i'm a over 60 year old Aussie whose spent all his life swimming, diving, boating, fishing sailing in South Australian waters and what I find weird is we never called them Great Whites, we called them White Pointers. It's real interesting how a nations language can change in a couple of generations. Back in my younger days everyone called them Pointers, you'd never hear Great White shark. I think it's more to do with social media, where people get influenced by the rest of the world and disregard their own language quirks
I have called them white pointer in the past to. Most of the time I hear people say great white though. Great white might sound scarier and that's why it is used more perhaps. I haver never really thought about it.
When I spearfished 50 + years ago I carried a 303 power head in a sheath, and a mate with a handspear had a 12 gauge power head. A few Bronzes and Bullsharks got stopped in their tracks when they just wouldn't go away with a prod from our spears, plus the local pubs would always take them for a few dollars. Power heads really gave you confidence when you were way off the coast spearing a secret reef in open waters. Never saw a great white though, but a power head would stop anything.
I wonder how many sharks are around now compared to back then. From what I have seen in the past 13 years there are a lot more. Yes, it would be nice having something like a power head as a back up. If no other deterrents are working.
I saw one off the coast while fishing we were in a 28 ft black fin when it circled the boat i feel to my knees i couldnt believe how big it was and he lifted its head out out the water just enough to look at us at that moment i realize how small we really are i cant imagine being in the water with a creature with that much power the captain said it was 16 ft i couldn't tell i was star struck i will never forget it.....
It's a humbling experience being in the presence of an apex predator. Well, terrifying in the moment and humbling after the fact. I'm guessing this shark was around the 4 m mark. Where were you at the time?
@DownDeep we were around 30 miles off the coast on New jersey tuna fishing. we were in 600 feet of water, this was a while ago, and I always think about where it is right now. I hope it's still swimming somewhere. I think about it a lot it really affected me in a way I can't explain
I'd say it's still swimming around mate. Unless it swam into a pod of killer whales😅 Pretty crazy what they are doing to the whites in some parts of the world
Nice one. Good on you for resisting a bravado account of it. Don't see much danger there though. Seems to be acting pretty mellow, moving slow. I have about 2000 hours (25 years) in NZ waters where they are very common. My marine biologist mate who specializes in great whites (Clinton Duffy) thinks they have probably been around at various times. Chances are there have been others you didn't see but they just did their own thing.
Definitely no bravado mate. I would say it was a humbling experience if anything. Such a big powerful predator, have a lot of respect for them. I wonder if the population of whites is growing over the last few decades? I have noticed in the 13 years I have been diving the whaler and bull shark population in SEQ has exploded. The whalers were ravenous on Sunday just past.
@@DownDeep The Whaler populations in NZ have exploded and I there is a studuy in Tauranga to find out if the White population has risen. The whalers are becoming a problem in NZ, I recon. Getting bold and they aint small!
Nice shark, my dive buddy and me were in 1-3m chocolate viz yesterday and I was imagining one of these guys creeping on in, not a good thought, next thing you know a fat grey nurse shark came straight in on my fins, had a few heart palpitations before I realised it was just a nurse. Not looking forward to running into a white one day, there is so many getting around on the mid north coast of nsw nowadays….only a matter of time 😂
Mate it would be terrifying to see one in mud vis. The grey nurse can be aggressive to can't they?? Yeah I have heard of more and more being sighted NSW and QLD. It probably won't be the last one I bump into.
@@DownDeep nah they are generally pretty chill but occasionally the bigger boys like to swim up to you and say hi. They do fire up when they are hungry and a decent fish is on your spear but they aren’t very sketchy like a bull or whaler
damn thats scary... you know allot of spear fisherman have been killed and eaten by great white sharks particularly in australia... so yeah man be safe...but damn im from florida which is like the usa version of australia lol...not too long ago i saw a video of a scuba diver being eaten alive just off the shore in australia...hell noooo
Hey mate, yeah they certainly are the most dangerous shark. I have been diving for 13 years and only seen the one. My mate saw another one while we were both spearfishing in dirty water. I didn't see that one tho. You guys have tons of sharks in Florida to don't you? The shark numbers have exploded in the last 10 years around Brisbane. It's a bit of a worry to be honest. I have a feeling shark attacks will be more frequent in years to come. I love spearfishing to much to ever stop tho.
@@80sShred haha, good to put a face to the name🤣 The whites may be visiting us a bit more hey. A bloke I work with was off caloundra wide fishing and a massive white swum up to the boat only about a month ago. Man I'm heading out tomorrow off Moreton. Hopefully there is a bit of vis
Have definitely thought about it, but I'm hearing so many mixed reviews. Some people swear by them, others say they have more issues with sharks with them on. I'll do some more research on the product. Peace of mind from a deterrent that works would be amazing.
Just had a look at them. They look pretty good. I'll do some more research on them. 1500 odd dollars is a lot BUT if they really work and are not uncomfortable I will have to save up for one. My family needs me to come home, if this increases the chance of that it is worth the investment.
Would of been cool to swim with if it wasn't so interested in us. LOL Was at Moreton today and the whalers were absolutely horid. Got charged on the way down on 1 drop. Bloody things
