h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Great article!

I have been considered going diving for the last few months, and this article has certainly furthered my interest.

The only problem I see is that here in Australia I'm told we have a lot of sharks. But it's the sharks that eat the sharks that worry me more!

Swimming with dolphins...what will they think of next? Don't humans realise that if we wanted to spend more time interacting with them, we'd have grown legs?

I'm with you on the shark issue though! Shame they're not a more palatable size...

Sharks are fun!

Who exactly has been telling you not to get eaten? Spielberg? Or the incredibly honest media organisation of Rupert Murdoch?

I've met a few on the Great Barrier Reef, and had to swim like hell to get close enough to get a good look. Generally they go in the opposite direction as soon as they see you coming.

My old dive instructor explained it in these terms - sharks haven't evolved in millions of years. They don't really learn, because they don't have to. They just do what they have always done.

Two legged creatures, apparently made with a fair amount of metal (dive tanks) and gasping air, are just not on the list of things that it's safe to eat. On the few occasions when people do get attacked it's on the surface, usually while surfing - when they appear very much like seals. I don't know the exact statistics but I once heard somebody claim that there were 26 reported shark attacks worldwide in the same year that 25000 people died as the result of bee stings in the USA alone.

I'll try and check that figure if I have time but in the meantime suffice to say that sharks are not mindless killing machines, they are extremely sophisticated (and beautiful) creatures and if you respect them they will generally respect you. Don't let an ignorant and biased press put you off a great sport just because they want a good story.

chris

I'll second that, I learned to dive on the same reef, and damned if I couldn't get closer than 20
meters from the reef sharks...and they swim alot faster than clunky dive gear equipped humans.
You just can't believe how noisy divers are, it amazed me at times how many fish stayed around.
And having smelled neoprene rubber I don't wanna try tasting it.

Now there are bigger sharks around, but they same goes for them. Unless your bleeding. If its a
really big deal find somewhere that rents shark repellers.

Friends of mine regularly dive of the Mozambican coast. I have only snorkeled in these waters - but deep enough to encounter sharks. Never saw a single one. Forgot all about sharks, it is so utterly amazing and beautiful! Anyway, most of the divers have seen sharks and have been quite close, without a single incident.[Only one newcomer sped of in the boat and they never saw him again...]I have a feeling that you are probably safer diving than snorkeling. Watch out for stonefish though! Its really sad how some people damage the reefs...[specifically refering to tourists.]

Neoprene must have some taste value. My dive buddy once managed to scratch up his gloves rather well, since he'd been pulling himself along on the coral (for which I properly chastised him at the end, fear not ), and when he held up his palms to a school of Lemon-something fish (hey, it's been a while!) they ate the now-stringy fingertips off. Quite amusing.

Anyone with further reservations on diving should check out my new article here: http://www.h2g2.com/A278868 , where I list all the wonderful ways scuba can kill you, or at least maim you.

Just did my first-timer bit at Sharm El Sheikh (Red Sea pedestrian). What an experience...didn't see any sharks there (one of the group saw a Reef Shark in the distance) and i certainly bled enough out of my nose to attract a few if the tales were true. The buggers hate divers cos they give them wind!
The main thing I learned is that you do this scuba thing for fun......diving in 5ft of visiblity ain't my idea of fun. If you're gonna do it, do it somewhere nice and make the first experience of the underwater world a pleasant one first time around.
And stay off the coral