Hugh great white shark at Jacksonville beach

[guzzijohn]

I think I would refrain from entering the water.


http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400744/matt-soergel/2013-01-08/great-white-shark-reaches-jacksonville-beach-surf-break

[Conan The Librarian]

The amazing thing is that so few people are attacked by sharks in Florida. If you fly along the coast in a small plane, you will see a lot sharks not much farther from shore than the majority of bathers. In recorded history in Florida, about 550 people have been attacked by sharks, and most of those were relatively minor bites (with a significantly large number of them just south of Jacksonville, by the way.) Mostly they are small sharks in shallow water that bite a foot or leg without doing serious harm.

[AtlLaw]

If you fly along the coast in a small plane, you will see a lot sharks not much farther from shore than the majority of bathers.

I've seen exactly this several times flying over the Panama City Beach!  Always gave me the chills and that was before JAWS!   

[Conan The Librarian]

AtLaw:
 
I love that part of the country. Was there back in July with my wife and kids. One day after snorkeling over at St Andrews park we went to the coolest museum I've ever been to...
 
http://maninthesea.org/
 
It's not as fancy as, say, the Smithsonian, but the stuff that's there is just completely amazing. The original Sea Lab is there, among many many other amazing artifacts.
 
 

[SHOOTALL]

South of jacksonville is still alot of real estate .

[Conan The Librarian]

Shootall: Specifically, Daytona Beach and vicinity.

[scootrd]

When I use to dive off FLA it was the thought of bulls that really made me nervous though one never posed a threat or even acted aggressively.  They are just so darn tank looking.  The Duane is sunk in 120 feet of water off Key Largo. visibility about 50-100 feet A 10 footer was hooked in about 150 feet of water off the keys this past summer.

A diver snapped a couple of good picks look off her bow at about 8:30 in the photo

[Conan The Librarian]

Now you might be wondering what a shark that size eats?
 
Smaller great whites (10 footers), of course:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/monster-shark-bites-great-white-in-half/story-e6freuy9-1225791557651
 
Scootrd:
Great wreck picture. Thanks!
+1 on the bulls: they're everywhere, and have been confirmed as far up the Mississippi River as Alton, Illinois.
 

[scootrd]

Spookiest night dive I ever encountered was when an instructor friend of mine asked if I would play dive master for him on a night dive (he needed an additional hand for a bit larger group than normal). I said sure. I was second in and went to bow. Was hanging onto Anchor line so when students  headed to bow I was to place their hands on the anchor line have them test their lights again give me OK sign then submerge following anchor line to ocean floor and wait with a dive master already submerged waiting for them. (about 60 feet).

While waiting in darkness for first student to come up to bow with only boat bow and my dive light illuminating anything,
a fin violently broke the surface 3 feet from my right arm thrashed about for a second or two then quickly submerged.

Whole incident happened in a matter of 3-5 seconds.  I was just getting a whoa out of my mouth when my best friend and dive master buddy John swam up (which made me literally gasp out loud cause I didn't see him coming).

I said did you f'n see that ? he said no but I heard it , what was it?

I said other than a shark of some sort I  have no F'n clue, But the damn thing just made me wet my suit. 

He laughed like he!@, The rest of the dive went without incident.

[Conan The Librarian]

Scootrd:
 
I can relate to that. I used to dive on boats that included divers taking the advanced open water certification classes, which included a night dive. There were never any incidents for my dives like that, but people are more nervous at night and there have been quite a few cases of panic attacks.  I spent a lot of time just being reassuring about how beautiful it is. Well, we did have some jellyfish blooms, but nobody got hurt.
 
I got a special view of a fortunately harmless incident one day while diving the kelp beds in Monterey Bay, California. There are lots of big seals in the area. I was at about 40 feet just checking out the kelp and another guy was at about 60 feet, about 40 feet away from me. He was checking out stuff near the bottom. One of the seals swam by me very close, and I never heard or sensed him, not even a bit of turbulence in the water. He dove straight for the other guy, who didn't see the seal coming. The seal apparently knew divers. He zipped right up to the other diver from behind, stuck his snout right up to the diver's mask and stopped abruptly.
 
I've never seen such a big cloud of bubbles from any diver. He was understandably startled tremendously. I was in a perfect position to see it all happen. I felt sorry for the guy and didn't think it was the least bit funny (safety first). But in hindsight it's a story I've repeated many times because it has so many interesting dimensions to it.
 
Since you like diving, read a book called The Last Of The Blue Water Hunters by Carlos Eyles. Awesome read.

[FPH]

My friends brother was a News chopper pilot for a TV channel in FL.  Dave's brother took him for a flight over the coast one day.....Dave never went back in the water.......he was amazed at the number of sharks swimming among the swimmers.

[AtlLaw]

When I was stationed in Savannah in the 60's I naturally did a lot of fishing.  The Savannah Beach area was (is?) known as having a high density of sharks and I'd had several run-ins with 3 or 4 footers fishing from the docks.  Mostly hammerheads.
 
