I saw Jaws in Long Beach Calif, and went swimming in the ocean the next day.I did think about it though. On the other hand, my nephew who was a big Jaws fan was afraid to go in The Great Salt Lake because he n was scared of the sharks and'whales. HE was about six

I went surfing the morning after seeing Jaws. I was a bit nervous.

i never saw the movie, Jaws for that very reason!!

My whole family of youn'uns freaked and were really nervous about going to Florida. They calmed down eventually. That was such a scary movie because great white sharks really do exist and occasionally take a bite out of someone.

Living near the beach, I can tell you the vast majority of shark bites are no worse then jelly fish stings. At the distance most swimmers are from shore, the only sharks they have to worry about are the really small infant sharks that sometimes hang close to shore in order to avoid the much bigger sharks and sea life. These guys generally don't take all that much flesh from you, and they often bite as a reflex, after they bump into a much larger creature. Most of these don't even get reported as they are not that big of a deal.

Now you do hear about big sharks attacking people in less then three feet of water, but this is almost always on a sandbar that is a fair distance from shore. Big sharks don't want to get too close to the beach, because they don't want to get stranded. Generally, the only guys who get far enough out where a big shark is going to see them as a meal, are surfers.

Another way to get bit by a shark, is to stand in the water as you fish, with your bait bag attached to your body, below the surface of the water. Occasionally you might even tempt a medium sized shark to come in closer to shore if he smells chum hanging off your belt.

Another good way to avoid getting attacked is to avoid swimming at night as some species will risk coming closer to shore when its dark, or swimming near the mouths of rivers or in bays where food is more plenty, and sharks like to hunt, and you will be okay.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 12:23AM by forbiddencokedrinker.

No but after watching Poltergeist my brother and I hid our stuffed toys that even remotely looked like the clown.

I love swimming in the ocean and miss it all the time. I once had a sea lion come up to me we just stared at each other while floating in the water.

I hope someday BF and I are closer to the ocean again. That was some of the best parts of my life so far.

In 5th grade, the local pool put on an evening show of Jaws. About half the people (including me) watched the remainder of the film out of the pool following the first or second attack scene...lol

We saw sharks on my first dive. I thought it was cool. I've swum with sharks, fed them, touched them. True, they were the more docile varieties of shark, but my fear of sharks is much lower than most people's. I respect them but I don't fear them.

Until I took up scuba, the stuff below the surface of the ocean seemed creepy at best and terrifying at worst. But once I got under water and saw what was actually going on, everything became really cool. Sure, there were things one mustn't do or touch, but most of the underwater world is harmless (except the constant possibility of drowning, of course).

It's a good metaphor for taking the plunge out of a fearful, controlling group like Mormonism. Ooooo, the big bad lone and dreary world ruled by Lucifer! It's scary and dangerous! You could die! Um, no, not so much. Once you get out there and see what it's really like, when you learn what to avoid, learn your limits, it's mostly just fine, mostly harmless. And, just like diving, sometimes it's quite blissful in ways Mormon life can never be.

Stray Mutt Wrote:
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> We saw sharks on my first dive. I thought it was
> cool. I've swum with sharks, fed them, touched
> them. True, they were the more docile varieties of
> shark, but my fear of sharks is much lower than
> most people's. I respect them but I don't fear
> them.

DO NOT feed the sharks. Operators do it because people pay MONEY but it trains the sharks that humans equal food. It is stupid. That is how people get bit. I was swarmed by sting rays at a dive spot in the Caymans, being the first diver of the group in the water. The dive operators feed the rays to attract them to the divers. Humans equal food to these trained rays. They don't have teeth, but the barbs are nasty.

I have been in the ocean at an early age and still surf and dive at age sixty. Shark bites are rare an not usually fatal. Get out of the water if there are sharks around. Florida has the most bites. Bulls are bad and like murky water. Tigers are a problem in Hawaii. The Great White like cold water and are after the seals. Try and not look like a seal.You will never see a Great White approach. They are ambush hunters. They bite because they think that you are a seal and will usually just reject you.

Even docile sharks bite. Keep your distance from wildlife. There is a reason why it is called wildlife. In most cases it is illegal to approach dolphins, seals and whales. Fines are stiff. Seals are cute but are aggressive and provide a nasty bite. Dolphins will surf with you on the same wave but will get your attention when they surface near you in the surf lineup and you are not expecting it.

