Shark Enthusiasts

I have always been fascinated with sharks. Growing up in CA Beach culture, and being a kid during the jaws era, I have learned to respect these magnificent creatures.

However, It is very disturbing when you hear of shark attacks on swimmers and surfers at your local beaches.

Are there any shark enthusiasts out there?

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/Statistics/statistics.htm

Yippee A'Kai Yay!

[ Edited by: MTKahuna on 2003-08-20 11:23 ]

"Shark inna water...thatz a 25 footer Chief". Great site MT. I love that Shark Week on Discovery every year. How about those flying great whites?

My son (8) is a shark freak! Of course whatever your kids are into, you are into too. That shark attack they showed on this years Shark Week was nasty! I'm also a Scuba diver and there is nothing more exciting than seeing a shark. It's happened a couple times and was really amazing. Once, in Florida, I came face to face with a 5-6 ft white tip (he came around to check me out) I was so freaked but more concerned with getting a picture. I fumbled with my camera so long, I just got his tail swimming away. At leat I got something.

If you haven't been to the new shark area at the Long Beach Aquarium you must go. On the weekends they sell beer out there so I can just sit in the sun while my son pets sharks and rays. He can do that for hours! It's the reason we became members.

Cool... I'm gonna check out the aquarium. I haven't been in a couple of years.

I just heard on the news that a woman was killed in the ocean yeasterday (Up North). They think that it may have been a shark attack. They said that she was swimming with seals and wearing a black scuba suit with fins...

Yippee A'Kai Yay!

[ Edited by: MTKahuna on 2003-08-20 13:59 ]

A great white. Here is the article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/08/20/state1444EDT0106.DTL

SHIT!!!
A 15 footer. That's bigger than my car.

I'm sorry to hear that the woman didn't survive.

I'm a total shark freak! I have a collection of books that chronicle shark attacks since the turn of the century. Every time I go into a bookstore I try to find new shark books. The first time I went to sea world and saw the shark tank I stood and stared as if Anna Kournikova was playing tennis in front of me naked!! One of my dreams is to visit the Barrier Reef and see a Great White in person (from a boat!)

On 2003-08-21 10:11, tiki-riviera wrote:
One of my dreams is to visit the Barrier Reef and see a Great White in person (from a boat!)

There are companies in Austrailia that will take you down in a shark cage. That sounds like a cool idea now, but so does bungie jumping...

Have you seen the documentary about flying great whites?

Have you seen this photo of a flying great white?
Check out: http://www.snopes.com/photos/shark.htm

There is a natural occurance called breaching. Great White Sharks will lerk in the depths of the ocean and wait for an unexpected sealion to swim over them. Once in position, they will swim really fast towards the surface, snatch the seal, and leap 3 feet out of the water.

Now that should definately be a Seaworld attraction!

Check it out:
http://www.reefquest.com/exp00/breach.htm
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/020823shark_b5.shtml

eh brahda, you saw my tat's niho mano(tiger shark) band on the left side, and my honu 2 udda sharks on da right.

On 2003-08-21 18:44, hula hula wrote:
eh brahda, you saw my tat's niho mano(tiger shark) band on the left side, and my honu 2 udda sharks on da right.

Niceness...
Did you design them?
I want to get a tortois & shark tattoo.
Do you know the story of the tortois and the shark?

MTKahuna wrote:
Do you know the story of the tortois and the shark?

I think I do....Isn't that where the tortoise paid off the shark after the shark beat the crap out of the hare so the tortoise could win the race?

Hey, I also have a shark tattoo! I plan on adding to my shark as soon as summer's over and I stop using the pool. I can't wait!

[ Edited by: laney on 2003-08-22 12:12 ]

I wonder if the woman recently killed had any idea of how ill-informed her actions were. All I could picture is a scene from any nature doc with lions coralling a herd of zebras to weed out the slowest/oldest/sickest. A wet-suited human swimming with seals is basically that unfortunate animal. Sorry to hear about it, though surprised to hear it was the first death in 9 years. Somehow I thought there were more.

