Re: SHARK Diving

[Gambitt]

Well....  Now I am Some Upset!!!
 
 Here I am planning a big trip to Roatan to go diving with sharks...
 
 Then tonight on the Discovery Channel, they do a documentary on Bull Sharks.  And where do they go, to film adult bull sharks???  Bahamas?...Nope,  Roatan?...Nope!
 
 They go to Playa Santa Lucia, wich is only about 175 miles up the coast, from where I was twice in Guardalavaca Cuba!!!
 
   

[millybess]

Well Gambitt, this is bad news for me too.  I don't have a clue where Roatan is, but I certainly know where Playa Santa Lucia is.
 
 Bull sharks, eh?  They're nasty critters aren't they?

[Gambitt]

Actually, they're not near as bad as people perceive...
 
 Humans just aren't on sharks "grocery list", and most of the bites occur a) because the shark is cornered/scared or b) because the water is too murky for the shark to see, and it takes a "test bite" to see if you are edible...
 
 So, if you avoid these situtations, you really don't have a lot to fear from any shark.
 
 Oh, and Roatan is an island off the coast of Belize & Hondouras... it's the Cozamel of South America.

[millybess]

These are good things to know.  Roatan sounds beautiful.
 
 FYI, my two youngest were PADI certified last month and DH and eldest hope to be by September.  It was our trip to Cuba in March that started the ball rolling on scuba diving.  (I'm in charge of all the paperwork because they know it won't get wet.  :(

[Gambitt]

They are safer with their scuba gear on, than when they are swimming!
 
 The noise/vibrations from a scuba reg are known to bother sharks.  No fish makes bubbles like that, so it can't be food!  You also tend to swim much smoother when diving, as you are properly weighted and balaced, so you create no "panic vibrations" that will attrack sharks.