Shark Tales– and A Question

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QUESTION: WHEN ENCOUNTERING ONE OR SEVERAL SHARKS IN THE OPEN OCEAN, ARE YOU SAFER AS A SNORKELER OR AS A SCUBA DIVER?

Assume that you are not in immediate danger in either scenario described below, then consider the implications of each:

SCENARIO A: You are scuba diving at 60 feet and have 30 minutes of air left in your tank before it’s time to go up for your safety stop. You are 15 minutes into a 45 minute dive. A white-tip reef shark approaches you (and your buddy). You are feeling calm, but you do have to eventually go up to the surface. You have no weapons. The shark does not leave. It slowly circles you at a distance that feels OK, but…

SCENARIO B: You are snorkeling above a reef in about 30 feet of water. Coral formations are variable. Your boat is 30 yards away. Swimming to shore is not an option due to the coral that surrounds you. A pair of grey reef sharks pass you by, then turn around and stay within 30 yards of you. You are armed with a rusty bolt of a spear gun and a rubber hose slingshot to propel it.

If the sharks get aggressive, are you safer as a snorkeler or as a scuba diver?

In my view, since I recently experienced both scenarios on the same day, I felt less nervous as a scuba diver because I mistakenly considered myself to be on a more equal footing with the sharks. However, as I’ve considered this further, it strikes me that, if a close encounter at 60 feet did turn into more than a mutual look-see, the probability of equipment malfunction caused by user stress, a panic-induced emergency ascent, or other "limited-resources-under-water" type problems could put the scuba diver in dire straits. Having said that, I can’t remember hearing of a scuba diver being attacked by sharks unless they were chumming the water and asking for trouble, whereas we always hear of surfer/snorkeler it-looked-like-a-tasty-seal attacks.

What do you pick as the safer place to be? On the surface in Scenario B or Down Under in Scenario A?

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm and is filed under Eye Opening Experiences, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

sam Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

Like you, Pascal, it has been too long since I was last unplugged, so for me one of the best aspects of my recent vacation in Fiji was that all of my stress was lifted. Bearing that in mind, diving almost frightens me to death these days and just thinking about it raises my blood pressure. I think I would much rather be snorkelling. Especially with one of those rusty spears since I already know how to use them and I might actually be able to hit something as large as a shark if I was forced to defend myself! Plus – in Fiji, the sharks reportedly never bite. Or do they? On our return journey we met someone from Marin who’d been staying over on the other side of Fiji. She told us they had been banned from swimming on the little island where she was staying because a visitor had recently been bitten by a shark. But it’s perhaps not what you think – maybe you’ll need to consider another hypothetical situation. She was sitting on the beach with a merely a foot dangling in the water when the shark jumped out and chomped on her.

sam Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

I had another thought – if I was on the surface and was non-fatally bitten by a shark, the boat could rush over and save me. If I was underwater and the same thing happened, I would probably lose my regulator and drown.

Nikos Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

Hi Pascal,
To determine which of the two situations you’ve described is more dangerous, let’s break down the risk in two components: (a) risk of being attacked by a shark and, (b) given that you are attacked, risk of not surviving the attack.
Given what I’ve read about shark attacks in general and looking at statistics from D.A.N about Scuba related accidents, I would say with quite a bit of certainty that the risk of being bitten by a shark while scuba diving is substantially lower than if snorkeling. This may be partially due to the fact that sharks don’t like regulators and the bubbles that they produce, or partly due to the fact that when you’re scuba diving you’re more aware of your surrounding and can more easily move in three dimensions. In general, if you think a shark is getting too curious it’s best to hover near the bottom (assuming you are not on a wall, or the bottom is not too deep). Personally, I am quite comfortable around sharks when I am scuba diving and feel a sense of (false?) security, which I don’t feel when I’m snorkeling. In a recent vacation in the Caymans, I saw a harmless nurse shark sleeping and was taking pictures from about 2 feet away. Yet, I got uncomfortable when I was snorkeling later and saw that same nurse shark 40 feet beneath me.
Now, for the second part of the risk. If you do happen to be bitten by a shark, the chances that you’ll survive (assuming the bite is the same), are much higher if you are already at the surface. If scuba diving, at best, you’ll do an uncontrolled ascent with a risk of DCS, but the possibility of going into shock and drowning is very real. It helps to have a buddy who is at list Rescue Diver certified and who will come to your assistance.
All that being said, the danger of unprovoked shark attack in either case is very low.
Happy Diving!
Nikos

Pascal Levensohn Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

Thanks Nikos– your point about the regulator and the bubbles being unpleasant to sharks– a built-in shark repellent for scuba divers, if you will– is very helpful and not something I was familiar with.
No question that it feels better to be near a shark when you are breathing underwater– that same nervousness dominated my snorkel session in the afternoon.

Shark Diver Says:
January 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

As a shark diver your encounter was a-typical shark behavior. They are naturally curious animals and will come and investigate divers and swimmers on a regular basis. In answer to your question, being on scuba gives you an edge. Swimmers and sharks have the highest number of unfortunate encounters.
We blog about sharks all the time.

incredible Says:
January 7th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

What about option C:
Stay at the bar and sip a nice cold Mojito?

Nikos Says:
January 8th, 2008 at 10:37 pm

Pascal, if you really get nervous, you may also want to try out the following: http://www.sharkshield.com/
I heard it works quite well and it does not harm the sharks, which is also good.
Happy diving! Nikos.

Pascal's View