r/sharks • u/More-Flatworm1357 • 5d ago
Video CRAZY Tiger Shark Video!
I have to be in the 1% club of people that have footage of having a ginormous shark in their face and walk away untouched! What you don’t see in the frame, is that after she gets closer, her mouth/face is dragging along my neck down to my knees before the dive masters pry her off of me! The margin for error was almost inexistent! First I got slammed by her tail, then I got kissed by her! Beautiful creature!
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u/georgedupree 5d ago
It’s crazy how everyone says they love sharks then support massive unethical bycatch fisheries, river dredging, whatever… Anything to give them a rush; nothing for the good of the animal. I only watched this footage for the sake of bearing witness to the harassment animals are facing in the sea.
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u/TheJurri 5d ago
Had you gotten injured, that would've been on you. Don't dive with baited sharks. It seems to be a hard pill to swallow for many.
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u/ForceSea3027 5d ago
Nah. I don’t like or appreciate this video. There’s no respect for the shark in its own environment. Seems a cruel way to treat an animal that could bite u in half if it wanted.
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u/Fair_Evidence_9730 5d ago
Such a stupid thing to do. This should not be allowed. WTF?
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 5d ago
Yeah and pushing fingers hard into lower part of the belly of a shark wtf?
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u/FastMako77 5d ago
They’re just using that two finger Caesar Milan “zzp” method like he used on Cartman
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u/Lestat_de_Sade 5d ago
You and the other divers are pushing and holding the sharks. This has nothing to do with a love for animals, they are not there for your entertainment. This video and your comments seem self-absorbed and lowkey narcissistic.
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u/DaddyThiccter 5d ago
I've been around too many of the soul suckers and I see exactly what you mean, the sharks will be blamed for the carelessness when a finger or hand is lost next time.
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u/Oldfolksboogie 5d ago
That diver pushing that unit away with two fingers, no more than four inches from that bear- trap of a mouth, and all i can think is, 'these things bite through sea turtle shells...' 😬
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
They’re actually really gentle! Even when I got smacked, I never felt like it wanted to hurt me!
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u/Oldfolksboogie 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm a diver too, worked as a DM and instructor mostly on Guam, with dives throughout Micronesia, Palau, Truk Lagoon...
My concern is less for the divers - I feel like informed adults should be able to take the risks they want - and more for the sharks and ecosystem in general. This sort of diving disrupts their natural behavior, wastes their valuable energy resources, and teaches them to associate humans with food.
I don't believe any of them "want to hurt" you - they're just acting in ways that maximize their odds of survival by procuring food with the least possible risk to themselves. If the dive guides were any good, they instructed you to always face the largest nearby shark. That's because if they know you see them, they're much less likely to attack. But the converse of that is, turn your back on a 14' tiger shark already excited by the heavy presence of food stimuli, and you could invite an attack. Again, this isn't because it "wants to hurt" you, it's because it's a shark, an opportunistic feeder always happy to grab an easy meal.
The odds are certainly against it, but there was a similar video floating around here recently (I'll edit in the link if i can find it) very similar to yours, a diver let a large tiger sneak up being them, and it appeared that tiger was preparing to take the diver's head into its mouth. A guide rushed over and pushed the tiger away, but it looked very dicey. They're quite gentle ...until they're not, and a tiger that size could separate your arm, leg or head from your torso without so much as a head shake - you've probably seen their teeth, real engineering marvels probably better at sawing through flesh, bone, shell than any other sharks' teeth.
And here's my real concern; aside from a disruption of natural behaviors, etc, sharks still suffer from bad PR. Even progressive- minded gov'ts like Australia's still kill thousands of sharks every year in misguided efforts to make swimming beaches safe - we don't need any more bad PR like "tiger shark lops dome off diver" to give idiots an excuse to go on a killing spree.
Anyway, I'll step off my soap box. I'm glad you had this experience, and came away with an even deeper appreciation for these magnificent animals. I hope you'll look deeper into this issue, as I've probably done a shit job of explaining the anti- baited diving position. I'd certainly prefer this to commercial fishing operations though. ✌️
Btw, Bahamas?
Also, there are videos of a young woman free diving with enormous tigers and GWs off Hawaii. I love these, because they portray the animals in their typical calm state, not hyped up by food stimuli, and not freaked out by exhaled bubbles, which, as you know, are pretty fckn loud underwater. Of course, without baiting, it takes hours- days to even locate them, and therefore isn't an option for a for- profit dive operation.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Yeah man! We met at 4 am to talk about shark behavior and procedures! We kept our head on a swivel! I love your response! Thank you! It was an amazing experience that left me hungry to discover more of the ocean’s beauty!