In Kauai last year, a mate on our Na Pali cruise had a curious shark tattoo. I asked what it was and it turned out his dad had survived a great white attack in Oregon. He moved his family to the islands and still swims and surfs every day. His book is here:
http://www.shark-bite.com/
And the tat is a line drawing of the image on the book cover.

That shark pic is a classic! You'd think whoever originally captioned it would have thought better of passing off the GG Bridge as "somewhere in South Africa".

SCD: The shark and tortois story is an old Polynesian fable. I'll look for a link.

Laney: I am still designing my tat. I wanted to do an image of a shark in a tort shell. Then have shark teeth trailing behind the tort. I'm using images from traditional patterns. (i'll post when I finish).
What were you going to add to your shark?

Tikibot: Cool sight. I haven't surfed in a while... But the waters off OC are relatively safe (I think). The only kind of sharks to be aware of are maco, sand, and the occassional baby tiger. (but they don't come in to feed)... much....

My tat is a pretty good size, shark all black with a fuzzy blue outline as if you were diving and looked up to see it silhouetted by the sun. I didn't see any sharks I liked "on the wall" so It was drawn for me. It also was a cover up of another tat and had to be big enough.

What I want to add is curling, wavey water comming off one side. Hidden in the water's swirls and curves would be by son's name. I was sitting with a tattoo artist, Dean, and I sketched out what I wanted on a napkin. He still teases me about my drawing skills. So, I'll let him touch up the design, I guess.

On 2003-08-22 12:24, Tiki-bot wrote:
He moved his family to the islands and still swims and surfs every day. His book is here:
http://www.shark-bite.com/
And the tat is a line drawing of the image on the book cover.

Funny note: I guess the website is still under construction. I love how the surfer describes to his web designer what text he wants displayed in the "Excerpt" page.

Shark Week was on Discovery Channel up here every night last week. It's the only show that we all agree on watching. Very educational. They conducted studies on the anatomy of a shark bite. They also showed actual film of 2 attacks, one by a Great White, (snapped a woman's leg off like it was a toothpick), this was filmed by someone on a cargo ship. She survived the attack. The other film was this very bright man who was studying tiger sharks and was in the water about waist deep filming the sharks swimming around him. One comes up behind him and takes him down with his leg in his mouth. Very bright. He lost a lot of muscle in his leg and now he has a very skinny leg. The whole week I was very careful about answering a knock at my front door.

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-08-23 09:43 ]

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2003-08-23 09:48 ]

knock, knock. "Who is it?"
(deep, hand over the mouth voice)....
"Land Shark."
:lol: Saturday Night Live 80's circa

I gotta get that episode of shark week.
It sounds knarley!!

I can't believe that people are so careless. You wouldn't stand in a hungry lion cage.
Know thy food chain!!

In today's OC Register in the Local section, there's a picture of a surfer at Trail 1 down at San 'O'and a great white shark fin about 20 yards away.

My surf spot there is Old Man's and trail 6. Oh well. I hope the shark at least thins the crowd out (one way or the other), cause it's getting way too crowded there.

im a big shark collector too pic,s teeth books I have a 14 foot head mount and a 5 footer too there amazing the size they get man ,I was just at sanonofre this last week and saw the dorso fin just cruzzin around I just finished a new board and was thinking about trying it out not now just feeling those teeth in my hand and thinking what they can do .The board will just go up on my wall now .jymmy

On 2003-08-25 23:53, tyger jymmy wrote:
I have a 14 foot head mount and a 5 footer too there amazing the size they get man ,I was just at sanonofre this last week and saw the dorso fin just cruzzin around

Wow, a 14 foot head mount. Were they caught locally?

Have you ever had a close encounter with a shark?

CSU Long Beach has done numerous experiments with shark repelants. Unfortunately, none of them have worked in the open ocean.

Here's the "DUHH of the day"
this was taken from part of the shark article.

