In Reply to: SHARK! posted by Jim on September 28, 2012 at 07:33:58:

The sad thing is how rare sharks are now. I remember in the 70's how I could count about one shark per minute on the surface on the
way to Anacapa. Ya know, I do think, based on the timing, that after Jaws, a lot were killed for being evil. Now we have the
tragedy of finning.
I'll put a short story below from my site. I thought it was hilarious.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt

I Will Never Do This Again
By Michael aka. SDSailor

Went out on a buddies boat last night and took my gear, yes even though the water temp is only 65, for what was supposed to be a fishing trip. There were three of us and all were divers and expected to get wet as well as catch some nice fish.

Well to make a long story short we went way the heck off shore and this morning started our efforts to catch some lunkers. Shortly after the start of the days activites we realized that the sun was never going to shine, lots of fog and our famous So Cal marine layer. Before we new it we were into a school...no not Tuna but Blue Sharks. They were every where..catching them were no problem. But me I thought god this is great I had never really done a shark dive and kinda frown on the sit around and watch someone feed them dives. This was a chance to really get in with them and take some great shots.
Unfortunately no one else seemed to think it was a great idea, so I said the heck with you guys and put on my gear and jumped in... stupid stupid stupid.
First thing in and I was while not surrounded by them found myself looking, very carefully, at 5 REAL LARGE nasty looking critters. Breathing at a rate sure to drain my tank in 10 minutes or less, I tried to calm down but to no avail. I admit it right here and now I am chicken of the sea.

Now my buddies, right nice guys, continued to fish for them and oh boy hooked up one not 30 feet from where I was fighting to maintain my focus... mine not the cameras. Bang I have never seen anything like the fury realeased as the shark fought the hook and the others started to get way to excited for my liking.

To bring this to an end I swam like I never swam before back to the boat litteraly threw myself on the swim step and got my young butt out of there. No pictures, not one but the good news is all my parts are intact and I will NEVER EVER do this again!!!!