zeepee Posted October 21, 2009 Author Posted October 21, 2009 I've dived with raggies too and belive me this is way cooler. Slowbee I also had a problem with them feeding the sharks' date=' but they dont. They throw chum(bloody water) in the water to attract them to the boat, then they'll use a fish head on a rope to get it closer to the cage.The sharks are already there in the area, they say that 1000's of people swim at gansbaai's beach every year and they've never had a attack there. This is about 300m from shore. They also say only the juveniles come this close to the boat. The older(and bigger) fish know by now that the boat is no food source so they ignore it[/quote']I cant put my finger on it - but there is something that doesnt feel right about using "chum" to get them to the boat. Although it is open see, it still feels like "canned" viewing. Yes you feel like you're canned and ready for the shark to eat. After doing this I've changed my viewpoint completely, I've done many scuba dives and many of them with sharks. I loved every one of those dives and have never once felt scared of the sharks.But I know guys that have 1000's of dives and have never seen a great white shark and probably never will while scuba diving. You cant keep them in a aquarium because they stop eating after a while when captured.So if you want to see a great white, this is the only way to do it.
zeepee Posted October 21, 2009 Author Posted October 21, 2009 If you in PE give me a shout and i will take you diving with the Raggies at Shark Ally. Awsome dive no cage and between 15- 20 meters. You can actually touch them as they swim by. I've been there, I did my openwater one in PE with Ocean divers Int
Mudsimus Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 Hundreds of swimmers swim with these sharkies everyday...and you pansies need a cage..
gummibear Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 What year was that as i helped out there sometimes with 1 and 2 before they went over to PADI
Bos Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 I've dived with raggies too and belive me this is way cooler. Slowbee I also had a problem with them feeding the sharks' date=' but they dont. They throw chum(bloody water) in the water to attract them to the boat, then they'll use a fish head on a rope to get it closer to the cage.The sharks are allready there in the area, they say that 1000's of people swim at gansbaai's beach every year and they've never had a attack there. This is about 300m from shore. They also say only the juveniles come this close to the boat. The older(and bigger) fish know by now that the boat is no food source so they ignore it[/quote'] They say a lot of things..So why take chances ? Im not very fond of this.. Im sure them getting more comfortable with comming this close to humans Is not always a good thing, especially If they start putting bloody fishguts- humans- and Food together.. I know this isnt the "Forum" for this though...Im sure the sxperiance is amazing and seeing these preditors would be quite a emotional experiance for me as well as amazing Im sure.. I just wish they could go do it somewere In the middle of the ocean.. not near our beaches.. shatks are teritorial afterall.. I Grew up in a tightly knitted bunch of guys surfing Buffalo bay near knysna.. knowing our waters are sharky we took some chances when the waves were good enough.. I guess It will never be good enough to justify losing a leg over it...We were surfing a spot behind the backpackers known as "fishboma" we all knew it was sharky but It never happens to you right. Untill a day a friend Ross Taylor got taken.. He had severe damage to his leg but luckily for him He stil walks on 2 legs today. Neil Stephenson then got taken At Keurbooms about a Year later..Was reighning SA Bodyboarding champ at the time. Lost his left leg ended his career. And the sad one that still freaks me out was when one of my classmates' brother (also headboy at the Primary school) Died after being attacked at my favourite surfspot..Murphys..right in the bay, peak season..the water was red with blood a 100m around him. Not something you'd forget in a hurry. Its very real to me and I respect these Preditors very much. Its afterall us going into their territory.. but I dont think we should mess with them.. Sorry for Messing up the vibe.. On a lighter note.. it Does look like you okes are having fun crazy buggers.Bos2009-10-21 03:20:21
Gert Janse v Rensburg Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 I cant put my finger on it - but there is something that doesnt feel right about using "chum" to get them to the boat. They could always use politicians. Oupa Julius first please.....