"Franzman was wearing a full wetsuit and swim fins when she was attacked, Lea said. The state marine biologist said the shark may have mistaken Franzman, silhouetted against the surface, for a seal."

It sounds like she did this quite frequently prior to this attack...I guess she never watched any of the Shark Week episodes. Especially the one where the boat was trolling with a life-like seal dummy and the great whites were chasing them and flying out of the water as they went in for the kill...double Duh! What was she thinking?

I also read that a group of lifeguards were training nearby and several of them dove in to rescue her.

That is some brave shit!

Wasn't that a big issue last year in the Bahamas? A guy was swimming at a hotel beach and he was attacked by a shark. The lifeguards didn't swim in to save him.... and his wife sued the hotel.

They were caught out of australia waters a while back ya know im sitting here holding it and just thinking this thing is brutal to come from under neath you about 25 mph and wham the closets ive came to sharks is shark fishing caught some makos blues they realy put up a fight .if you want I can post a few pics on here .take care jymmy

On 2003-08-28 01:26, tyger jymmy wrote:
the closets ive came to sharks is shark fishing caught some makos blues they realy put up a fight .if you want I can post a few pics on here .take care jymmy

Cool... Post some pics

Only Great White Shark at Calif. Aquarium

MONTEREY, Calif. - The Monterey Bay Aquarium has an unusual visitor that experts are hoping will be a permanent houseguest: a great white shark.

Notorious for their inability to thrive in captivity, no great whites are currently on display anywhere in the world and none has ever been keep on exhibit for more than 16 days.

Hours after it arrived from Malibu, the young shark lunched on salmon fillets — the first time a great white has accepted food in an aquarium, according to aquarium workers.

Commercial halibut fishermen inadvertently snagged the young female fish in their nets off the coast of Huntington Beach three weeks ago. It had been kept in a 4 million-gallon pen off the Southern California coast until Tuesday, when it headed north by truck — an unmarked, 3,000-gallon shark tank on wheels — to its new home in Monterey.

The aquarium hopes to keep the shark on long-term exhibit in its 1 million-gallon Outer Bay tank, which contains 75 other large fish and turtles. The tank is a little larger than one Olympic-size swimming pool.

The shark is 4 feet, 4 inches long and weighs 62 pounds. It could grow to about 21 feet and weigh more than a ton.

Of the almost 40 great white sharks kept at aquariums over the years, most were unintentionally caught in commercial fishing gear and brought directly to aquariums. They either died or were freed when they wouldn't eat.

Nobody knows why they don't thrive in captivity, although many marine biologists speculate that the predators can't handle the stress of being captured and contained.

The last time the aquarium exhibited a great white was in 1984, when the young fish died after 10 days in captivity :( But scientists believe they have learned painful lessons.

This time, they tried to lower the animal's stress level by allowing it to swim in a larger area for a few weeks before bringing it to the aquarium.

On 2004-09-16 22:41, DawnTiki wrote:
Only Great White Shark at Calif. Aquarium

MONTEREY, Calif. - The Monterey Bay Aquarium has an unusual visitor that experts are hoping will be a permanent houseguest: a great white shark.

Another great reason to go to Hulas for a mai tai!

Nobody knows why they don't thrive in captivity, although many marine biologists speculate that the predators can't handle the stress of being captured and contained.

With all the "land shark" jokes aside, that's disturbing. I hope they let her go.

I got to know the only local surfer well when I spent a few months on Savai'i, Samoa. If anybody else came into the line up( which was rare) and acted like an arse he would swim down onto the reef and find a small reef shark which when brought to the surface was then thrown at the offending person.
He also claimed after the sighting of a rather large tiger shark that there was no need to get out of the water as he and the sharks were freinds, as he liked the ocean for surfing and they liked it for the fish. Therefore they had a common interest and were friends.
I'm not sure if the small reef sharks felt the same

First, thanks for posting this. TC is the first I'd heard about the Great White. I've since visited their website and read articles in the paper.

