Feeding the Sharks, Oh My!

Unlock the Ocean Portal - A Life Underwater

"There is a change this morning," said the scuba diver instructor. “Captain Slate has decided to join us to feed his sharks with meat. He has been diving for so many years in this area that he considers the sharks and a giant Green Moray Eel his friends so he feeds them once in a while.”

We were in Key Largo for our four Open Water certification dives. We had already done the first two dives Saturday and were waiting for the boat to take us out again this foggy, cold Sunday morning in February. I was nervous and I was freezing. I did't feel comfortable in the water yet, and one of the skills we were supposed to show the instructor, that we could handle, was to swim under water, take the mask off and put it back on again before we cleared it. And now we had a crazy captain that wanted to feed the sharks at the same time with meat!! OMG. I was as sure he could handle the sharks as I much as I was sure I couldn´t!

We had a film team with us when we went down and we bought the DVD afterwards to see what we, newly certified scuba divers looked like. Anyone can clearly see how relaxed and happy I looked when Captain Slate fed the huge Moray Eel with fish. As one of the divers said when he was watching the video, and he looked a little surprised when he said it; “I think she (me) wants one!!”

This memory is still amusing me. I can't believe I thought they were telling the truth that the legendary Captain Slate used to feed sharks with meat. Even if we did see a Nurse Shark on that dive, I hardly ever see sharks when I am diving. And by the way, sharks do not consider scuba divers looking tasty enough to pick us before the large amount of fish they have in our ocean to eat instead. They are also afraid of bubbles!