This time my father-in-law and I were in a boat and had beached it to fish in the surf.  I waded out into the water, crossed one trough and started down another, stopping when the water came up to my chest.  As I was casting out I looked down into the trough and there, just feet away was a shark swimming along the bottom of the trough!     And this fish was much longer then I was tall!   
 
Now, I been in gunfights, knife fights and fistfights... I been shot, stabbed and had my butt whipped more times then I can count.  But I have never been more uh, apprehensive then I was then!  There's just something about being in another critter's element, an element that is not your own, and that critters natural instinct is to eat you!   

[SHOOTALL]

My brother and I were fishing near the South end of the bridge that goes from Nags Head to Cape Hatteras . This was when the Coast Guard Station was still there. We were catching spot for dinner in the channel the CG Cutter used . We waded out to about waist deep and fished . Well this big fin comes between us so its time to head for shore about 50 yards away. Well my brother is laughing as we hit the beach. Said the fish basket attached to my belt was up on plane I was moving so fast. 

[williamlayton]

We used to fish the surf on Galveston Island and do it a lot at night.
There wer 4 sandbars with gut between them---the third bar you had to swim too at high tide--low tide you could wad but it was deep. On the bar the water was about waist high. We would wade the bar fising the guts in between a would catch some really nice trout and reds. We used 25' stringers and never let the fish swim close to us.....At night it could get spooky quiet--nothing but a gentle surf--and in a full moon you would see those long gray shadows slip by real silently.
Blessings

[Conan The Librarian]

This is amazing:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260577/Terrifying-moment-great-white-shark-glides-dangling-feet-surfer--didnt-realise-till-checked-camera-home.html
 

[scootrd]

Big whites are being seen more frequently along NE coast states (though they have always been here). Whats different is food sources. The gray seal population off Cape Cod has exploded from 10,000 to more than 300,000 since protections were put in place. They has to close some beaches near Chatham due to multiple sightings.

From Rockaway (where the surfer snapped his picture.. to the cape where the good seals are) is less than 300 clicks.
The Ocearch a research vessel has been involved with tagging the sharks off the cape and they estimate Approx 30 great whites are cruising around on any given day.  (I sure would hate to be a grey seal off the cape !!!)

They have a unique vessel they use to tag. Rather than harpooning to tag , they bait 'em in and raise them right out of the water with a platform .




Kinda reminds me of that line in Jaws

You go inside the cage?
 [Hooper nods]
 Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark.
 
Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again.  - Quint

[Conan The Librarian]

I saw Jaws at the theater when it was new, and nearly got my knee broken during that startling scene where Hooper dives underneath swamped boat and the guy's head drops into view. The guy in the seat in front of me recoiled.
 
Then I saw it again quite recently. A fine story and worth seeing. I did notice to my amusement that 1975 must have been a low point in American fashion. Some of the styles look so comically dated. Of everyone in the film, Quint would look the least out of place in a crowd of people wearing today's fashions and hair styles. (Cocktails are back in fashion too, so his drinking habits would probably fit right in too.)

[Conan The Librarian]

In fact, dare I say it, a re-make of Jaws would probably be a good idea today. Timeless story, contemporary styles and attitudes. With Hollywood being fixated on remakes and other derived works, there may be a project going on now to do it.

[streak]

We used to fish the surf on Galveston Island and do it a lot at night.
There wer 4 sandbars with gut between them---the third bar you had to swim too at high tide--low tide you could wad but it was deep. On the bar the water was about waist high. We would wade the bar fising the guts in between a would catch some really nice trout and reds. We used 25' stringers and never let the fish swim close to us.....At night it could get spooky quiet--nothing but a gentle surf--and in a full moon you would see those long gray shadows slip by real silently.
Blessings

Your post  reminds me of the times that when I lived in Houston, we used to go down to San Luis Pass ( sp??) there at Galveston and go after flounders with gigs! Had a stringer tied to my belt, and stringer tailed out to about 10 to 12 feet from me with a floater at the end of the stringer. We were constantly seeing sand sharks anywhere from 3 feet to 6 foot in length slipping past us! We had some very harring episodes in that bay as naturally this was always at night time!!

[FPH]

We used to fish the surf on Galveston Island and do it a lot at night.
There wer 4 sandbars with gut between them---the third bar you had to swim too at high tide--low tide you could wad but it was deep. On the bar the water was about waist high. We would wade the bar fising the guts in between a would catch some really nice trout and reds. We used 25' stringers and never let the fish swim close to us.....At night it could get spooky quiet--nothing but a gentle surf--and in a full moon you would see those long gray shadows slip by real silently.
Blessings

I use to see guys at Galveston put a blood dripping chunk of meat with a treble hook in it on a surf board and paddle it out and drop the meat.  All the while with the blood running off the surf board into the water......crazy to me.

