usvi-on-line
Sharks...
Sharks...
The recent trip report from LMG included an account of an excited or agressive shark, then I was surprised to see so many other people say they too had come across sharks in shallow water around STJ...so this peaked my curiosity of the subject of Sharks in the caribbean, does anybody have any good stories or pictures of shark encounters in the Caribbean?
Caribbean shark attack info here:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/st ... ibbean.htm
The "most wanted list"...
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/st ... ecies2.htm
I'm just curious to learn more...
Caribbean shark attack info here:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/st ... ibbean.htm
The "most wanted list"...
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/st ... ecies2.htm
I'm just curious to learn more...
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cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
Well I'm glad to see the last fatal stark attack in the VI was 1972. I hope that doesn't mean we're due. 
I am the BIGGEST shark chicken. (That doesn't sound right, I bet sharks would like chicken) I did happen to see a Reef Shark in about 8-10 feet of water, on the far left side of Francis, towards Maho. Thankfully I had consumed plenty of Rum libations by that time of day, and he (or she, I didn't stick around to find out which gender) was sleeping on the bottom. I snorkeled over a large reef that dropped off very sharply, and there "it" was. I knew it wasn't a nurse shark, but I did get a good look at it before I turned around and flew thru the water like an olympic swimmer. After I got home, I hit the internet to identify the creature. I'm 99% positive it was a Reef shark. I hope that's my quota for my life.
I am the BIGGEST shark chicken. (That doesn't sound right, I bet sharks would like chicken) I did happen to see a Reef Shark in about 8-10 feet of water, on the far left side of Francis, towards Maho. Thankfully I had consumed plenty of Rum libations by that time of day, and he (or she, I didn't stick around to find out which gender) was sleeping on the bottom. I snorkeled over a large reef that dropped off very sharply, and there "it" was. I knew it wasn't a nurse shark, but I did get a good look at it before I turned around and flew thru the water like an olympic swimmer. After I got home, I hit the internet to identify the creature. I'm 99% positive it was a Reef shark. I hope that's my quota for my life.
Nice shark picture Rick...reversing the bite I guess...You saw one too, huh Cyp...
I'm thinking about what to tell the wife about sharks while snorkeling...probably nothing... I know the probability of an agression is miniscule in the Caribbean, however; it seems the probability of seeing one is pretty good. It's good to know ahead of time I guess.
Data from an April 1963 fatal encounter in STT-
FATAL, hand severed, shoulder, hip, foot, thigh bitten & femoral artery severed, Hand found in gut of 2.9 m to 3.3 m [9'7" to 10'11"] Galapagos shark, C. galapagensis
I'm thinking about what to tell the wife about sharks while snorkeling...probably nothing... I know the probability of an agression is miniscule in the Caribbean, however; it seems the probability of seeing one is pretty good. It's good to know ahead of time I guess.
Data from an April 1963 fatal encounter in STT-
FATAL, hand severed, shoulder, hip, foot, thigh bitten & femoral artery severed, Hand found in gut of 2.9 m to 3.3 m [9'7" to 10'11"] Galapagos shark, C. galapagensis
I've been on hundreds of scuba dives and thousands of snorkels throughout south Florida and the caribbean.
Other than a couple of shark feeding dives where they are purposely attracted, I can count on my fingers and toes the number of open water shark encounters that I've experienced (except for nurse sharks sleeping under ledges - but since you had to actively look for those I'm discounting them).
The odds are long against seeing one, extremely odd against getting close to one, astronomically long against touching one, and infitesimally long against being attacked by one.
You have a better chance of winning the lottery.
If you can think of it in those terms, if you see one, consider yourself lucky!
(Not trying to minimize the real fear of those who have had close encounters/attacks, but trying to put that fear in perspective)
Other than a couple of shark feeding dives where they are purposely attracted, I can count on my fingers and toes the number of open water shark encounters that I've experienced (except for nurse sharks sleeping under ledges - but since you had to actively look for those I'm discounting them).
The odds are long against seeing one, extremely odd against getting close to one, astronomically long against touching one, and infitesimally long against being attacked by one.
You have a better chance of winning the lottery.
If you can think of it in those terms, if you see one, consider yourself lucky!
(Not trying to minimize the real fear of those who have had close encounters/attacks, but trying to put that fear in perspective)
Come see us!
That would have made me mad. I love mahi mahi!SJfromNJ wrote:Off shore while fishing, I have seen what I thought was a Mako. I had a Mahi on and he got 1/2 and I got 1/2.
I have only seen one full-grown shark on all my St. John snorkel trips, and it was just a nurse shark at Salt Pond Bay. We did find a bunch of baby black-tip reef sharks in Genti Bay when we did the Reef Bay Hike in June--there were about 10 of them--the water was so shallow their little fins were sticking out.
That same trip we found another baby black tip reef shark at Caneel Bay--he was just swimming up and down the beach.
When we were there in October our waitress at the Ocean Grill told us that she and her boyfriend encountered a bull shark at Salt Pond out by the big rock in the center of the bay. That's secondhand information, I guess. I've never heard anyone else talking about bull sharks off St. John.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
We are lucky to see sharks. The shark population is in serious decline. Simply Google "declining shark population".
(photo found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Snor ... _shark.jpg)
Hey, isn't that cypressgirl?
(photo found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Snor ... _shark.jpg)Hey, isn't that cypressgirl?
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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[quote="Chet"]We are lucky to see sharks. The shark population is in serious decline. Simply Google "declining shark population".
