I came close to sharks in Australia before – this time I have a plan

About ten years ago my wife and I went to visit our daughter Vicki, and her partner – now husband- Ian, when they were in Australia. They spent a few years there, came home, had a family of three boys and just recently returned to Oz for another stint.

On our visit we were based in Brisbane. My son Colin, and my mother came with us. There was no shortage of beautiful sandy beaches in the area so the gang of us stopped off at one of them one day for a picnic.

It was a quiet spot and as far as I can remember we were the only people there. I noticed a small pleasure boat anchored about two hundred metres offshore and apart from that there was no sign of life. It was a hot day too, so I decided to go for a swim. As I was swimming around, Buddy their dog was running back and forth along the shoreline barking and enjoying himself.

After the swim I went for a small walk and when I returned, the gang couldn’t wait to tell me they had a visitor. Apparently, the guy in the pleasure craft got into a smaller boat and came ashore to speak to them. He told them to be careful in the water because a few sharks had been circling his boat for some time.

I’m not sure how my legs supported me at that stage because they turned to jelly. All sorts of scenarios ran through my head and most of them involved me in a pool of blood minus a few limbs. The theme music for Jaws was ringing in my ears and for the rest of my time in that country, I refused to go into the water.

Many tried to convince me of how safe most of the beaches were and how some even had nets spread across the water to prevent sharks entering the bathing area. I didn’t care. I had been swimming in close proximity to sharks and survived that near death experience with my body intact and I had no intention of exposing it to the risk of further harm.

The experts tell us there are many varieties of shark, some more dangerous than others, but as far as I’m concerned, a shark is a shark and I never want to be close to one again. Makes no difference to me how cuddly it is. If it has a fin, I’m off.

That creates a slight problem though because I’m heading to that part of the world again at the end of the year thanks to my daughter’s migration. I’m supposed to swim regularly for my back issue, so I need a plan. One thought I had, was to take one of the grandsons to the beach with me and keep him close while in the water. At the first sign of a shark, I could offer him as a sacrifice and go like the clappers to save myself.

My daughter, selfishly in my opinion, has an issue with that idea so as an alternative I decided to educate myself on how best to deal with sharks from a defensive perspective. The first thing I discovered is that you don’t need to go to the southern hemisphere to find sharks because approximately 35 shark species have been found in the waters around Ireland, including the second largest fish in the sea, the basking shark. I didn’t know that.

Travel + Leisure magazine offer some advice on how to keep safe from sharks while swimming in the ocean. They tell us that while these creatures have been painted as heartless predators on the hunt for human blood, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Sharks are intelligent and curious animals who are likely just as intimidated by you as you are of them. If you ever run into one, the success of your interaction largely depends on you — it’s up to you to convey that you are a predator, not prey.

They suggest that while keeping cool when nose to nose with a shark may seem impossible, it isn’t. You just need to know a little about shark behaviour and have a plan for how to react should you come across one while swimming.

The colour of your clothing matters. Sharks have monochromatic vision, so it would be smart to avoid colours like white, yellow, or neon when swimming or diving because those may stand out more brightly in a blue ocean. Sticking to darker colours, like black and blue, can minimize unwanted attention from sharks.

When you see a shark, your instinct may be to swim as fast as you can in the other direction, but this could communicate that you are prey and should be chased. When you spot a shark in the ocean, your goal is to let them know that you, too, are a predator. To do this, you must acknowledge the shark by using eye contact.

But don’t get too locked in because if there’s one shark, there could be others. So, after you make initial eye contact, look around you. Again, the key is to show the shark or sharks that you are aware of them and not prey.

The reason you want to act like a predator in the water is to tell the shark that you are not on their menu. Splashing, screaming, and causing a scene at the surface might make them think you are a sick or injured bird or fish.

Maybe so, but in my case, I’m pretty certain that staring into the eyes of a shark to intimidate him is not going to happen. Splashing, screaming and causing a scene is much more likely so maybe I’ll just have to find a swimming pool.