Have you seen a shark? Where were you, what was it and were you snorkeling?

[snorkelingsearchers]

Have you seen a shark? Where were you, what was it and were you snorkeling?

 

 

To hopefully alleviate fears about shark attacks while snorkeling in the Caribbean, I wondered how many people had actually seen a shark while snorkeling, what type was it and where were you?

 

I have never seen one, but have only snorkeled in the Caribbean.

[psbtrvlr]

Have you seen a shark? Where were you, what was it and were you snorkeling?

 

 

To hopefully alleviate fears about shark attacks while snorkeling in the Caribbean, I wondered how many people had actually seen a shark while snorkeling, what type was it and where were you?

 

I have never seen one, but have only snorkeled in the Caribbean.

 

Yes, snorkeling! In the Caribbean, between Cancun and Cozumel. It was a nurse shark and it couldn't get away from us fast enough. I guess we are a scary bunch. :D

[bruce-r]

I don't snorkel, so my answers probably won't matter to you, but I've seen sharks in St. Thomas and Cozumel in the wider caribbean area ('cause Cozumel isn't in the Caribbean).

 

I've also seen quite a few sharks in Fiji. I've even seen a shark in the Puget Sound, but that is usually quite rare.

 

Nurse sharks are harmless to people. Most other sharks don't really want much to do with people either, especially scuba divers, unless you have food for them. Generally, sharks do not consider people to be food.

[snorkelingsearchers]

Thanks for sharing!

 

Of course your reply matters bruce-r! Sorry if my terminology was off, but you know what I mean. What kind of sharks have you seen? How deep were you?

 

 

psbtrvlr - I am so jealous that you saw a nurse shark snorkeling I heard there are a few around Akumal where I have snorkeled but that it is super rare to see them. Where were you ( on a boat trip or from shore?)

[peter_krynicki]

I was snorkeling with a friend of mine who lives in Key West. He took this...

 

 

Pjk

[coffeyk]

I saw a nurse shark while snorkeling in Key Largo. I know he/she was harmless but it was still a cool thing to experience. It was a highlight!

[lahoban]

Snorkeling in the Key's.

[psbtrvlr]

Thanks for sharing!

 

Of course your reply matters bruce-r! Sorry if my terminology was off, but you know what I mean. What kind of sharks have you seen? How deep were you?

 

 

psbtrvlr - I am so jealous that you saw a nurse shark snorkeling I heard there are a few around Akumal where I have snorkeled but that it is super rare to see them. Where were you ( on a boat trip or from shore?)

 

boat trip

[BuzzF117]

Have you seen a shark? Where were you, what was it and were you snorkeling?

 

 

To hopefully alleviate fears about shark attacks while snorkeling in the Caribbean, I wondered how many people had actually seen a shark while snorkeling, what type was it and where were you?

 

I have never seen one, but have only snorkeled in the Caribbean.

 

 

Yep saw my first shark while scuba diving in St Thomas it was approx 6' long Black tip reef shark it swam away from us when I tried to get closer to it and when I retreated it came our direction but it stayed 50 ft away at all times. I had no fear of it im assuming it was waiting for us to stir something up for it to eat.

[Roatanfans]

I've never seen any sharks snorkling. While diving in Roatan I've seen Nurse sharks, and my husband has seen reef sharks while doing the shark dive in Roatan. Here are a few pictures- what you typically see with a nurse shark is just the tail sticking out- doesn't make for very good pictures. The other two are from the shark dive on Roatan.

[snorkelingsearchers]

Roatanfans - Amazing pics - those guys barely look real the pictures are so awesome.

 

peter - that is a cool video your friend was pretty brave following it around and such

 

 

Thanks again to everyone who shared! :D

[bruce-r]

Thanks for sharing!

 

Of course your reply matters bruce-r! Sorry if my terminology was off, but you know what I mean. What kind of sharks have you seen? How deep were you?

I've seen black tipped reef sharks, white tipped reef sharks, and one nurse shark in Cozumel. The nurse shark was about 95 ft down. The others were at various depths, but all of them were more than 30 ft down.

 

The 6 gill shark I saw in the Puget Sound was at 110 ft and we followed it down to 125 ft until we were close to out of bottom time.