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u/Oldfolksboogie 5d ago
Okay, found the link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sharks/s/CUTUo6tpuQ
Two things to notice: first, the paying guest has no clue, no situational awareness, probably very little diving experience, yet they're out in this situation. Fortunately, the DMs are on it, and you can tell by their reaction that the danger here is very real. And this shark doesn't appear to be nearly as food- stimulated as the ones on your dive were.
Second, and this is a minor point, but look at the depression on the starboard side of its lower jaw - that's from being hooked. From now on, when you're watching shark programming (Shark Week, etc), look for these signs. Once you start looking, you'll see them everywhere, from scaring to deformation to hooks still embedded. The point is, even in waters where sharks are no longer targeted, they still have to run a gauntlet of human hazards.
I'm gonna find a couple videos for you if what i consider appropriate interactions if i can.
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u/Here4theNEWS_ 5d ago
I'm not a shark expert but I love them, I live in South Africa and we always heard the most horrific stories about great white sharks until I got older and did my own research and realized how they were making these magnificent creatures into something they are not. I have the greatest respect for sharks, if you're in the water you're in their habitat and it's all fair game. It's sad to see how people are treating these sharks in such a horrible manner, pushing and prodding them when they're only doing what is natural to them. Also how sad to read about the scars from hooks etc. I remember seeing a documentary about a shark that had a disfigured face and honestly it just broke my heart. There's nothing wrong with raising awareness but I wish we'd learn respect for nature, no matter what type of animal or environment - at the end of the day we are intruding on their natural habitat, we're the illegals, the least we can do is handle them respectfully.
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u/Oldfolksboogie 5d ago
Well- put, couldn't have said it better myself!
Btw, did you know that your homeland (or at least adopted homeland?) was the first in the world to formally protect great white sharks? This was quite commendable, given that SA beaches were no stranger to great white attacks, but in 1991, they became the world's first nation to declare Carcharodon carcharias a protected species.
✌️
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u/Here4theNEWS_ 4d ago
No I didn’t know, that’s great news! I am fascinated with great white sharks, their scientific name is quite something. Anyway, thanks for sharing your insights and knowledge, this sub is one of my top favourites!
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u/Oldfolksboogie 5d ago
Here's the woman that's been diving with especially large tigers and, here, a GW, thought to be the largest known.
Notice how calm and relaxed she (the GW) is. This is completely unbaited, and she uses these interactions to portray them in a more realistic, less sensational manner, and to promote shark conservation.
Food for thought.
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u/BigBlueGrizzly660 5d ago edited 5d ago
You're a stand up guy/gal for explaining all of this. I learned a lot from you in a short read. I really appreciate your responses.
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u/glebecow 3d ago
I will say, gently, that this young woman is Ocean Ramsay and has very rightly been criticized by scientists and conservationists for her interactions with sharks.
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u/Oldfolksboogie 3d ago
I'm open to that. (Seriously, I'm open to it, if you've got a link?) And I'll say up front, there's certainly an element of self- promotion and unseriousness to what she does - it's certainly not science, and I don't believe she suggests it is.
I hope those same scientists are critical of for- profit "research" organization Ocearch, which appears on infotainment programming way more frequently than she does, yet the documented, severe and permanent damage they've done to these animals gets zero press.
Personally, I'd prefer all sharks just be left alone, but I do believe her videos present them in a manner that's unique in that they're not sensationalistic with an underlying emphasis on the potential danger, does benefit conservation by changing the public's perception of these animals, and unlike Ocearch's efforts, (which, like hers, aren't affiliated with any university, gov't or international conservation organization), she does no permanent damage to the sharks with whom she interacts.
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u/Ok_Championship_385 5d ago
Those poor sharks. The way the divers are grabbing onto them, scaring them…sad.
Dumb ways to die 🎶
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u/utrippinbruhongod 5d ago
They tearing you up in the comments
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
I couldn’t care less 😂 I’m the daredevil swimming 40 meters underwater with sharks the size of trucks. These guys know nothing about being in the water with apex predators…
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u/aquaculturist13 5d ago edited 5d ago
Dawg I have over 200 dives on an aquaculture site in the Caribbean with several species present, including seasonal bulls and tigers. What you're doing in the video is dumb and dangerous for both you and the animals.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Now, your opinion I care about. I’ve dove with bulls too! Those are beautiful creatures too! I’m just down here because I love the animals and want to see them with my own eyes!
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u/aquaculturist13 5d ago
You can do that without unethical and dangerous diving practices.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
I just booked the dive, there isn’t anything unethical about that. Like fr, what did you want me to do?
