Must not have been very hungry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLUXWXrW9Qg

NOOOOOOO I would probably have a heart attack being that close to a great white. I have been among cape buff, elephants and poisonous snakes in Africa, but sharks terrify me.

This happened just out from my home and we could see the boats at the time.
I was happy to be fishing from the shore that morning.

Being eaten by a great fish,really would be one of the worst ways to go

It sounds awful, but when one of those big boy bite, its usually instantaneous, often with half of the victims body swallowed in one.

It is all kinda funny, accept that in great white areas they are there all the time; mostly you don't ever see them but they sense you.
Most of us who have had extensive exposure to sharks just get on with things I would still do what those guys did though sit quietly and wait.
I had the same problem on a surf rescue board paddling near a seal colony off Santa Caralina Island in the 80's a few weeks later a great white took two rafted sea kayakers off one of the LA beachs Long Beach I think it was.
I have been chased back to the diving bell by sharks pain in the arse things they are.

Humans shouldnt get upset when one of them gets eaten by a shark - you are in their territory and they are doing what they do best.

No such thing as shark infested waters , its their home and we should all respect that.

Well said Muzza,i see no need to go in the sea,so i don't

quote:

Originally posted by TOP_PREDATOR:
Being eaten by a great fish,really would be one of the worst ways to go

Probably a lot quicker than being killed and eaten by a Gizzly bear, which happened to a hunter, just a couple of miles from here.
Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
Humans shouldnt get upset when one of them gets eaten by a shark -

Somehow, the realization that I was about to be eaten would still cause a bit of emotional upset.

There is nothing fast about a great white eating lunch, it is an ambush attack type predator that inflicts as much damage as possible in one quick pass then waits for the prey to weaken from blood loss before moving in again to finish at leisure. Great whites can also hunt in groups, the shark fin cams used in south africa show great whites in groups around seal colonies. Apparently they don't like risking getting knocked around too much by the larger mammals they eat. Another interesting fact is the vast majority of shark attack victims do not see the shark until it is on its final lunge or is actually biting them.
If the shark has shown itself to you then it has decided not to bite you and is probabaly just curious. Sharks are alive because they know what they should eat and like any alpha predator don't like taking chances if they don't have to. Great whites are possibly one shark that has learn't to look out of the water, it needs research but think about it, seeing above the water is an advantage if you like finding where seals are sitting on rocks

quote:

Originally posted by Weathered:
but think about it, seeing above the water is an advantage if you like finding where seals are sitting on rocks

Or a fisherman on a Kayak.

I guess sharks are lucky they live in the sea . If they were terrestrial dwellers they would be hunted to extinction by humans just because they were there and accessable .

I dont go into the sea - it tastes awful cos all those fish f*ck in it ...

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
Humans shouldnt get upset when one of them gets eaten by a shark - you are in their territory and they are doing what they do best.

No such thing as shark infested waters , its their home and we should all respect that.

Perhaps we should extend the same courtesy to serial killers and paedophiles ? After all we are in their territory and they are only doing what they do best .
I'm sure the bloke that got eaten by a great white here last week wasn't upset at all . Nor I suppose was his son who had the privilege of watching the whole thing from a few feet away .
Pretty easy to stay away from dangerous animals in NZ isn't it ?

quote:

Originally posted by muzza:
I dont go into the sea - it tastes awful cos all those fish f*ck in it ...

Hate to say this Muzz but its the salt that makes it taste like that.
Read a thing in a fishing mag here a few years back, joker fishing from a kayak, puts out a burley trail only to be visited by a GW bigger than his kayak. Promptly shits himself in fear to add to the burley trail, , GW nudges kayak but then swims away from memory, anyhow he didn't end up getting chomped. Probably silly enough to do it again the next week. Personally. I think you'd need to be potty to do such a thing.
Steve

Bushchook - hardly the same at all really . Sharks dont waddle ashore and eat people on the streets , but humans are happy to swim in the sharks backyard , and then get shitty when someone gets bitten.

Pedophiles , serial killers and other deviants are criminals in human society , sharks are not members of human society - see where this is heading ....

I would respectfully suggest that there is every bit as much chance of getting munched by a shark here as there is in Australia , as well as being dealt to by a stingray ( two in the last week ) or bitten by a poisonous spider - the most prevalent of which are aussie whitetailed freeloaders.

You could also add the numbers of folk who die in our mountains each year through stupidity or misadventure , or the folk who die at the beach having a swim , and so on , ad infintum.

My view remains - swim in a sharks back yard , become shark food .

Bushchook - hardly the same at all really . Sharks dont waddle ashore and eat people on the streets , but humans are happy to swim in the sharks backyard , and then get shitty when someone gets bitten.

Pedophiles , serial killers and other deviants are criminals in human society , sharks are not members of human society - see where this is heading ....

I would respectfully suggest that there is every bit as much chance of getting munched by a shark here as there is in Australia , as well as being dealt to by a stingray ( two in the last week ) or bitten by a poisonous spider - the most prevalent of which are aussie whitetailed freeloaders.

You could also add the numbers of folk who die in our mountains each year through stupidity or misadventure , or the folk who die at the beach having a swim , and so on , ad infintum.

My view remains - swim in a sharks back yard , become shark food .

Fatal great white attack same day "I think" in West Aus didn't find any remains and was only in a couple of meteres of water, when they want you it's usualy the end

never sen a gw in the flesh, but had a 8 foot tiger swim by when I was snorkeling in Hawaii--- scared me to death! I have lots of respect for them and always hope the are not hungry!

I have had a large shark pass under my paddle board off Catalina Island, I have smashed another shark across the head with an underwater burning torch on a job salvage off Sumatra, Indonesia. I have jumped in on top of a Mako shark in China. I have been buzzed by a tiger in the Persian gulf. the only time I was really bothered was the sharks in the Timor Gap Australia the most agressive I have ever met they did chase me back to the diving bell and the other teams as well. I can probbaly think of more if I sit down and try to consider sharks during a commercial diving career over 24 years. The sharks ..... hell its their turf ..... normally they are no trouble but I would never bet my life on it.

quote:

Pretty easy to stay away from dangerous animals in NZ isn't it ?

We have people here you know!

quote:

Originally posted by 303Guy:

quote:

Pretty easy to stay away from dangerous animals in NZ isn't it ?

We have people here you know!

In the south Island we have things called M-o-u-n-t-a-i-n-s more aussies killed falling off our m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n-s than sharks eat aussies in Australia.

You Aussies could not handle nasties as well as m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n-s over here.

That was funny!

Mind you, more Kiwi's fall off our m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n-s than Aussies!