Oh yeah, in the pass few years, camo board shorts were popular. Surfers were getting bit because they looked like sea turtles. Camo, not good.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 09:40AM by No Mo.

This is excellent advice I've heard repeated often by people who grew up swimming in the ocean here in Florida.

A few months ago, there was a huge swath -- at least a mile long -- of bait fish swarming near the shore where I live.

I was surprised to see a couple with snorkel masks on smack dab in the middle of a large area of bait fish. I can only assume they were either ok with the risk or didn't understand what they were doing.

Either way, I was purposefully staying out of the water that day given what I'd heard about the link between bait fish + predators such as sharks - and dolphins, but you don't know if it's one, or both. These weren't itty bitty sardine sized bait fish, either (though that may not matter). They were easily a foot long.

I'm a woman who loves my board shorts but I'm fond of bright happy colors like fuschia and neon green. I don't wear black or dark colors when I swim or snorkel in order to mitigate the admittedly already extremely small risk.

frogdogs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> A few months ago, there was a huge swath -- at
> least a mile long -- of bait fish swarming near
> the shore where I live.
>
Good point. Whenever I see the schooling fish jumping out of the water, I wonder which predator in chasing them. The school's main, naturally selected protection is its numbers and being the lucky fish that don't get eaten.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 12:58PM by No Mo.

After I saw Jaws I didn't have the opportunity to swim in an ocean and be fearful (lived in landlocked Morridor).

However, not one to be left out, I'd just freak out at random shadows in the deep end of the local swimming pool :D

Through a stroke of good luck, I now live less than 10 minutes from a beautiful southeastern Florida beach. I get in the water at every opportunity, especially snorkeling. If I had the money right now, I'd be learning to dive.

Funny thing is that this very morning, I saw a local news report that some big schools of sharks - in the thousands - are swimming offshore the past couple of days. It's given me pause about my beach plans for the weekend...

I've lived here for 2 years and have never seen reports of these large schools. I wonder why they're here in such large numbers?

The only reports I found online about schools of sharks in Florida were from previous years, around February 2010 and February 2011. Looks like an annual migration of smaller, non-aggressive sharks.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/sharks-in-south-florida-spotlighted-by-nbc%27s-today-show--

http://www.thedorsalfin.com/shark-news-stories/schools-of-sharks-spotted-off-palm-beach-florida/

I was always afraid of the land sharks.

I never had enough meat on my bones to attract large fish.

I wear 'booties' so I can better avoid the stingrays.

Shark bites are pretty rare. I don't know what the numbers are, but I think it's in the double digits every year here in Florida (without looking it up). That's low when you consider the number of people who go swimming in the ocean every year. I do have an irrational fear of them enough that I tend to swim in groups of people though. I'm more worried about getting swept by a strong current out to sea. Maybe that's irrational too though. I love to ride the waves on my back. I can't wait for spring to go to the beach.

That movie came out when I was working summers as an open water swimming instructor and lifeguard. It was the bain of my existence. Normally I did not always go into the water with the older, more experienced swimmers. But that summer and the summer after I had to go into the water with every single class. Sometimes I would joke around and put one arm up in a shark fin shape as I was swimming on my side, trying to erase the kids' fears.

My brother lived in Hawaii for a few years in his youth. He said that if you surf there, you need to get used to the notion that sharks will be around you constantly. Most sharks, such as the nurse shark, will not bother humans.

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That movie came out when I was working summers as
> an open water swimming instructor and lifeguard.
> It was the bain of my existence. Normally I did
> not always go into the water with the older, more
> experienced swimmers.

I don't follow personalities much on RfM, but somehow I thought that you were younger.

My high school classmate from Homestead in Sunnyvale/Cupertino died in 2003 at age 50 open water swimming off of Avila Pier in a full wetsuit. She was bitten by a Great White. There were a number of seals in the area that suddenly scattered before the Great White struck her twice. It was reported that she was swimming "with the seals".The shark opened her femoral artery. She should have stayed away from the seals.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 12:00PM by No Mo.