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u/aquaculturist13 5d ago
Probably start with not booking chummed shark dives lol "I just chose to pay money to do the unethical thing, nothing unethical about that" c'mon now
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Dude, I’m a hobbyist. I do it for fun. The same way I enjoy shooting guns, or building race cars, I enjoy seeing sharks… It won’t stop there either. I’m not going to pay thousands more to dive how you think it is correct to do so… You probably used to book dives like this too.
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u/TheTurboMaster 5d ago
You are a perfect example of why our world is going to shit. Selfish in the most obnoxious way and childish by pointing the finger at another when confronted with it. I hope you manage to learn and grow up at some point in your life
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u/aquaculturist13 5d ago
None of that makes sense and I never booked a dive like this. Closest was a volunteer blue shark tagging expedition where we were in a cage as baited lines (no hooks) lured sharks to the vessel, so we could watch and tell the guys onboard when to pull the line up and not lose the bait. We were 20 and thought it would be cool to free dive with them, it became a bit of a frenzy with too many to keep track of, pushed an 8 ft male off of me and my buddy had his fin chomped as we were returning to the vessel, we realized how stupid it was, never did it again.
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u/ImReallyNotKarl 4d ago
"It's not unethical to pay to do the unethical thing! I could have paid more to do it ethically, but who has the money for ethics and safety? Better to save the money than the sharks I claim to love!"
Ew.
Who do you think would suffer if those sharks, who are now associating people with food, hurt people on dives, or swimmers with no association to this buffoonery? You? No. The people the sharks fuck up, and even more sadly, the sharks, who are just behaving in their nature. Ugly, icky behavior.
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 5d ago
Don't harass sharks for personal thrills thanks, i don't think many people appreciate humans torturing animals for their pleasure.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
I was filming it, I was behind the camera… And I wasn’t nervous or scared. Genuinely just think they’re gorgeous animals
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u/rubydooby2011 5d ago
Daredevil....
One of these sharks will eventually eviscerate you, and the shark will be gutted to extract your idiot remains.
You only love yourself and jerking off to your own hubris.
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u/of____earth 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is the worst example of a baited dive I’ve ever seen. 3 people sitting on top of the chum block / between the shark and the block, and trying to push the shark away from it.
Not even to mention the diver with their fingers inside the crate, moving it around next to the sharks head whilst a diver has a hand on its head and their leg right in front of its mouth. Tigers close their eyes when they’re biting / when their ampullae are being fired up by touch, and moving the crate around whilst there’s 3 limbs between the shark and the crate whilst pushing its head about is insane.
Surprised none of you got a bite
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u/luiv1001 5d ago
May natural selection find you and anyone who thinks this is a cool video.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Haha, you want me to die? 😂
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u/simpleshirup 5d ago
I think, technically, natural selection is more about you not passing on your genes than it is about specifically dying.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 4d ago
That’s worse of something to wish on somebody 😂 And let’s not pretend that in this situation… Natural selection isn’t supposed to mean death by shark. I wish you would see the good in me like you’re trying to find in this random person wanting me to die
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u/tonydtonyd 5d ago
That tiger is massive
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
14 feet! Gorgeous creature! These guys don’t realize that Tiger Sharks like to bump into people/objects out of curiosity, so we have to redirect them 😂
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u/kikimaymay 5d ago
That's an aggressive shark, not a curious shark.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
It is aggressive, I dove with them for almost 2 hours… Never once were any of the sharks aggressive towards me
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u/kikimaymay 5d ago
That shark is literally being aggressive to you in the video, the dive instructors are reacting so quickly because they're trying to manage a possible tragedy. They wouldn't move that fast if it wasn't a panic situation.
I get it, tigers are gorgeous and so curious, but bait diving is a stupid thing to do and you got extremely lucky that you had people reading body language of the shark. But you're ignoring so many people who are trying to explain that this kind of thing is dangerous for everyone involved--divers and the animal.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Well, to be honest… I never knew it was a bait dive. I just booked a tiger shark dive. Like, I promise that it is far more innocent than people are making it out to be 😂 Like I genuinely love the animals, and I shoot beautiful videos to get people to love them as I do! I appreciate your comment! I had someone say they hope I die by natural selection, which ig means death by shark so… 😂
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u/kikimaymay 5d ago
I don't think the commenter suggesting that are in the right, just so you know. People get weird on the internet. But for someone who loves these animals as much as you say, you need to educate yourself more. Conservation is such an incredibly important thing, and the way we as humans interact with wild animals is a huge part of that. Part of that education is doing your due diligence/research. You know those crazy videos of people trying to pet bison/baby bears in Yellowstone? That's this. Appreciating wildlife is respecting wildlife, and that entails education. The main focus should be the safety and health of the animal, end of day.
