411 Dive Log Australasia April 2025

acceptable limit before shooting. That way, the Wobby has an escape route and I can get the shot. It is kind of the deal you make with the devil. Same applies to Angel sharks. They are also extremely defensive of their personal space. They have been known to bite people who get too close. Grey Nurse sharks Grey Nurses have a habit of swimming slowly back and forth along a gutter or wall. The best way to photograph a Grey Nurse is to hide behind a rock and wait for them to swim by. This way, you are least likely to disturb them. Always respect the shark! I find Grey Nurse sharks are extremely tolerant of divers. They are polite, even weaving around you to avoid a collision. However, I know a diver who was attacked by one. We think that he disturbed a mating event. It is only one instance out of literally thousands of encounters I have had with them. They are so placid. Open water sharks are curious and will sometimes approach you, usually from behind. They own the territory and they will come in to check out the intruder. Sharks are masters of the stealth approach and will come out to see who has the absolute gall to be there in their domain. I have this theory, even though I have never seen a Great White shark in the wild, that I have been seen by quite a Pelagic sharks

few! I never realise what is behind me or just out of sight. I believe that they are definitely there and aware of your presence. As the supreme master of cunning and stealth, you will never see the one until you are dinner. Then again, part of a shark’s sensory ‘intel’ is that they can detect you when you cannot see them. There are a lot of creatures surveying you from outside your zone of awareness.

Understanding sharks

Sharks are opportunistic feeders. They will take a feed whenever they can. As a general rule, the feeding time at the Zoo, so to speak, is dawn and dusk. Sharks have a Tapetum lucidum in their eyes. This is a mirror like silver reflective layer behind the retina, which effectively doubles the light collecting ability in poor light. You cannot see them, but they can see you. Sharks can also smell humans. Their sense of smell is legendary. I have had a number of discussions with experienced divers regarding the extent of this sense of Olfaction. I am convinced that they can smell many things about you that you may not have even considered. One, in particular, is the sex hormone that all humans exude. I have dive buddies who give me curry about the number of female Wobbegongs that swim beneath me. I have a habit of swimming with neutral buoyancy about sixty-one and a half centimetres above the reef. On many occasions, a large wobbegong has swum from behind and beneath me. I have noticed a sudden shadow underneath my body. As I

Carcharius limbatus , Protea Banks, Africa. Nikon D810 Nikkor 35 mm f9. 1/80 Sec ISO 200 It was impossible to escape the bubbles of fifteen buddies

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