 

Sharks are cool to see. They glide thru the water so effortlessly. I think you are much more likely to get bit by a little sergeant major that has been fed by people and has come to think people = food.

[Guzmania]

My daughter and I were snorkelling at Coco Cay last September. Wife was nearby, but we were enjoying looking at all the fish around the lifeguard station, when this large gray "bullet" blew by us on the bottom. A rather large black-tip shark, at full speed! It was about 15 feet to the side of us in 15 foot water, and we were at the top, so it probably didn't even know we were there, and no one else saw it. Coolest thing is we both saw it, because we both say we wouldn't believe the other unless we had seen it.

 

Luis

[Islandbear]

We were snorkeling off Casey Key Florida in the Gulf in about 30' of water between a sandbar and shore, when we saw a beautiful angel shark skimming along the bottom.

 

Never seen a shark in the Caribbean only barracuda.

 

Don't Worry Be HAPPY! :)

[Seppi]

I was in Grand Cayman in 2005 and whilst diving at about 28m I was lucky enough to see a Hammer Head, he didnt come very close and didnt hang around, but we did get some great video of him,

 

Andy

[jijaybajay]

If it was a sharks feeding time, just avoid them. I've seen some videos, a person got bitten pretty ugly on his feet while the sharks were on their eating time. :(

 

 

 

 

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[Seppi]

We must always remember what ever sea life we are observing we are in there environment, they do not understand the rules of etiquette. Look at the marvels of the sea from a distance and never ever touch. have respect for the enviroment.

 

 

Safe Diving.

[Dive Master]

The only sharks I have seen while snorkeling were in Nassau..I have seen many sharks while diving but I do have a PADI Shark Awareness Certification.Here's my list:

 

North Carolina: lots and lots of Sand Tigers, a few Bulls, and lots of Sandbar sharks.

 

Cozumel : Nurse shark

 

Key West: nurse shark

 

Bahamas: Lots and lots of Caribbean Reef Sharks, a bull, a nurse, and a few black tips.

 

I am pretty sure I have seen sharks on other dives too--just can't remember the specifics.

 

I have NEVER felt threatened by any Shark !!! I don't think you will have anything to worry about snorkeling in the Caribbean.You have a better chance of being killed by a falling vending machine than you do by a shark attack---I don't see too many people running away from coke machines.Go out and enjoy the beautiful underwater world.

[georoc01]

Seen lots of sharks diving..

 

As far as snorkeling goes..we went out into Hol Chan Park, Ambrigis Caye, Belize where the dive masters treat the nurse sharks like dogs. We did snorkel with the sharks where there was lots of petting going on of both the sharks & rays.

 

What they do is throw a bait ball in the water when we arrive to get the smells in the water. After we were all done and back in the boat, they open the ball and let the animals feed.

[Middleager]

I'm a diver, and saw nurse sharks, reef sharks, in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and a few other places.

 

My wife (and friends) is a snorkeler and don't usually see sharks. But the one experience, as the previous poster said, is from Ambergris Caye in Belize. They went to Ho Chan marine reserve, in a place called Shark Ray Alley. They saw a lot of nurse sharks and rays. The guide kept on freediving to go down and bring up sharks and rays for them to pet. They had a blast.

[jkstoy]

Yes, in the Keys. (hope this pic shows up) there was a 4-5 foot eel and a 6 ft nurse shark. I didn't get my camera out fast enough, the shark swam off.

[justlaff69]

I got to see 2 baby reef sharks taking a snooze in Cozumel, they might've been 2-3 feet in length.

They didn't swim away when we hovered just a few feet away.

One looked around and saw us and then it took off but the other never moved.

What scared me was the most was the 3 foot rainbow fish that unbeknowst to me, had sidled up beside us to check out what we were looking at. It was like having an extra dive buddy.

It was quite the jolt to look up to see a car window sized bright colored fish starring at you....

[FamilyDoc]

We saw a nurse shark in Coz and I had to chase my son (who does know better!) to stop him from following it.

[austin mark]

Saw this black tip reef shark last month while snorkeling in Moorea.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

We saw a shark in STT last week while snorkeling at Buck Island. The guide said that it was a nurse shark. Looked to be about 3.5-4 ft.