I'm always a little paranoid in the water, but I don't know if JAWS had anything to do with it. I'm not a huge beach/ocean person anyway, so my experiences are few and far between. I paddled way too far offshore in SoCal once and freaked out when I saw a dark shape in the water below (was probably just a clump of seaweed). I came across a barracuda while snorkeling once and it terrified me.

I have a friend who lives in Capetown, SA, and he hasn't gone in the ocean for a few years now, ever since he saw a Shark Week special about the great whites in the area. He knows attacks are rare, but he says he just can't do it anymore.

Not long after reading the book, we went to FL. New Smyrna Beach. First time ever in FL and I was a teen. I was panicky enough without the visuals, and cannot imagine having seen the movie first.


I actually stepped on a shark in very shallow water, walking the beach at night with a friend. I was not bitten, though not for lack of that shark's trying.

I got back in the water a few days later and still do swim in the ocean, if given a chance. But I still think of Jaws, in the back of my mind, the whole time even though I realize the chance of one attacking me is slim to none.

I actually scuba dove with Peter Benchley in 1983 down in the Caymans at the Spanish Cove Dive Resort before the Caymans became so popular and expensive.

He wasn't afraid of no shark.

I remember watching him at an adjacent table, during lunch, trying to talk his kids out of buying Tshirts that they wanted to purchase. He was telling them that the denim shirt he was wearing was so much more functional, as you can roll up the sleeves and it had a collar and pockets. He always seemed so preppy to me. I suppose that is explained by his Exeter schooling and Harvard degree.

He later expressed regret over writing the book as it was not biologically realistic or factually correct and it misled so many people into a fear of the ocean. He also advocated shark conservation.

RIP, Peter.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 06:12PM by No Mo.

I understood that Jaws was fiction.

We always went swimming right after seeing Jaws. It's usually dark out side and the pool water was always murky. boy was it fun. Played tag where the person has to be under water to get your feet to make you it.

I go surfing at night when its a full moon. I take comfort in the fact that there has never been a shark attack in Orange County CA. Plus, I'm always with a friend. However, I'm sure I would freak out if I went night-surfing alone.

Brethren,adieu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I go surfing at night when its a full moon. I
> take comfort in the fact that there has never been
> a shark attack in Orange County CA. Plus, I'm
> always with a friend. However, I'm sure I would
> freak out if I went night-surfing alone.

Who says there aren't Great Whites in Orange County? Good thing he was on a SUP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3fPTmv2Oj0

That is hard to tell where it is actually taken. I don't think Dana Point. San Onofre?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 07:16PM by No Mo.

I was in utero when that movie came out so the only way I saw it and the sequels were on TV. I've always enjoyed swimming at the beach, since I tend to avoid ones where seals and sea lions are raising pups as that's where most bites take place.

I was about 20 when it came out. My sister and our friend wouldn't go in Bear Lake after seeing the movie. When I finally went to see it, someone ran into a telephone pole and it knocked the power out at the movie theater before the movie had gotten 10 minutes in.

In Logan, Utah, for a while they had a movie theater that played older movies like old Hitchcock stuff--and I finally saw Jaws all the way through. Nope, never saw the video either, although it was one of my son's favorite movies.

Grandparents lived at the beach, so spent a lot of summer there. Grown-ups kept insisting not to go in past your knees, (but they always did that anyway--undertow-phobia). What I remember is that all the shops on the boardwalk were doing land-office business selling "shark-protection" bracelets (braided rope). Definitely cause me some early cog-dis.

We are having shark issues downunder at the moment. A swimmer was taken off Muruwai beach near Auckland last week by one of a group of 3 sharks. Bitten seals have been found on beaches since. You won't get me in the water. Apparently climate change and possibly shifting prey numbers and ranges may be changing shark ranges.

Swim in the Pacific all the time, without fear, but with caution. In fact, I have a beach house up the coast and often go swimming, surfing and diving. I know there are heaps of sharks in the area, mostly Grey Nurse, 'cos I love watching them when I dive. There are also Tiger sharks and occasional sightings (not by me) of Great White. At the end of the day, I keep my distance, respect them and only watch. I also don't look like a seal! Dolphins often come and play when I swim, but I've never been touched by a shark.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2013 04:51AM by antipodeanheathen.