain control and buddy contact.

[nat]

Thanks guys...I spent a long time thinking about this after I asked the question and you are both right. It IS the pressure to get to the bottom and not hold anyone up. I like the idea of saying that I'll descent first - I usually follow.

I also think it's was because I'm usually the one to cause heyhem wherever I go until the dive properly begins... Weights falling off into the depths immediately after water entry and then bouncing back up to the surface because AFTER i filled my fogged up mask with water and successfully cleared it at the bottom, then I lost my nerve!?! More experience required but all good fun! Thanks again. :)

[Prostar]

The diver on the boat who needs to tell everyone else on the boat how great he is at diving and anything else. That sort is always scary.

[Sarah]

lol, that was funny.....

[Mountain Dog]

How about having a huge Tarpon slam you on the side of the head during a night dive? It took my breath away for a minute.

We were in Bonaire this past September. There are a couple of enormous Tarpon that hang around the reef out front of Captain Don's. They love to cruise in the dark alongside divers and use the lights for night hunting. Most of the time you don't even know they are there.

On this particular dive the Tarpon must have been inches away from my side. I was just cruising the reef when this little fish swam into my beam. I never even got a good look at it because I was focused on something else. But the Tarpon saw him and decided it was time for a snack. He blasted right past me so close that his tail actually thumped me on the side of the head. It kind of felt like getting thwacked by a wiffle bat.

Of course, once the initial shock wore off, I began to laugh so hard that I almost dropped my reg.

On another night dive during that trip, it was a squid that got the s*^t scared out of him. Ladydog and I spotted this squid putting on a color changing show for us. We were just hanging there, watching him. All of a sudden we saw him kind of tense up and start acting weird. Then in an instant, he inked and squirted away at the speed of light just as a good sized schoolmaster came roaring into our light beams with his mouth wide open. It was life and death to them, but we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Mountain Dog

[littleleemur]

The diver on the boat who needs to tell everyone else on the boat how great he is at diving and anything else. That sort is always scary.

:D

reminds me of a guy I once met who had the PADI Instructor badge sewn on his ball cap, his logbook, his sports bag, his dive bag, his jacket (front, back and on BOTH sleeves!) & I kid you not, on the butt of his speedos. To top it all off, he was doing his best Gaston (from Beauty & the Beast) meets Zoolander impression with blindingly-white too-straight teeth. While pulling out of the carpark (making our escape), we saw "Instructor" stickers on both the front and back bumpers of a Don Johnson wannabe convertible - no doubt his.

[bubbles]

Things that scare me:

1) Currents - don't like the feeling of being out of control on a drift dive. This happened to me on our very first ever night dive. We were in the Maldives and the DM had told me not to be nervous about night diving that he would look after me! Well he then signed up some very new divers to our party during the afternoon so natrually I was on my own with my husband as he had to help them in the water!!! Scary being with my husband LOL. Well before getting in the water the DM told us that there was no current at all as he had checked it 10 minutes earlier and that unlike daytime diving we wouldn't be seeing the whole reef we would just be poking around a few coral heads near the jetty. Well no sooner had we got to these coral heads when this verocious current took the whole group on an express train ride to the far end of the island. I'm not sure if I had time to think about what was happening as we covered what we had done during daylight hours in 45 minutes took us about 5 minutes and we were all left clinging to the last entry rope at an angle of 90degrees with the rope desperate to hold on unless we were swept out into open sea! On surfacing the DM casually said 'glad we are all still alive' before admitting he didn't know where the current had come from but it was a very strong one! This experience has left me rather nervous about diving in Cozumel in July where I hear it is all drift diving. Any tips?

2) Sharks - I always worry what is beaneath me when waiting on the surface for the boat to pick me up! :eek:

3) My husband! :D When in Jamaica last year he kept shouting 'ow something bit me' everytime we went for a swim. This cleared the water of many other swimmers and he said he was doing it on purpose so that we could have the water to ourselves but he certainly made me nervous :D and made me want to go back to sunbathing with the rest of the hotel guests rather than stay in the water with him!

[The Publisher]

Bubbles, that reminds me, when we were teens and some tall guy or girl with big hair tried to sit down in the movie theater seat in front of me and block my view, I would tell them as they spied the seat that someone had just thrown up there on the seat but not to worry, they did their best to clean it up. It ALWAYS worked.

I disliked descending feat first a mile or more off shore and having my finds hit the murky, mucky bottom before I could see it.

[bubbles]

LOL I should try that one. :D

[BillGraham]

I think my spookiest dive this year was on the Carolina, one of the "Black Sunday" wrecks off the coast of New Jersey. We got out there and unexpecedly, our window of supposedly good weather dissolved. An evil East wind cranked up and it was 4-5 ft when I jumped in. I was the only passenger on the boat to do a dive and I was down there by myself. It was freezing and I was thinking about how rough it was getting up on the surface and how cold it was, and how long my deco was going be after a 25 minute dive to 230 feet. I was happy I did the dive, but it was definitely one that freaked me out a bit.

[The Publisher]

Another thing that totally got me was my rebreather mouthpiece has two check valves in it. One completely failed even though newer, and I had a massive C02 hit after 15 minutes.......the typical 5 minutes of scrubber warm up time is not long enough for me to recognize and feel C02.

[thalassamania]

When it comes to creepy nothing can touch (at least for me) deep night dives in some of the small volcanic lakes in Nicaragua. There's an entirely different night fauna, with both pink and black fresh water eels, the water is crystal clear below the themoclline and the sides of the caldera are huge crystalline facets. The bottom is unknown but with a good light you can
see down another 200 feet.

And you just know that there is something very large and very creepy living in those depths ... or maybe I'd just been reading too much H.P. Lovecraft back then.


As for scariest: On a trip to Rhode Island years ago I was diving with an old friend who was (and is) a shark reseacher ... Wes Pratt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquanaut). We where at about thirty feet on a day when the visibility was, maybe, five feet.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and as I turned my entire mask was filled with SHARK!!! There was a mild "boink," and the shark stopped, and slowly settled in a distinctly non-swimming posture to the bottom.

As my vision adjusted to the visibility and my depth perception took hold I realized that the SHARK was a rather small dead dogfish that Wes had launched at me like a glider.

But it scared the bejessus out anyway.

[fooddude]

Great story, how long did it take you to "come back to life?"

I had a similar story while in Moorea. I was on a shark dive (dumb thing as a first dive after cert). Anyway, I was on a shark dive in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when I was just beginning to get comfortable with my surroundings when I felt something brush up against my side. I thought it was my dive buddy but boy was I wrong! It was an 8 foot lemon shark. Like they say, things look bigger underwater, and my eyes must've looked like Jupiter! It took about 3 or 4 minutes but I finally settled down, didn't waste all my air and had a great dive. The shark just kept swimming like he didn't even care I was there. I stayed close to the DM and enjoyed the company of the black-tipped grey reef sharks (4-6 footers).

While I love 'em, sharks can be quite the scary experience. Never had the good fortune to run into them again, or at least I don't recall (selective memory).

FD

[seasnake]

If I was eight feet long I wouldn't care if you were there either ... :)

[cajunscuba]

You are a brave or crazy man...


Dude, I was a Sheriff's Dive Team Diver for 61/2 years, all we had was Zero Vis! Sometimes in complete darkness looking for a dead body, can you say spooky?