[scootrd]

Diver Saves  Dolphin, January 23 2013 ,

The Dolphin was entangled in a fishing line inhibiting Fin movement and cutting into it's fin . The encounter to cut away the line took about eight minutes during which time the dolphin would surface get air and return to the diver so he could continue to help free it from the line from its fin. Tell me they are not intelligent !!!!

While in Hawaii , My better half and I were able to swim among a pod of about 70 dolphin.
They came in chasing schools of fish, parted and swam all around us while we were diving off Oahu.

Quite a spiritual encounter. 

Here is the full encounter

[Anna]

Looks like there are a lot of real nice Nocona shark skin boots still swimming around out there.
Kill em , eat em, tan em and wear em. Eeeee Haa !

[mcbammer]

Looks like there are a lot of real nice Nocona shark skin boots still swimming around out there.
Kill em , eat em, tan em and wear em. Eeeee Haa !

I  ate  some  black  tip  shark or   I  should  say  tried  to  eat  it.  Nasty  stuff .

[Conan The Librarian]

Blacktip is usually pretty tasty. I wonder if the one you got had been sitting around too long. Shark meat, at least for the commonly caught food sharks, don't freeze well and spoil quickly, and take on an ammonia taste. My experience with it is that it's like a very firm, very lean pork chop. Not like fish at all.
 
I don't recommend eating shark, though. They are at the top of the food chain, accummulate a lot of toxins and they are slow growing. They really should be left alone. The shark fin fishery is a scandal and a waste. Not that I want to go around sharing the water with them, but they are important creatures that have an important place in the world.
 
A bit of trivia, my old buddy (now deceased) used to be a shark fisherman in New England. Main product from the sharks was oil. They used to kill porpoises to use them for bait.
 
Trivia #2: Before the development of sand paper, shagreen was used by cabinet makers to sand the wood. Shagreen was shark skin, which has small, raspy toothlike scales.

[mcbammer]

Blacktip is usually pretty tasty. I wonder if the one you got had been sitting around too long. Shark meat, at least for the commonly caught food sharks, don't freeze well and spoil quickly, and take on an ammonia taste. My experience with it is that it's like a very firm, very lean pork chop. Not like fish at all
 
 
It  seems  the  more  I chewed  it  the  bigger  it  got.  Spit  it  out &  put  it  on  my  dont  try  this  again  list.

[Conan The Librarian]

Yechh! That makes me want to projectile vomit.
 
They are pretty popular with fishermen as a food fish.
 
Funny story about black tips. I was fishing a shallow flat wading one morning a couple of years ago and another guy had his black labs with him while he was fishing a couple of hundred yards away, also wading. We met on the beach later and exchanged pleasantries. It turns out he quit fishing because the dogs were swimming near him and having a good time, and this attracted a couple of black tips. Nobody hurt. But it got the guy's attention and he left the water.

[vbhunter]

We used to fish the surf on Galveston Island and do it a lot at night.
There wer 4 sandbars with gut between them---the third bar you had to swim too at high tide--low tide you could wad but it was deep. On the bar the water was about waist high. We would wade the bar fising the guts in between a would catch some really nice trout and reds. We used 25' stringers and never let the fish swim close to us.....At night it could get spooky quiet--nothing but a gentle surf--and in a full moon you would see those long gray shadows slip by real silently.
Blessings

We used to fish the very same way when we lived in San Antonio and would go to Corpus 3 or 4 times a year.  One time, I was swimming back to shore with a stringer of trout tied to my waist, and when I was swimming between sand bars, a 10 or 12 foot bull shark came by and relieved me of all my fish in one bite.  We would tie the stringer with a slip knot that would come loose when a lot of pressure was put on it, but it wasn't necessary because the shark bit the line into clean.  I saw him coming, and thought he was after me until he turned and took the fish.  It was the biggest bull I ever saw, and I was petrified with fear. It was three or four years before I got up the courage to fish that way again.  I bet he went back and told all his friends about how he got a free meal and scared the crap out of some dumb fisherman.

[scootrd]

Ocean Ramsey Free diving with Great whites

Here she is with an Interview, swimming with a Tiger and some rays.
Pretty girl , shame she is probably not long for this world.

[Conan The Librarian]

If she wants to be a guinea pig, more power to her. No matter what happens, science is furthered. Reminds me of how Val Taylor had the same attitude, but she was dealing with smaller sharks, and she wore armor.


I agree with her description of sharks, except that it leaves out the important trait that sharks will make test bites, then come back for more if they liked what they tasted.


They are demonized creatures, and do have a very important role in the ecosystem.

[scootrd]

I agree with her description of sharks, except that it leaves out the important trait that sharks will make test bites, then come back for more if they liked what they tasted.

They are demonized creatures, and do have a very important role in the ecosystem.

I agree .

However , I certainly would not want to be the one to tempt fate. If you tug a dogs tail and get bit ... Kinda hard to blame the dog.
blame the dog for being a dog and doing what dogs do.  There is something hypnotic though seeing her glide along on the dorsal fin.

I wonder how much clear water and no regulator noise and bubbles play a role in keeping a semblance of environment normalcy when interacting