[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Never scuba dove, but did snorkel. The nurse shark I didn’t mind so much.

But the barracuda scared the heck out of me. The guide said, “if a barracuda comes up to you, just roll over to your back and kick your fins at it and it’ll swim away.”

Well, it didn’t. That thing stalked me. Another freeper mentioned feeling small when a big shark bumped his boat.

Let me tell you about feeling slow in the water watching a barracuda seem to teleport from one spot to another. I honestly could barely see it.

You realize very fast the damage one could do let alone a school.

[MtnClimber]

I was snorkeling in the Bahamas and dove into a small cave looking for lobsters. A nurse shark was sleeping in the back of the cave and spun be every which way as it blew past me.

[Lera]

I had a barracuda bump me while snorkeling at Pennekamp .
It was bigger than me , dropped my camera .
The place is crawling with them but there are hardly ever any bites from them.

http://pennekamppark.com/

[cpdiii]

I was skin diving off of Cozumel. In the past I have frequently seen barracudas and it did not bother me. This one was big and acted strangely. I was about two hundred yards off the beach and it followed me for a few minutes. It was a big one about 5 feet. It stayed about ten feet behind me at 45 degrees. I became uneasy and headed for shore. It followed me into about 3 feet of water. I walked up the beach instead of swimming back. That one scared me.

[Caipirabob]

I've swam through schools of them. Snorkeling off the beach in Boca Raton at Red Reef Park.

They were each between 2-3 feet and these were the silver variety. I've read that those are younger ones. There was a larger one that stalked the reefs, it was a different color however. It appeared to be dark with yellow-green stripes. I dubbed it a "Turbo Barracuda" later on. It was close to 4 feet long. I didn't feel at risk at the time but I've been in situations in the Caymans where one appeared aggressive with me but didn't attack.