Chet- I agree with you...I would like to see some sharks...and agree we are lucky that they are still around to see. AND thanks to a little movie by Spielberg that I saw in ~1975 I do expect a rush of pure adrenaline when/if I see one.
YES...love that RUSH!!
Chet- I agree with you...I would like to see some sharks...and agree we are lucky that they are still around to see. AND thanks to a little movie by Spielberg that I saw in ~1975 I do expect a rush of pure adrenaline when/if I see one.
YES...love that RUSH!!
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cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
That's not me Chet. I would be facing the other direction. 
Seriously, I have such a phobia of sharks that I need to have a couple of stiff drinks to really enjoy a snorkel. I can't stop thinking about the "what if's". I actually can let my imagination get so carried away that I visualize seeing one. I know I have a much better chance of drowning from some health crisis or being run over by a boat than being attacked by a shark. I do love to snorkel, but it does put a damper on my enjoyment. I really wish I could put a proper perspective on it and not be so worried all the time. I don't even like to float on rafts with my feet dangeling in the water, for fear one will come by and bite my foot off. I'm wierd.
Seriously, I have such a phobia of sharks that I need to have a couple of stiff drinks to really enjoy a snorkel. I can't stop thinking about the "what if's". I actually can let my imagination get so carried away that I visualize seeing one. I know I have a much better chance of drowning from some health crisis or being run over by a boat than being attacked by a shark. I do love to snorkel, but it does put a damper on my enjoyment. I really wish I could put a proper perspective on it and not be so worried all the time. I don't even like to float on rafts with my feet dangeling in the water, for fear one will come by and bite my foot off. I'm wierd.
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Pete (Mr. Marcia)
- Posts: 1471
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:48 pm
- Location: Madison, Wisconsin
I don't know how old you are, but if you were old enough to see "Jaws" when it first came out, like I was, I can totally relate to your fear. Seriously, I saw that movie in a theater and still lifted my feet off the floor just in case.cypressgirl wrote:That's not me Chet. I would be facing the other direction.
Seriously, I have such a phobia of sharks that I need to have a couple of stiff drinks to really enjoy a snorkel. I can't stop thinking about the "what if's". I actually can let my imagination get so carried away that I visualize seeing one. I know I have a much better chance of drowning from some health crisis or being run over by a boat than being attacked by a shark. I do love to snorkel, but it does put a damper on my enjoyment. I really wish I could put a proper perspective on it and not be so worried all the time. I don't even like to float on rafts with my feet dangeling in the water, for fear one will come by and bite my foot off. I'm wierd.
I may have to do my snorkeling in the villa pool from now on...which, come to think of it could be kind of fun if Marcia is in there
Wisconsin, smell the dairy air
My husband has seen a nurse shark or two while diving around STJ, we've never seen one while snorkeling unless he did and didn't tell me cause I'd be with Pete restricted to only snorkeling in the pool.
I was too little to really remember Jaws but my brother who must have been 6 or so was taken to see it. My mom says he would not get in the bathtub or sit on the potty without MAJOR distress for a long time after
I was too little to really remember Jaws but my brother who must have been 6 or so was taken to see it. My mom says he would not get in the bathtub or sit on the potty without MAJOR distress for a long time after
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cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
I saw Jaws in the theater when I was 15. Right after that we went on a trip to Padre Island TX. I was scared to get into the ocean, but I finally did. I felt a bite on my leg and screamed bloody murder and ran to shore. My Dad decided to swim underwater and bite my leg to scare me! I was freaked out about sharks for awhile.
I am not scared of them now at all and I actually like when I get to see one. I think most attacks are on surfers because they look like seals.
Just last week Jaws was on TV and my son and I watched part of it. He was laughing becasue he could tell that the shark was rubber and plastic and it didn't scare him a bit.
I am not scared of them now at all and I actually like when I get to see one. I think most attacks are on surfers because they look like seals.
Just last week Jaws was on TV and my son and I watched part of it. He was laughing becasue he could tell that the shark was rubber and plastic and it didn't scare him a bit.
Obviously, the idea of seeing sharks is a real thing. Encountering them even seems to be more common in the last several years than many snorkelers and divers with decades of experience can recall in years past.
What I want to stress, though, is I don't think my encounter was an "attack." As I also said in a follow-up comment on my TR, if the shark would have wanted to cause damage, it could have. I think it accomplished what it needed to, which was not having company in that piece of reef at that time. I've even told myself that since this occurance, the odds of anything happening again are very low and therefore I have no reason to give it a second thought again. Now we'll just see what happens to me the next time I step in the water.
What I didn't realize is how strongly people would feel about my story-- some of those people posting in this very thread, and some of them staying "anonymous." So, please, believe me or not, but stop with the messages. It's really getting quite ridiculous and I'm sure if you thought hard enough, you could find better things to do.
I have. Next trip is being planned now!
What I want to stress, though, is I don't think my encounter was an "attack." As I also said in a follow-up comment on my TR, if the shark would have wanted to cause damage, it could have. I think it accomplished what it needed to, which was not having company in that piece of reef at that time. I've even told myself that since this occurance, the odds of anything happening again are very low and therefore I have no reason to give it a second thought again. Now we'll just see what happens to me the next time I step in the water.
What I didn't realize is how strongly people would feel about my story-- some of those people posting in this very thread, and some of them staying "anonymous." So, please, believe me or not, but stop with the messages. It's really getting quite ridiculous and I'm sure if you thought hard enough, you could find better things to do.
I have. Next trip is being planned now!