Maybe I'm getting old!!

[bluecape]

Hi everyone
Have been quiet for a bit as we've been involved in moving our workplace, everything has been a bit chaotic!

Took a drive to Falsebay today, my wife wanted to look at a development, which is situated over the Sunny-Cove area, which is where that poor granny got eaten by a GW a few months ago.
To make a long story short, fisherman and 'shark-spotters' now see the/a GW cruising there regularly on the same route, in fact they even have a name for her - 'Regina', and she is a BIG lady. A few fisherman say it's the same GW that took out the swimmer.

This afternoon I was gazing out over her territory from on the mountainside, looking at the inviting reefs and kelp near the shore, but it's kind-of a no-go area for me and most of my buddies.
Suddenly, about 70 meters off-shore, way out from the kelp, I see 2 Buoys, and 2 spearo's, no boat, happily doing a drift :head !@!! F*^%$# Hell , those guys have got huge balls, or maybe I'm just getting too old for this shit !! :hmm

Whatever the case was, I hope they got fish, cos they deserved it!!

Be safe out there.

Jeff

 

[Huan]

Maybe they didn't know about the shark?
Ignorance can be bliss too!

 

[Amphibious]

Maybe it was Miles?

 

[bluecape]

Maybe it was Miles? rofl

Funny you said that amphibious, thats exactly what I thought when I wrote this mail !!!

J.

 

[bluecape]

On a more serious note, I am doing a story on 'Regina' the GW, will be spending a lot of time looking for her with the spotters, and then getting footage / pics from the boat, will keep some of the pics and progress posted here for interest.

Jeff

 

[Murat]

that would be great bluecape

 

[miles]

Hiya

No. Wasn't me!!!! I was at Struisbaai, diving in DIRTY water...... Was a VERY short dive!!!!! One of the other boats DID have a run in with a white though!! Oh well, just going to wait until the water cleans up.

Jeff, i've also seen spearo's drifting in that area, hunting the reefs. In all honesty, there's not much fish life on those reefs. Some small bottoms like small Red Romans and John Browns. I've rarely seen or shot anything over 2kg's on those reefs. The Yellowtail do OCCATIONALLTY make an appearance, but thats quite rare. Sooo, who-ever those guys are, i take my hat off to you guys!!!

It should be noted that i'm pretty afraid of sharks. Well, not all sharks, mainly GW's. We do have certain rules that we adhere to that makes diving in GW area's safe. Firstly, you MUST have the boat close by. So at all times there is a person steering the boat. The water must also be CLEAN (at least 8-10m viz!!) Then we normally have 2-4 divers in the water, diving TOGETHER. One up one down works well. That way, the divers can keep an eye on each other. Every diver has a Powerhead. If a GW is sighted, the boat is called and you LEAVE the area. If there are plenty of big fish around, we'll probably return, say after a hour or so.

The bottom line is that no fish is worth risking your life or limbs for. How-ever, diving in KNOWN GW area's, with NO boat, far from the security of the thick kelp beds, hunting SMALL fish is RECKLESS!!!!

Just my 2c worth!!

Regards
miles

 

[Pablo]

We lost a YT and some other fish to a shark this weekend... presumably the same one squared the hell out a young lady diving close by for crays. The girl was in nervous shook but unharmed: apparently the shark got close enough for her to use the cray snare to push it!
5 min later I saw the tail (murky water... 4-5 m viz) of a big bronze wailer between my buddy and me. My experience with those is that they are curious, and I've push a couple with he tip of my spear, but I never seen then display an aggressive behavior. The diver words where "I got attacked" and I wonder how far this describe the true shark intentions.

The funny part was the face of my Italian buddy... was his first NZ kingy, and he wasn't exactly pleased with the loss. He had promised fish to his seriously good looking room mates, and instead the girls got some doubtful tail about a shark. I did learn some new and colorful Italian words rofl

GW are probably another story...

 

[Freediver81]

There is a thin line between bravery to stupidity! I believe that spearfishing in GW sharks area for fish that arent worth the hassle (as miles says) and without the precautions that miles stated is stupidity! :duh


Said

p.s. The author has dived with grey sharks, lemon shark, Hammerheads and black tip reef sharks several times in the past!