I told a friend of mine who is a shark fanatic too and he hadn't heard about it. Our schedules are crazy but we are planning a quick trip up there. We actually are leaving right after work (bar closing 2:00) visiting for the day and driving home that night. It's a long drive for a day but worth it! I'm so glad I get to take my son to see a history making Great White.

On 2004-09-16 23:01, Mrs. B wrote:

With all the "land shark" jokes aside, that's disturbing. I hope they let her go.

Mrs. B, this is a very rare opportunity to gain much needed knowlege about these endangered animals. Having one on display will also earn the interest of the public leading to more conservation efforts for sharks and the ocean too. The captive Great White has already drawn attention and funds.

They are constantly monitoring her health and she is eating. If there is any decline in her heath they will release her but I hope she continues to thrive. I'm glad she was able to be saved from the net. Many are found dead in fishing nets.

If you really feel bad, visit the Monterey Aquarium website. They are dedicated to helping many ocean species. You can donate or learn how to help. They even have a seafood guide to help people make food choices which don't encourage overfishing and are less harmfull to oceanlife.

[ Edited by: laney on 2004-09-20 11:38 ]

Well we made the treck to see the Great White. We were up 36 hours for a trip that should have been a weekender.

The shark is very cute. She looks like my sons favorite stuffed shark he has had since he was a baby.

She is doing well. Her swimming patterns are healthy and she is quite a ham. She spends most of her time in front of the tank. She could go to the back and not be seen. Past captive Great Whites have swam irratically, thrashed, and bumped into walls.

The most annoying thing was all the people taking flash pictures. There is always someone talking on a mic about the shark and other fish in the tank. About every 15 seconds they announce "no flash photography" as they don't want to cause any extra stress. There are also signs. Then here come the flashes. What idiots.

It was a great trip. We had lunch at a place with a view of the bay where we saw sealions, otters, what we thought were whales, and even a fight between an otter and a seagull. The otter had something to eat and kept swimming away from the pushy seagull. He would dive and come back up and the bird even landed on his stomach to try to snatch his food.

At the aquarium there is also a special shark exibit with ceremonial carvings and tapa from the Pacific Islands and other cultures. See a hula dance here
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_smm/smm_gallery_pi.asp

She was worth the trip up there. I hope she continues to thrive. There were a lot of people there and they had many exibits on conservation of shark species. I even got a tiki mug from Cory at a nearby shop.

While we were there my sis (in Mass) called to tell us about a 1 ton Great White who has been swimming in very shallow waters off the cape for days. People are swarming there in boats to see her. She said her dorsel fin sticks out of the water 3 feet! Scientists don't know what has brought her to such shallow waters. I've only seen a blip of this on the news here. I'm guessing it's biger news in New England. Looks like we visited Cape Cod a month too early.

The live shark cam (and other cams) can make work go away for a moment.

http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_smm/smm_cam.asp?bhcp=1

Laney, sorry I missed you when you were in my "backyard".

Unga, sorry I missed you too. We really didn't have any time but are planning another trip there. All of us that went (except my son) are scuba divers and seeing the dive boats there made us want to come back for a weekend or longer dive trip. It may have to wait until next summer. It gets cold there fast.

If you are interested in Great Whites here's an article on the one off the cape. http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/greatwhite25.htm
Damn...We were just there.

Laney - I'm so jealous! They didn't have the Great White exhibit when we went in July! Damn.

Anyway - here's my vote for the best, most horrifying shark exhibit you could ever attend:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1466927.stm

This is apparently the largest great white ever caught, off the coast of Gozo a small Island north of Malta where I spent a lot of my childhood. Reckoned to be around seven metres (bigger than Jaws). The mediteranean sea is apparently the main breeding ground for the Great White.

Just something to think about next time you are booking your european holiday

Update: I just continued reading the site where I got this picture and read the shark attck statistics where it states that there are a recorded average of 0.38 attacks per year worldwide and 0.30 are in the Med, now theres a nice thought

[ Edited by: cheekytiki on 2004-09-29 02:19 ]