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[GustyGardens]

I ran across this story on the National Geographic site and thought it was pretty interesting. So, I'm going to share it with you all.

A novice diver swam with some of the ocean’s most feared predators—and came away with a new appreciation for them.

So when I got this assignment, I decided to do what I’d never wanted to do: swim with sharks. I would take scuba lessons and go to a place in the Bahamas known as Tiger Beach, where I’d dive with tiger sharks, the species responsible for more recorded attacks on humans than any shark except the great white. It would be my first dive after getting certified—which means it would be my first dive anywhere other than a swimming pool or a quarry in Maryland—and it would be without a cage. Most people who got wind of this plan thought I was either very brave or very stupid.

But I just wanted to puncture an illusion. The people who know sharks intimately tend to be the least afraid of them, and no one gets closer to sharks than divers. The divers who run operations at Tiger Beach speak lovingly of the tiger sharks there, the way people talk about their children or their pets. They give them nicknames and light up when they talk about their personality quirks. In their eyes these sharks aren’t man-eaters any more than dogs are. (In fact, they are demonstrably less man-eating: In 2015 there were 34 human fatalities from dog attacks in the United States but just six fatalities from shark attacks worldwide.)

At the time I wasn’t sure if the shark loved me like a pal or loved me like a pizza. I was like an overzealous ninja with the three-foot pole I carried to keep the sharks at arm’s length.

The business of puncturing illusions is tricky, though, because reality is rarely one simple thing or its simple opposite. The day before my first dive at Tiger Beach, news came from Hawaii that a man had been attacked by a tiger shark so relentless that the man was able to escape only by pulling out the shark’s eyeball. The man’s feet were mangled, and one foot had to be amputated. (His name is Tony Lee, and I spoke to him a month after the attack. He says he doesn’t think he actually pulled out the whole eyeball, he likely just ruptured it, but it was certainly what made the shark let go. The punch-the-shark-in-the-nose defense? All that got Lee was a fistful of bloody knuckles.) It was one of three attacks off Oahu that month alone and part of an unsettling spike in attacks in recent years that has led Hawaii to commission a study of tiger sharks’ movement patterns.

Here's the full story. It's worth a read.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

I wonder if he would still appreciate them if he had been bitten

 

[Lime]

I love sharks so much. Beautiful creatures really.

 

[echoshifting]

I visit Hawaii every couple of years and it is such a thrill to see a shark when I go snorkeling (my favorite activity out there). A reef shark, I mean. I would not be able to fight off the panic if I came face to face with a tiger. They come out of nowhere, they're pretty big and attacks do happen. All that said, I appreciate what he's trying to do and I get the thrust of this article. I just don't think there is a way to change the way people react to actually encountering a large shark in the water, especially one of the big three (Great White, Bull, Tiger). The best you can do is educate people who are going to share water with them on how to react safely, and stress the fact that such encounters are extremely rare.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

oh my god at those literally razor sharp teeth

I wonder if he would still appreciate them if he had been bitten

 

[Lord_Byron28]

I visit Hawaii every couple of years and it is such a thrill to see a shark when I go snorkeling (my favorite activity out there). A reef shark, I mean. I would not be able to fight off the panic if I came face to face with a tiger. They come out of nowhere, they're pretty big and attacks do happen. All that said, I appreciate what he's trying to do and I get the thrust of this article. I just don't think there is a way to change the way people react to actually encountering a large shark in the water, especially one of the big three (Great White, Bull, Tiger). The best you can do is educate people who are going to share water with them on how to react safely, and stress the fact that such encounters are extremely rare.

Looking towards the end of his article. I think he is more campaigning for more protection for Tiger Sharks due to their growing importance in the Ocean's ecosystem. He also pointed out several times that they are still dangerous and wild animals that are unpredictable as well as outlining recent deaths that occured.

 

[Dice//]

The most alien creature on this planet are the ones that live in the ocean. Strange, scary, magnificent.