silent running

I've been bumped twice before, it wasn't fun but if you keep your cool and push back, they leave you alone. I can't say I wasn't scared, but I actually spent time talkng to other people who dived with sharks and read some about shark behavior and had an idea of what to expect. The Galapagos is one of the sharkiest places in the world and diving with Galapagos sharks in particular, without being familiar with their behavior, is not smart. Galapagos sharks are frequently aggressive and can be quite large and I don't think that some photographers understand how aggressive they look when leaning forward with a big camera rig while following a shark's movements. There is a real art to getting sharks to come in close without apearing aggressive. The idea of being cocky around sharks, or any large predator is just plain stupid.
-Andy