swimming with sharks pehaps

[cappy]

coming back to the cragmoor very late at night ..after following the crowd to a shebeen we needed to get back to her in a boat as she was anchored off in syey harbour ....after a long run down from vancouver there were many thirsty persons ......on arrival at the jetty there was a small boat not our liberty boat but a small rower ...probably capable of 7 or 8 persons ......about 15 scrambled aboard ...two reasons i was not happy were it had then about a half inch of freeboard and i had recently caught my ist shark after a breakdown for three days at sea.....i had been told not to swim over the side in sydney harbour as there were many types of shark there ......we were about8 or nine hundred yards from the ship....it was never proved who started it but very much drink had been taken and someone stood up to see if his best buddy was aboard....turning round he stumbled the boat fellover.....i now new what a fear of sharks was about all hands in the water the drunk who had stood up and fell downshouting where is billy or harry or whatever his name was......the boat had no grablines ...i must say any thought of being a hero went very quickly .....i set of like an olympic swimmer for the gangway which was lit in the distance ....after a few minutes i relised i was in a very vulnerable position ...and cupped one hand over my proud possession and swam like xxx towards the bottom of the gangway ...now panic was taking over and i threw caution to the wind and swam using two arms while praying the big feela who i was sure was swimming just below me wouldnt bite .......it was an interesting situation back aboard ......with the second engineeer accusing the drunk of capsizing the boat into which otherengineers joined in and a fuull fight broke out ending with the2nd enginneer smashing a group of six or so plates over the ABs head ......later the AB lost his reason and was wandering round the ship naked and had to be contained in his cabin as he was not mentally fit ......we put him ashore on the west coast of africa ...gone whacky altogether ...but of cause no one said who hit him with the plates......many other happenings on that tramp ..but surely a learning curve ....cappy

[Captain Kong]

Two years ago I was swimming with Sting Rays in Moorea, near Tahiti, I had a snorkel on and a small box with cut fish pieces in and fed the sting rays,
They were about four feet in diameter. lovely creatures, then I held onto his shoulders and he towed me around the Lagoon, uner the water I saw around a dozen sharks, moving silently behind each other, and circling us.
as one got close that Sting Ray started to whip his tail around to frighten the shark off. which it did, but his tail caught me across my back and down the right arm.
The pain was excruciating, but I still hung on as it was keeping the sharks away, I got near the noat and then climbed in. My back and arm was covered in dozens of black punctures from all the stings down its tail. and when I got back to the ship later I had to see the Doctor to have it cleaned and treated.
Cheers
Brian

[happy daze john in oz]

Here in Oz we have many sharks around the coast and regular hits by them on swimmers.

But we also have the opportunity to see them close up, they are on the TV most days in question time.

[Rodney Mills]

As I have mentioned before my wife and I have master scuba diver ranking. We have made a number of dives with sharks. Attached are four that I thought might be of interest. One is my wife and I off Agincourt Reef, Queensland, the big fish behind is a grouper Two were taken diving off Holborne Island, Queensland, and are of reef sharks. We had four swimming near by and we sat on a coral encrusted rock and watched them cruising around us. They started to get a bit too close and it can be dodgy as the flick with their tails as they go past and can hurt one really bad.

There is a trick a diver can do to scare them off. Remove your regulator from your mouth and make a yelling noise as you expel air, the noise frightens them away from getting to close. You try and save enough air in your lungs to expel water from your regulator to start air flow again (if you can't there is a purge button you can use on the front of your regulator).

As we were getting ready to go up to the surface and the dive boat about three more came along and the school circled above us. The dive boat skipper could see them and started the boat's motor and revved the engine and scared them away. The fourth photo is a woebegone shark off the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, they are harmless, but look a bit terrifying especially if you bump into one on a night dive(they move slow).

They just accepted three, so see following:

[cappy]

they are good photos rod ...i have never met a man to whom i would be affeared of ...but i confess with sharks which i caught or was on vessels that caught them ...i would be.... if in the water with them.... being expelling air frpom another orifice of my body ...inshields was a young fireman who lived next door to my gran i would go for a beer with him if he was home ...passing his home one day his child of 4 or 5 was in the front i asked is your dad home ...he stated the sharks got my dad ...it appeared he was swimming in singapore or hong kong harbour and was taken ....i dont like sharks .....

[Rodney Mills]

...You can see the boat's motor revving to drive the sharks off so we could exit the water.

I just added one of a "Giant" Clam. If you remember the old movies set around diving, treasure hunting etc., The bad guy usually ends up getting his foot or arm caught in one, struggles like hell to get out and then croaks as the hero and the female interest sail off into the sunset.
Well you can't get trapped in one. The clam has a heavy soft mantle that encompasses the upper and lower shell (the frilly part in the photo) and you can stick you arm in, touch the back meat and it will close on your arm and you can just slide your arm out. So it was fake news.

[cappy]

nearest i got was on orpheus island on the barrier reef on holiday with pat sat on a tiny attoll like beach after taking a small tin boat with i think must have been the biggest and best picnic hamper i have ever seen ....the most amazing drink section securly iced ...and a food hamper with lobster and all other goodies .....but as we lay in the nuddie along came a pearl fisher and and after a while shouted there is a saltie over here ...i was in the tinny and blowing the engine nearly heading back to orpheous......cappy

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
When I was on my second trip we called into Port Sudan, while waiting for the pilot we circled outside, close up in our wake were some huge sharks didn't seem to mind the noise of the screws turning. Caught a lot of Grey Nurse on the BTC as we were always breaking down, now I wonder why instead of cutting them up and throwing them back to watch the others go mad in a frenzy of eating, we didn't eat them ourselves, one shark would have made enough fish and chips for the whole crew.
I can concur with Cappy about holding everything, we were anchored off Benias in Lebanon and had swam ashore, after some wine we swam back; boy that was a long and visionfull swim.
Cheers Des

[John Pruden]

there was a shark net in curacao with a hole in it for years and a wooden raft type thing bunkering there a fella overlooking the bay started shooting into the water we thought he was shooting at us I went up the hill to give him a crack until he pointed to the swimming area there was a shark in the bay with us we gave him a few packets of fags it was only a sand shark but a shark is a shark some big fellas around south Africa taking young seals but still one of the seas marvels ? what times ahh.. jp

[happy daze john in oz]

Just out of the Red Sea and the cook said we should throw a line over the side to see what we might catch.
He used a bent butchers hook and half a Lambs liver.
We caught a shark, not sure what kind but it had nasty looking teeth.
He killed it with a hammer to the head and decided to cut it up.
Scored his hand on the skin which was like sand paper, but we all ate very well for a few days.