Diver riding great white shark video

[Sarah]

[Zero]

That goes a long way to dispell the myth that GWSs are ruthless man eaters. Speargun or not if one of those sharks want to take a taste test out of him there would of been no stopping it. One very intelligent creature in my book.

Matt

[connyx]

Amazing vid!
Thanks for sharing idc

[hbh2oguard]

crazy or dumb ... or just both? no thanks, I'll pass!

[Zero]

crazy or dumb ... or just both? no thanks, I'll pass!

Do you drive a car? Could be the same thing really.

Matt

[seasnake]

poor bugger was a little small to be ridin' 'im like that, don't you think?

[Red Sea Shadow]

Thanks for sharing

[nashhunter]

I thinik I just pead a little in my wetsuit

[SoCalDiveGirl]

Great video~ it is very brave of the diver, although I'm sure the shark was sufficiently fed before a human went into the ocean with it

But, I'm going to be the party pooper here~ I don't think it's a good idea for humans to interact with ocean creatures in such a way..
I think shark dives are not one of the brightest things that people can do- not because of safety issues- but for the reason that once an animal is fed by a human, interaction begins. Think of ducks in a park, stray cats in the neighborhood, bears around campgrounds, or fish at commonly dived reefs~ once they realize that humans are a source of food, they will continue to come around when they see the humans.. Now, for people who have no intent on feeding these animals (sharks included), the animals are nothing but a source of annoyance, and unfortunately some humans become abusive towards these animals... The animals may end up injured or dead, although their only intention was to get some food from the humans (species, not specific humans) who had been feeding it.. I read several news articles a year about bears who have been shot and killed because they were getting too close to humans- getting into their food supplies, yards, etc... But the bears were only doing what they'd been shown was ok- "look at the bear! throw him some hot dogs! Maybe he'll come closer so we can get some pictures of you feeding him!".... But to the next camper, they may think they're getting attacked by the bear and shoot it in "self defense"...
I'm not talking about animals in captivity- just ones in the wild..

Just my thoughts... (yes I know I'm about to get reamed by other members of this board...)

[seasnake]

Actually, I'll throw my hat (or mask, I guess) in with you on that one right now. I always encourage new divers to just look and not touch. I think you get more out of it and it's obviously going to be better for the wildlife. I compare it to: imagine a giant coming into your neighborhood, pulling the roof of your house and picking you up and poking you and squeezing you. As far as sharks, in my neck of the woods we have a lot of wild bears. No one in their right mind would walk up to a bear in the woods and try to touch it, let alone pet it or try to ride it. You would be eaten, no question.
As far as people feeding the fish, we have one particular dive site here where this occurs and now the little fish we have here, perch, are aggressive. I get bitten by them all the time because as far as they are concerned, diver=food.
I did my first ever warm water dive trip last year, on a live aboard in the Bahamas, and a "shark dive" was on the agenda, which I figured meant feeding. I was wrestling with it in my mind all week, because I didn't really want to do it, but I didn't want to miss a dive. But what actually happened was the boat got to the spot but they didn't feed the sharks . . . we just got in and watched them cruise around. It was awesome. And I felt really good about the dive afterwards.
So I'm with you ... I feel like a guest underwater. I just want to explore and try to leave things like I found them.
Ron