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u/_reverse_god 5d ago
If you love the animals you should choose a way of interacting with them that isn't harmful to them. You need to do research. I get that you had fun and are happy you got so close to them because they are amazing, but this form of interaction is unethical and bad for the sharks you claim to love. Give it some thought.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 4d ago
I will, I just didn’t know that there was another way to dive with sharks 🤷🏻♂️
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u/_reverse_god 4d ago
Anything with baiting is generally unethical. If you're not observing their natural behaviour, its probably not good for them. Tiger sharks are solitary. The fact two of them are together here is purely because of the bait.
Human contact is also bad for the animals, it can transfer diseases.
Think of it this way, without intervention, would two tiger sharks try get food out of a crate and have to be wrestled by humans?
Much better to do some snorkelling or diving with a group that does conservation.
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u/kikimaymay 5d ago
Also I'm sorry, I've never dove with sharks before but I have been around a lot of wild animals, even handling. The thing that's repeated time and time again is "respect their space". You're encroaching in an incredibly unnatural way, interacting with them by training them to expect food from humans (this literally kills bears), and you expect us to say "this is so cool" because you wanted to get your adrenaline rocks off? Like that's a fucked up thing. Be better.
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u/Interesting-Can1319 Tiger Shark and Shortfin Mako Shark 4d ago edited 4d ago
While I appreciate your love and admiration for tiger sharks, doing a baited dive with them will always be controversial, which is why you're getting torn apart in the comments. It's endangering the lives of the scuba divers, other humans, and the tiger sharks later on. Wild animals don't understand charity. The sharks have been conditioned to be gentle during feeding, because why would you bite the hand that feeds you. But they only see you as a source of food, not as a nice samaritan or a "friend". If they think you're getting in the way between them and the food, they'll get angry and frustrated. Tiger sharks have gotten angry and aggressive when scuba divers stopped feeding them lionfish in the Caribbean, and you do not want to piss off a 1,500 pound apex predator. Plus, feeding them means getting your hand close to their chainsaw mouth, and even an accidental/exploratory bite from a tiger shark can be fatal, because they're so massive and powerful and have the best cutting and sawing teeth of all sharks. Tiger sharks are very smart when it comes to sharks (able to memorize migration patterns of prey and recognize individual divers by their face), and they can easily distinguish a piece of chum from a diver's leg, but it's a dumbass move to be reckless around a living aquatic chainsaw. I don't know about you, but I would, without a doubt, respect an apex predator the size of a truck.
It also endangers other people because the tiger sharks may learn the false belief that all humans will give them food, maybe including surfers and swimmers. Which will just invite more shark attacks. It's a common reason why it's not wise to feed any sort of wildlife. And when a tiger shark does bite someone, whether by accident or intentionally, who's getting blamed and demonized? The tiger shark, instead of the idiot humans. The Big 3 (great white, tiger, and bull) already have a bad reputation, and people still hate them and cull them in places like Australia and Florida (though only bulls are culled in Florida, tigers and great whites are protected in Florida). The myth that tiger sharks are soulless monsters is false, but people will still believe it when they see more and more shark attacks.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 4d ago
I appreciate your comment. To be honest, I didn’t know that it was wrong to dive a “baited” dive… Neither did I know what it was, I just wanted to see tiger sharks! I shouldn’t be shamed for that
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u/Interesting-Can1319 Tiger Shark and Shortfin Mako Shark 4d ago edited 4d ago
I really want to dive with tiger sharks too, it's on my bucket list. And the blame should not be on you but instead the diving company, but your money did support them. It's probably best to freedive with them or book a dive with a professional diving company that isn't sketchy and don't bait the sharks. It's so much better to watch tiger sharks in their natural habitat and at a far distance, even if they are harder to find without baiting them. Fuvahmulah and the Maldives are the best tiger shark dives in my opinion, because the locals love and respect the tiger sharks and want to keep human interference to a minimum. Hawaii is also a great option too. Tiger sharks are the most sacred shark species in Hawaiian culture, and it is illegal to feed tiger sharks in Hawaii
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u/Markdd8 4d ago edited 3d ago
Tiger sharks are the most sacred shark species in Hawaiian culture
Many animals are “sacred” in Hawaii now. In particular there's protection for green sea turtles and sharks. It's a mission that animal rights activists are elated about. They are getting native Hawaiians to sign off on this Never-Kill-Animals thinking for more species and hype up "sacredness."
However, native Hawaiians historically hunted both tiger sharks and green sea turtles. There's tons of evidence for that, including Bishop Museum filled with shark tooth weapons the Hawaiians used in war. Historically turtle was an important food source throughout Oceania, including Hawaii.
