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AIBU?

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Original poster

Has anyone swam with sharks??

58 replies

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 03/02/2019 21:00

It’s my bucket list. I really want to do it for my next birthday and a friend of mine (brothers girlfriend) wants to do it too! (🎉🎉🎉)

My DH has decided he wants to do it... except... he can’t swim.

I’ve told him he absolutely can’t do it because he can’t swim. He said it’s fine... he can just use the apparatus and he’s in a cage... I disagree.

You need to swim right???

OP posts:
Insomnibrat · 03/02/2019 21:04

You just float around in a tank in scuba equipment though, no?

Theimpossiblegirl · 03/02/2019 21:04

I've been swimming with whale sharks and nursing sharks. Both times involved jumping off boats into the sea and swimming.
Not sure about a shark cage experience though.

Insomnibrat · 03/02/2019 21:04

Tank -cage.

PlainSpeakingStraightTalking · 03/02/2019 21:05

Why don't you ask the company who run these endeavours what their requirements are ?

Greensleeves · 03/02/2019 21:05

It's my ultimate bucket list goal - great white sharks. Been obsessed with sharks since I was a kid.

Doubt I'll get to do it though. If I got the chance, nobody would be able to talk me out of it!

BreastSideStory · 03/02/2019 21:08

I did it and you don’t actually swim. We had scuba gear on and weighted boots, we walked around on the tank floor and weren’t allowed to actually swim around, we also weren’t allowed to touch anything or move without the instructor’s permission (he used hand signals).
It was a fun experience

BreastSideStory · 03/02/2019 21:10

Oh sorry... are you doing it in a cage in the sea? Nah you deffo have to be able to swim, you jump into the sea and swim into the cage... they don’t put you in the cage then lower it

FlibbertyGiblets · 03/02/2019 21:12

Oh please don't.

The tanked animals are already distressed.
Leave the wild ones alone.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Nandocushion · 03/02/2019 21:13

You're in scuba gear and yes, you do have to be able to swim. It's not really the sort of thing he can fake, unless you mean he's just not a very good swimmer. What sort of swimming with sharks experience? In the Caribbean you dive to the bottom and feed reef sharks (small and harmless) but in other areas you do the cage thing with great whites etc.

user1486076969 · 03/02/2019 21:16

..swum...

TipseyTorvey · 03/02/2019 21:16

I've scuba dived with white tipped reef sharks and whale sharks but you can't pass the basic padi unless you can swim. If you're looking at those cage experiences they will be out in deep water so he'll need to be a confident swimmer. I think you need to talk him out of this idea.

Zwischenwasser · 03/02/2019 21:24

We did the ethical type shark dive where they come to you. We swamout into a shallow (5m) bay and snorkelled/ freedived with reef sharks. Utterly amazing. And we swam a LOT. well over a mile.

Hodgehegg · 03/02/2019 21:25

I "swam" with them whilst on holiday in the Caribbean. They were big nurse sharks which were held in a huge pen in the sea. We had to get a boat out to them and then jump into the water. I can't actually swim very well either but the pen was made out of rope mesh which I kind of clung onto and we all had life vests on which definitely helped! I probably didn't get the same buzz out if it as DH who could dive down and get a good look but it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it.

Sweetpea55 · 03/02/2019 21:47

Iv always wanted to do the shark Cave thing. Iv done Storm Chasing in Oklahoma

Original poster
MaryPoppinsPenguins · 03/02/2019 21:56

I was thinking a cage dive... he absolutely cannot swim. He is happy to splash around with the kids so hasn’t really been a massive problem but for this I think doing all the research and looking to book something is going to be really disappointing unless he realises and believes from the outset that he’s probably not going to be able to do it,

Thanks for the spelling lesson Grin

OP posts:
expatmigrant · 03/02/2019 22:02

Did the shark dive off the coast near Cape Town. Straight in to cage from boat. No swimming involved.

kelly14 · 03/02/2019 22:03

Why doesn’t he learn to swim? Contact a local Swimming pool or instructor and am sure he will be able to learn very quickly. A quick google says about 20 hours of lessons of few months for adult to learn.

Original poster
MaryPoppinsPenguins · 03/02/2019 22:26

I’ve asked him six thousand times. The amount of times in a pool or on holiday that I have to take responsibility for both DD’s... I’d love him to learn, he’s too embarrassed and just won’t which I get.

OP posts:
NannyR · 03/02/2019 22:33

I've seen a black tip reef shark whilst snorkelling in western Australia - didn't go out specifically to see one but it just swam past which was pretty amazing. I also snorkelled in Mozambique and saw whale sharks.

minipie · 03/02/2019 22:38

I’m pretty sure cage diving with great whites is deeply dodgy on various grounds (eg encourages great whites to come to shore and to view humans as prey). If he’s going to do it he should seek out an operator that doesn’t lure the sharks with bait.

I have seen reef sharks minding their own business while snorkelling and scuba diving, entirely different experience.

ratherunwell · 03/02/2019 22:43

They were big nurse sharks which were held in a huge pen in the sea

God those poor creatures. For human entertainment Sad

JassyRadlett · 03/02/2019 22:50

I don’t think there’s any way to do cage diving with sharks in any way that’s ethical or good for the sharks.

Mari50 · 03/02/2019 23:29

I did some swimming ‘with’ a tiger shark earlier this year. The ‘with’ is in inverted commas because lots of us jumped in the water to swim with it (well about 5 of us) but it swam away rather quickly.
Not sure I’d be so keen to swim with great whites and didn’t let my dd(9) jump in with the tiger shark either.
Swimming with whale sharks is relatively risk free in that they won’t eat you....

blueshoes · 03/02/2019 23:37

I scuba dived with a school of hammerhead sharks in Sipadan, Malaysia. Well not in the middle of them but close enough to watch them swim past. It was awe inspiring.

AlliKaneErikson · 03/02/2019 23:58

I’ve snorkelled and seen reef sharks and was swimming/paddling in the sea in Mexico when a shark swam right up to me, which was amazing. I can’t imagine swimming with sharks in any ‘false’ environment eg a tank or cage.