Yikes!
I had a face-off with a giant Tiger Shark for
almost 4 minutes!
So, did I survive?
Stick around and find out!
Hey guys! Aloha! And welcome to Maui Napper!
I don't think I'm gonna tell you, right now,
whether I survived or not. I think I'll just
hold off til the end of the episode...
I hope you guys can handle that.
I was figuring on starting this channel with
lighter stuff, but a friend of mine was like
"You HAFTA tell your shark story on YouTube!"
So, why not start with a little scary stuff
and see if you guys can survive okay.
I've been getting into spearfishing for the
past year and a half or so, and .. I've gotten
pretty good at it... but, I really enjoy being
able to shop for my meals under the sea. It's a lot of fun, and kinda delicious, and
I like it.
Sorry to any of you Vegans....
On this particular day, I was having pretty
good success with a couple of fish, called
Papio, in the Jack family.
So, I had just finished reloading my speargun,
after shooting my second Papio, and a movement
caught my eye, near the surface... something
big.... and I look up, and... maybe 20 feet
away, here's the Tiger Shark, coming right
toward me!
Of course, my brain goes immediately into
overdrive, and there's like a neuron overload
as it works a million miles an hour just immediately.
And, of course, the first thought is "Yikes!
A Tiger Shark!"
"Yikes! A Tiger Shark!"
Now, of course, in any kind of dangerous situation,
you don't wanna panic or freak out, as that
just complicates things. But, especially with
a shark around.... that's coming at ya...
You don't wanna panic and thrash around and
act like any kind of injured prey, or anything
like that!
So, I immediately was working on trying to
calm myself down, to control my breathing...
keep it slow and even, and I was doing a pretty
good job, but, uh, it's not so easy in that
kind of circumstances, as you can imagine!
So, my guess is, that it was cruising by in
the vicinity and heard the shot from the speargun,
or the fish struggling, and came by to investigate,
hoping for free meal... as they tend to do.
One of my next thoughts, of course, was that
I had just shot these two fish, and I've got
them dangling on this stringer, on the butt
of my speargun, just like "Here's dinner!
Come and get it!" So, obviously, I didn't
want to just, y'know, say "Here's dinner!"
So, I took these fish and I kinda clamped
them to my chest, so they were still, and
maybe it would confuse the shark a little
as to whether they were alive or dead or accessories....
I don't know what it might've thought. But
I thought maybe it would help more than just,
y'know, "Here's dinner! Come and get it!"
No "Come and get it" invitations! No, No, No.
Anything is better than that, right?
So, let me just say that I was perfectly willing
to give up my catch, If I needed to. I wasn't
going to stubbornly hold onto them, at the
risk of life and limb. But I did feel that,
as my mind was racing a million miles an hour,
...I had felt that it wasn't necessarily a
good idea, either, to give the shark positive
reinforcement that anytime it hears a speargun
shot or hears a fish struggle or sees a person,
that it associates that with food or a free
meal. So, that was one of my thoughts... among
many, many, many thoughts that were zooming
through my head!
So, I had no intentions of shooting the shark,
but I've got my speargun at it, pointed at
it, the whole time, from the get-go... probably
not even a conscious thought! But I took my
finger off the trigger, so I wouldn't accidentally
shoot it! But there was a certain amount of
comfort, I guess, in the fact that I've got
this sharp pointy stick that I can poke at
it with if it starts coming at me, as opposed
to just trying to push it away with my hands
or feet or something like that. First line
of protection, I guess.
So, that was a comfort. Yeah...
So, anyway, this shark is coming toward me,
and it passes right in front of me, right
off the end of my speargun. And, I'm looking
at this thing, and just counting off... 1
foot, 2 foot, 3 foot, 4 foot.... This thing
is eleven feet long!
And, y'know, that's like almost two of me!
Just gigantic!
And big around, and it's just all muscle and
teeth! And ... it's a little bit unnerving!
So, uh... yeah! Yikes!
So, anyway, I did have my GoPro camera mounted
on my speargun, and I turned it on fairly
quick after I saw the shark, so I caught this
whole thing on video!
So, grab your popcorn, place your bets, leave
your Comments as to whether or not you think
I made it, and watch the video....
 
Okay, okay... So, you guessed it! I hope. I
did survive! So, I can break that suspense,
now. I did survive, AND I was able to keep
my fish! ...Which, y'know, really wasn't a
concern! That was just a total non-issue.
The survival part... I'm kinda pleased about
that!
And I got to keep all my limbs! Nice Bonus!
I did want to take a moment to say that, y'know,
we're kinda programmed by movies, and Shark
Week, scare stories, all that stuff, that
sharks are just out to get us! And that they're
just lurking as soon as we put a toe into
the water! And it's so programmed into us,
that we even think about it in lakes and fresh
water streams and rivers and stuff! Ponds!
It's a weird thing, isn't it, how we get these
things programmed into us? But, y'know, sharks..
they are just another fish in the sea! A big
one, granted, with lots of pointy teeth and
a lot of power! But they're just another fish
in the sea! And it's their ocean! We're just
visitors, here. So, y'know, they're not just
everywhere. They're not just out to get us!
They're just doing their thing. And it really
pays to study up and to learn more about sharks
and their behavior, and more about what we
should do around sharks and how we should
act and not act. And it's good for the safety
of both us and for them! I'l leave a link
at the end, here, or even an icon you can
push for Ocean Ramsey's OneOcean Diving. She
and Juan Oliphant both are big shark advocates,
and are big about conservation of sharks...
and also education about what sharks really
are and how they're not the menacing denizens
of the deep that are just out to get us all
the time! They are doing their own thing.
And, if we are educated, we can all live peaceably
and not have encounters and fears like we
tend to tumble into.
So, anyway, take a look at that! And feel
free to get educated some more! I'll tell
you what... It really paid off for me! Because
it gave me peace of mind when I was out there,
to have an idea of how to act, what to expect,
because I had done my homework in advance.
Because, I figured, as much as I'm in the
ocean, eventually I'm gonna see one and encounter
one! So, while I can't say that I was totally
calm and unafraid, I can say I did have a
lot more peace of mind than I think I would
have, had I not done so. So, it's worth a
look, worth educating yourself! And take a
look at those links!
So, thank you for joining me. I hope you enjoyed
this video! And this episode! I hope it was
educational and entertaining. Anyway, feel
free to Like.. or dislike, if you wish...
And definitely leave comments on what you
thought about it, what you think about sharks,
and, especially if you've had any kind of
encounters... I'd be really curious to see
what your experience has been! And, so, anyway,
as always.. If you haven't Subscribed already,
please press that Subscribe button.... Just
press the heck out of it until it's finally
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Again, thanks for joining us! Aloha! And we'll
see ya next time!
