posted on July 16, 2001 07:19:27 PM newspazmodeus-Yes, several days later her "remains" were discovered. The official cause of death went down as a drowning. The wounds on her torso were considered "consistant with those of a shark". They even supposedly had experts fly in to examine the body. That was the most her family got.
bunnicula-I don't know what color she was wearing. No she was not splashing. The group she was with were preparing to do a night dive. Normally, divers enter the water and drop down to a certain depth and just kind of "hang" there and wait until the entire group is assembled and the divemaster/s then start the dive. I believe most were already down, but they still had a few coming down. Suddenly everyone noticed one of the "hanging" lights was suddenly sucked down at a tremendious speed. 1-2-3, no more light, no more diver. The divemasters got everyone else back up to the boat and took a count and discovered my friend was missing. Not much really was found. However, she had been in the water for several days and that usually means quite a bit of damage regardless of the circumstances.
It was considered one of those 1,000,000 to 1 odd things! I really believe they tried to play down that it was most likely a shark because supposedly there are no sharks to speak of in the waters she was diving in and it could have been bad for the diving business.
My dive instuctor taught us that as far as fish are concerned anything in the water belongs there, so divers do not automatically draw attention just for being there. Rule of the ocean: big fish eats little fish. He also stated that it had been observed that for whatever reason most fish perceive divers (who are to drop to a verticle position and hold still-when approached by a large, possible dangerous fish) as bigger fish! If you don't antagonize them, you probably won't ever have to worry about being attacked. Exceptions occur and they make headlines! My friend's case was one of those "rare" exceptions! She had a knack for such things!
I have heard that the splashing that swimmers do in the water is what attracts the sharks. Looking for an easy meal and the splashing is recognized possibly as a "wounded" fish...easy pickings!
I live on an inland Bay which connects with the Gulf of Mexico so we get sharks in our shallow bay (1-6ft for the most part). We have never had anyone attacked or injured by anything other than what we refer to as a "brush". That's usually a cut or scrape that occurs when they swim past and you get caught by their rough skin or fins. We have had people, at a neighboring community, located right ON the Gulf, who have been bitten or brushed while surf fishing. Usually, in the cases of bites, the shark was going for a stringer of fish tied to the fisherman's waist! More often than not, it is only a brush. Those can leave nasty wounds though!
I love the water. Yes, there are the horror stories and they do occur and if you want to avoid the risk (even though it is small) then you just stay out of the water.
edited for most of the "unnecessary" comments-sorry!
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Jul 16, 2001 10:18 PM ]
posted on July 16, 2001 07:42:24 PM new
I remember a show on the Discovery channel last year about shark attacks. I only caught the end of it, so don't know all the details, but they were thinking there was a connection between shark attacks and the amount of electromagnetic(?) impulses a person puts out.(Don't know if that's the right term). Some people give off more than others.
Apparently sharks have a sort of radar that pick up the signals and they said pregnant women give off the most. They actually sent a very pregnant woman down as a test (short, pudgy woman in a wet suit) and she was attracting a lot of sharks!
posted on July 16, 2001 08:50:30 PM new
It wasn't widely reported, but the person who found the remains of the Spanish Galleons which sank, laden with gold, off the coast of Barbados in 1528 reported that one of the ships had a bite taken out of it's side which measured 45 feet across. They couldn't bring the remnants to the surface but they did rbring up a triangular tooth which was seven feet from base to tip. The tooth and the recovered gold were turned over to Spanish authorities and are now reported to be in the bowels of an old monastery which is used as a national storehouse and vault by the government of Spain.
posted on July 16, 2001 08:54:30 PM new
Whats the name of that super shark from eons ago? Megamouth? Who knows whats hanging around under the water...the ocean is as mysterious as outer space.
posted on July 17, 2001 01:35:51 AM newkrs, From a country well aquainted with Great Whites your 75 footer has just earned you a beer at the bar!
Welcome to the Downunder far fetched yarns society!
Bob, Downunder but never down.
posted on July 17, 2001 06:44:43 AM new
For those of you that may be interested, CNN tonight (7/17) Shark Show (forgot the name)...check your local listings for time....
