I saw the biggest animal I've ever seen in the water a few weeks ago on the trip I just got home from. Slowed down to the gps reading and I slack off the dive board to look for the condo. First thing I see is the biggest damn tiger shark I've ever seen. One of those that are so big it almost looks lazy. I just watched it for like 10 seconds, got back on the dive board and told the driver head to the next trap. A whole lot of "fuck that" at that one. And that thing was probably 20+ feet smaller than a typical whale shark. It's gotta be surreal.
So I got certified last fall and have only dove at kraken springs near Atlanta so far. Looking for a driving distance dive for after my buddy gets certified in a couple weeks. Any suggestions?
I had a fat Tiger swim beneath my board several months ago in about 10-15 feet of water. Almost shit my pants. Totally dwarfed my 11 ft board. One of the lifeguards told me, “Oh that’s just Lucy, she’s harmless. She has one fin and waits for the fishing boats coming back to the harbor to feed her.” Didn’t provide me much solace.
Everyone should almost shit themselves once in the water. One time diving, I came across five reef sharks that swam above me. I tasted that adrenaline rush. I have never felt so inferior than when I tried to swim around to get in a better defensive stance and the sharks then casually just darted across the water until I couldn't see them in a matter of seconds. That feeling of fragility and recognizing my inferior capabilities changed the way I feel about myself to this day. They could have came at me and ripped my limbs off before I would ever know what bit me. Scuba life changes things
By far my most pant shitting moment was face to face with a hammerhead out of nowhere. I had just finished working a condo and threw my hook and lobster into the well of the boat. Hook bounced out so I go back down behind it. It was in like 20ft of water. I got to bottom and grabbed my hook and when I looked up we were looking at eachother about 5 feet apart. I guess he was checking out this bright shiny thing that just dropped. I flop around, my sudden movement frightens him and we both haul ass out of there.
Going down the rabbit hole; gotta buncha gear so no excuses for not using it. Went on another guided boat dive today and it’s nice having everything taken care of, but I feel like I’d learn more out of shore dives and really getting after it all the time.
Are you talking about setting up your equipment or getting a workout? If you’re not learning how to setup your equipment yourself, they’re doing you a disservice, especially as a 20/30 something male. It takes time to learn but you don’t want to rely on a dive guide for a long time and then run into an equipment issue that you are clueless about because you’ve never even set the thing up.
May have posted this before but it’s relevant. Was in the northern Gulf of Mexico once and we saw sharks finning the water feeding but that’s all we knew. Guides gave people the option to sit it out or get in. I was a teenager so of course I was getting in the water. Get to depth and we see they were two ~10-foot long bull sharks feeding (hence the finning). They make a couple passes to check us out, coming within a handful of feet from me and the guide, and I will never forget two things. One is how massive they are and how big around a 10 foot shark is (basically, very girthy) that could kill me in seconds. Two is that I was ~60 feet under water and screaming my lungs out into my regulator, helplessly grabbing at my knife as if that would protect me in the event the bull decided to have itself a nibble for a taste. Salt water in my mouth, verbalizing things no one could discern, and loving every minute of it. Incredible experience even if it was humbling, scary, and somewhat dangerous since bulls are known for their aggression.
Yeah my instructor had me do all the setup myself. I just meant more in terms it’s nice going with a boat but it doesn’t seem like I’d do it continuously and get a lot of experience. It’s easier to picture renting tanks and doing shore dives w friends.
We did this a ton at Sharks Cove by Haleiwa. The cathedrals and shit got pretty confusing and easy to turn around but the turtles, mantas and reef sharks were plenty.
Averaging slightly better than a dive per week, mostly shore w/ a few boat. Shit’s fun as hell. I was ambivalent to start (LadyPokes wrangled me into the certification), but it’s quickly becoming a hobby. Saw a lot of progression this week on trim and air. Think we’re gonna knock out the PADI advanced and nitrox certs this month.
Ended up doing both the advanced and Nitrox certs. Kinda toying with getting my rescue and divemaster certs too. Pic of a good size Tiger from Sunday morning:
Went down a rabbit hole on Reddit about Saturation diving and came across this terrifying story. https://scubaboard.com/community/th...lvage-emergency-surgery-in-saturation.562092/