Gansbay Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 I want to do this without the cage. There's some guy down that area that free dives with the Whites. Have to find his details. The raggies are great' date=' hammerheads and zambos are better & bigger, but the white shark is simply awesome![/quote'] Michael Rutzen - he helps with our mtb race we have in July. Will ask him who he takes along, mostly film guys from national geographic and discovery I think. Has made some awesome videos of his freediving with them
Gansbay Posted October 21, 2009 Posted October 21, 2009 I've dived with raggies too and belive me this is way cooler. Slowbee I also had a problem with them feeding the sharks' date=' but they dont. They throw chum(bloody water) in the water to attract them to the boat, then they'll use a fish head on a rope to get it closer to the cage.The sharks are allready there in the area, they say that 1000's of people swim at gansbaai's beach every year and they've never had a attack there. This is about 300m from shore. They also say only the juveniles come this close to the boat. The older(and bigger) fish know by now that the boat is no food source so they ignore it[/quote'] They say a lot of things..So why take chances ? Im not very fond of this.. Im sure them getting more comfortable with comming this close to humans Is not always a good thing, especially If they start putting bloody fishguts- humans- and Food together.. I know this isnt the "Forum" for this though...Im sure the sxperiance is amazing and seeing these preditors would be quite a emotional experiance for me as well as amazing Im sure.. I just wish they could go do it somewere In the middle of the ocean.. not near our beaches.. shatks are teritorial afterall.. I Grew up in a tightly knitted bunch of guys surfing Buffalo bay near knysna.. knowing our waters are sharky we took some chances when the waves were good enough.. I guess It will never be good enough to justify losing a leg over it...We were surfing a spot behind the backpackers known as "fishboma" we all knew it was sharky but It never happens to you right. Untill a day a friend Ross Taylor got taken.. He had severe damage to his leg but luckily for him He stil walks on 2 legs today. Neil Stephenson then got taken At Keurbooms about a Year later..Was reighning SA Bodyboarding champ at the time. Lost his left leg ended his career. And the sad one that still freaks me out was when one of my classmates' brother (also headboy at the Primary school) Died after being attacked at my favourite surfspot..Murphys..right in the bay, peak season..the water was red with blood a 100m around him. Not something you'd forget in a hurry. Its very real to me and I respect these Preditors very much. Its afterall us going into their territory.. but I dont think we should mess with them.. Sorry for Messing up the vibe.. On a lighter note.. it Does look like you okes are having fun crazy buggers. On the other thread there was a brief discussion re the above - check it out! We were chatting about it last night, no locals surfing anymore. We have the accasional guys coming to surf toilets or the harbour when it is really big and the sharks hang around the alley during winter (far away from the recognised reef breaks. In summer they come to within a 100 meters of the swim zone - the holiday makers just don't see them!
Lyle Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Thats what happened when a 3.5m great white thought my ski and i looked tastey one fri eve. Bit marl goes from behind the fin where my left hand is to where my right hand is.
jugheaddave Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 I bet you must have gotten the fright of your life!!!! Did you manage to paddle the ski back??
Lyle Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 no hey! it hit me from underneath, as like it was trying to breach with my ski, and apparently the guys behind me said i went bout a meter up before it tried to pull the ski under which is when i came out my seat. as soon as it let go i swam over to a friends ski,climbed on the back deck and got paddled to the rocks. went back later on the rescue duck to pick my boat and the nice piece that was bitten out.
jugheaddave Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Awesome story, I bet you were white as a sheet after that!!! Glad to hear you made it out ok!!
Tubehunter Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 This is such a sensitive topic and as a surfer and regular water enthusiast I simply feel this is very wrong. I once read a report in some conservation publication that put it all in to perspective for me. Have tried to track it down online but can't find it. (I read it in hard paper copy a couple of years ago.) I'll attempt to do it justice.Basically a shark has multiple senses that it uses a combination of when hunting. They have the 5 senses we as humans do. See, smell, touch, taste and hear. They do however have an additional 6th sense that is fairly well documented but misunderstood, known as electro location. Every LIVING organism gives off some form of electric pulse in the water. The shark's sensor in its snout can pick up roughly half a billionth of a volt in the water. i.e. It can sense the weakest of pulse\smallest living creatures in the water. Thankfully the range of this sense is very small and varies from a couple of inches to a few meters. In the wild it typically uses this during feeding frenzies. Think of the sardine run. Sharks are able to plough through the schools of fish where their other senses will be overwhelmed and are yet able to avoid taking out one another. This sense is its primary sense during that time. Another example is if you think of the anti shark POD device that came about a couple of years ago. That specifically attempts to overstimulate this sense and in so doing chase off the shark from the immediate vicinity. When you look at the chumming scenerio and the cage diving combo it raises some questionable concerns. The operators are using the sharks primary sense of smell to attract the shark. Everyone knows it can detect the smell of blood from kilometers away. So the sharks come to the site of the boat from the smell of the chum. At the site it will incorporate it's other senses to assess the scene where the only electric pulse being given off is that of the divers in the cages though. The chum is dead and therefore does not give off any of the electric pulses the shark could detect. The chum is the reason the sharks approach the cage much to the shark operators delight. He's seeing dollar bills baby. This does however change the entire scope for accidental human interaction for any shark exposed to this practise from then on. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise how the dynamic has been changed. Probably the primary reason why various agencies involved in shark protection advocate the culling of sharks that have attacked humans. I guess we all know that it's wrong but until I understood this process I didn't understand why. Here's a video that explains it a little better. Naturally this sense varies in ability depending on which shark is involved.http://animal.discovery.com/videos/fooled-by-nature-hammerhead-shark-hunting-methods.html Some additional info that explains it more for those of you who want to better understand the details.http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/205/7/703/ihttp://www.theallineed.com/ecology/06021705.htm Sorry for the length of this post, but it requires proper justification.
Mudsimus Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Im so glad we dont have sharks in the states..
-Gazza- Posted October 22, 2009 Posted October 22, 2009 Open Water scuba dive with Tiger Sharks. They don't feed the sharks either the drum in the picture is filled with chum "Blood and Guts" The Shark in picture is named "Double Tag". At the base of her dorsal fin she has two tags. Id and the remains of a radio tag. Very large critter, all the sharks on the seen posture for postition around the drum. My friend and I floated too close to the drum and she gave us a solid bump.
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