Florida divers seek out sharks (Seeing more sharks than ever before; 'it's unbelievable')

WISTV ^ | July 4, 2005

[nickcarraway]

With the recent shark attacks in Florida, you would think people would be doing everything they can to stay away from the animals, but lots of Florida divers are actually going out with the sole purpose of running into sharks.

Four miles off Jupiter's coast and 80 feet below the surface, a feared species gaining national attention swarms.

Randy Jordan works at the Jupiter Dive Center, "For some reason this summer we have seen more sharks it's unbelievable the amount of sharks we've seen, more than ever before."

Divers noticing this new trend are making their way closer to area reefs for a thrill.

Experts speculate higher breeding and a higher food supply like bait fish are the attractions. But little more is known about why the species consisting of bulls, hammerheads and reefs sharks are flocking, "When you can see shark hammerhead or bull and you can swim, they're more afraid us than you are of them. It's thrilling."

And it's a thrill that has hundreds of South Florida divers dropping in on this rare occurrence, one where up close encounters are common, leaving a lasting impression.

While millions fear them, divers are moving in on them, and in South Florida it is creating a summer stir that has dive trips booked solid.

[skinkinthegrass]

They were fighting over it...was time to move back to Miami Beach...LOL! ..pronto! :D

[Voir Dire]

There was a spike in attacks in 2001. I remember the summer news was sharks and gary hart- then the headlines shifted abruptly on 9.11.

[MarkL]

Maybe the sharks have finally realized that beaches around resort towns are better feeding grounds than the old slave ship routes, where according to a sensationally stupid democrat member of the house of representatives, the sharks are still looking for the slave ships for extra meals of slaves tossed overboard!

Mark

[MarkL]

This is easy. The sharks are just following along the new routes of the slave ships.

Grrrrr..... We both had the same idea on this one! lol 'Ya beat me by a few hours!

Mark

[MarkL]

Hey wait a minute... maybe it's US they're supposed to keep in check!

No kidding! Next time you're swimming in the ocean, ask a shark who's at the top of the food chain!

Mark

[Kozak]

Any chance some Moslem scientist came up with a series of shark pheromones?

The last discovery by a moslem scientist was Algebra.

[MarkL]

Most Shark tastes like urine as sharks urinate through their skins;

I'm not going to ask how you know what urine tastes like... Really, I'm not!

Mark

[Integrityrocks]

I guess surfers have to surf somewhere, but I'm just not seeing any big draw for heading to a Florida beach for "swimming." Living in Alaska, swimming in the ocean is just something you don't do and seems no one misses it.

[MarkL]

In the middle photo, there are horizontal flukes, so it's not a shark, but a whale or a porpoise.

Mark

[rwfromkansas]

bottom. right one is a dolphin

[rwfromkansas]

though I must answer the bottom one reluctantly. I somehow doubt a shark would jump out of the water like that.

Whales breach, not sharks.

[Man50D]

That sounds like the Florida version of Dorothy's lions, tigers and bears OH My!

[rwfromkansas]

is the bottom a doctored killer whale?

[pax_et_bonum]

I woke up one night and heard some activity next to my bed and looked down and saw a mouse on one end of dorito and a palmetto bug on the other end having a tug of war. They were fighting over it.

Yeah, but one hot Texas summer evening when my son was a baby I left him in his swing on the porch for a couple of minutes while I stepped inside to refill my iced tea.

When I returned to the porch I found him being pulled between two giant mosquitoes who were having a tug-of-war over him.

;-)

[Trust but Verify]

GMTA! It was the first thought that came to mind. Democrats are such easy pickings.

[Jorge]

ROFL!

[stacytec]

I tend to think that Bull sharks aren't like that (I've been diving around them my whole life). They get aggressive in mating season but humans aren't on the menu as a main course , else half the people swimming would be chum. Bull sharks are in abundance near the coast in S Florida and to my memory that has always been the case. They hang out in the surf and let the oxygenated water float over their gills (saves them from having to swim). But they aren't predatory, like tiger sharks in the Pacific.

Bang sticking won't fix anything. If you take out a chunk of the shark population, other equally dangerous predators take their place. In this diver's humble opinion, the most dangerous fish in Florida are the barracuda (which will bite at any shiny thing it thinks is a wounded fish) and stingrays, which constantly stick their poisonous barbs through the feet of tourists treading through the sand. Unfortunately, no one keeps statistics of barracuda/stingray incidents but I'd be willing to bet you there are far more then shark attacks. Sharks just make better headlines.

[epow]

There have always been plenty of sharks along the FL gulf beaches, just ask any general aviation pilot who has flown low over the water just offshore. I have seen sharks rowed up side by side for miles along the beach roughly 1/4 mile or so offshore many times. I have also seen people swimming and floating on inflatable rafts along those beaches at the same time the sharks were present, and they probably never knew there was a shark within 100 miles.

The good part of that situation is that statistically speaking a swimmer's chance of being bitten by a shark in FL waters is about the same as winning the powerball lottery.

[Waco]

Drill offshore, lot of fish hang around the rigs, sharks hang out too, stay out from shore. Ooops! Forgot 2-3 innocent money laden tourists ain't worth it! (What happened to, "if it saves one life it's worth it?"

[Straight Vermonter]

You are correct sir.