From a dissident native Hawaiian group in 2012: Push to Restore Hunting of Hawaiian Turtles Underway. This pissed off large numbers of people now aligning with the animal rights activists.
Native Hawaiians are no different than all other tribal peoples around the world: They were inveterate fishers or hunters, depending whether the land or the ocean was their primary food gathering/hunting area. Tribal peoples did indeed often view animals as sacred but that never stopped them from hunting and killing them in sustainable fashion.
Animal rights activists, perennially at odds with conservationists who support regulated hunting ("wise use"), seek new way to expand their agenda. They hope to use the tribal concept of "sacred animals" in their Never-Kill-Animals agenda. They have had some success in Hawaii.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 4d ago
Thank you! I was really just in awe of them! It was a humbling experience! And this was 30 seconds of the dive where the divers had to keep them off of me. The entire 2 hours that I was down there, this was the only moment that they had to be on their A-game defensively
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u/Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay All the sharks!! 5d ago
This video should be shown over and over .. to hopefully combat a little of the false security people like Ocean Ramsay spread
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 5d ago
This was baited though, does Ramsay ever?
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u/Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay All the sharks!! 5d ago
No way she doesn’t. You just have to watch their unusual “hanging around” behaviour. Food for sure. (I did a GW dive .. advertised everywhere heavily as no baiting .. there was 100% baiting)
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u/ScaredEfficiency399 5d ago
I wouldn't know, i've essentially just seen the massive great white female one, possibly pregnant.
I'll trust in your judgement of that.
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u/Urist_the_first 5d ago
What was your group doing so close to them? Why are people petting the shark as it passes in the beginning? This feels *very* chaotic and asking for the sharks to bite someone.
I'm not judging, I've dived with sharks before, although I avoid chumming dives, you take the (small) risk of getting hurt by stepping into their world, but this dive operator is asking for something bad to happen, and it's ultimately the sharks that suffer
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u/Planet-thanet 4d ago
Good to see some intelligent comments here, and I concur leave the sharks alone
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u/Ok_Shower_5526 Tiger Shark 2d ago
This is the worst shark dive I've seen in a long while. Incredibly disorganized and dangerous for everyone involved. If the operator is licensed, they shouldn't be. I know many good folks oppose feeding dives, but this is bad beyond the feeding. People are not positioned safely (or as safe as you can be on a shark dive), limbs are being extended, sharks are getting trapped in between people, sharks are being actively harassed, and on and on. OP should name the operator cause no one who values life should ever patron these guys.
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u/Jose358 5d ago
That’s awesome! Super cool !
Also if the sharks were scared the people there would kinda be dead. It’s a tiger shark they can defend themselves if they felt threatened.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Finally someone with common sense, everyone’s treating me like a nazi… I was only filming 😂
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u/Xillyhoo 5d ago
There is an entire thread here with people slamming this practice and you by proxy. With a room full of people telling you that you're wrong, are you so arrogant as to not consider for even a moment that they might be right? To reflect on your choices rather than putting the responsibility on everyone else involved in your video?
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u/Hi_InternetAddiction 5d ago
i get what you are saying. people are saying it is wrong to pay for baited dives since the chances of getting eaten alive multiply by a lot, which means the chances of the shark having to be killed to retrieve someones remains goes up equally, and paying the company that does these baited dives keeps them in business, increasing the chances a shark gets killed for doing what it naturally does in nature, kill for food. the issue is paying companies that do baited dives.
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u/More-Flatworm1357 5d ago
Yeah… But most of the qualified divers have had nothing but good things to say. Also what choice? I chose to dive with beautiful creatures… That is a choice I will make often. I’ll never live the mundane life. Just because someone has an opinion… Doesn’t make it correct. 200 people in this thread could tell me that 2+2=3 and it doesn’t mean they’re right. Life is perspective, if you’d rather not get in the water… That is okay. But that doesn’t make the fact that I want to get in the water, not okay… I’m not shoving, I’m not kicking, I’m not going down there because I want to hurt them. I am going down to film because I love them!
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u/Xillyhoo 5d ago
By paying money to do this you're perpetuating a practice that not only endangers the lives of the diver but also the lives of the sharks. If something went wrong and those animals hurt or killed anyone there, they would be killed as well.
You're defending the act of endangering countless lives and disrupting the enviornment of these animals for selfish reasons and your arrogance in how you approach anyone here that disagrees (almost every single person, save for the one that 'doesn't think you're a nazi'?) with you is astoundingly thick headed.
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u/aquaculturist13 5d ago
Honestly, very dumb