Diving with sharks and other adventure dives

For competent divers who wish to extend their horizons or push themselves to the limit
Jackson, Jack
21054
9781859742396
In stock
new
€29.95 *
Diving with sharks and other adventure dives

Author: Jack Jackson
Publisher: New Holland
Cape Town, 2005
ISBN: 9781859742396
Paperback, 21x28 cm, 160 pages, throughout colour photos

Diving with sharks and other adventure dives Dieses bildreiche Sachbuch wendet sich auch an erfahrene Taucher, die neugierig auf Tauchen der anderen Art sind: Tauchen mit Haien, in Höhlen und Wracks, unter Eis und in starken Strömungen.


Description:

Part aspirational, part instructional, this book is for competent divers who wish to extend their horizons or push themselves to the limit.

Diving with Sharks and Other Adventure Dives covers diving with Great White, Hammerhead and other sharks, cave and wreck diving, and diving in strong currents and under ice.

Each chapter is a combination of specialised technical and environmentally aware diving advice, site information and stirring anecdote.

The dives featured range from established, accessible schemes such as dolphin dives in the Bahamas to exceptional expeditions such as an unrepeated cave-passage exploration.

Celebrating the diversity of diving as much as encouraging the pursuit of new challenges, this beautifully illustrated guide is a must for every qualified diver’s bookshelf.


About the Author:

Jack Jackson, mountaineer, diver, photographer, lecturer and author - has carved an impressive reputation for himself and is highly respected in international diving circles.

Originally an industrial chemist, Jack answered a strong calling for adventure and set off on expedition in the Himalaya, making a living from lecturing and photography.

He explored remote areas of Asia, Africa, Europe and the Far East, both on his own account and as leader of scientific, cultural and tourist expeditions.

Some of the more challenging countries he has trekked in include Morocco, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, Nepal, northern India, Borneo, Iceland and Greenland.

Jack is a member of the: Alpine Club, Climbers’ Club, Scientific Exploration Society and Outdoor Writers’ Guild, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and consultant to the Expedition Advisory Centre at the Royal Geographical Society.

Principal consultant on the award-winning Top Dive Sites of the World, he is also author of The Dive Sites of the Philippines, The Dive Sites of Malaysia and Singapore and Diving with Sharks, all published by New Holland. He lives in Woking, Surrey.


Content:

Introduction
Protecting the Diver’s Environment
Diving with Sharks
Blue and Mako Sharks - Southern California
Great White Sharks - Western Cape. South Africa
South Australia
Other Sharks - Rcil Sea
Maldives
Hammerhead Sharks - Cocos and Malpelo Islands
Terumhu Lagang-Lagang, Malaysia
Raggedtooth Sharks - Aliwal Shoal, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Feeding Sharks - Bahamas
French Polynesia
Aquarium Shark Dives - Two Oceans
Seaquarium. Curacao
Underwater World. Perth
Diving with Gentle Giants
Whale Sharks - Andaman Sea. Thailand
Ningaloo Reef. Western Australia
Basking Sharks - Great Britain
California
Dolphins, Rays, Turtles & Jellyfish
Dolphins - Rolphin Reef. Eilat, Israel
White Sand Ridge and Sauctuaru Bay. Bahamas
Manta Rays - Yap. Micronesia
Sandu Ridge. Sancjalaki. Kalimantan
Sanganeb, Sudan
Stingrays - Stingray City. Grand Cayman
‘T’urtles - Sipadan and Sanualaki. Borneo
Jellyfish - Jellyfish Lake. Kakahan, Kalimantan
Jellyfish Lake. Palau, Micronesia
Potato Cod - Ningaloo Reef. Western Australia
Sea Snakes - Ashmore Reef. Western Australia
Diving in Strong Currents
The Canyons, Puerto Galera. Philippines
Blue Corner, Palau. Micronesia
Cocos Island, off Costa Rica. Pacific
Cozumel, Mexico
Wreck Diving
RMS Rhone, British Virgin Islands
Truk Lagoon, Chunk. Micronesia
Coron and Busuanga Islands, Philippines
The Umbria, Sudan
The SS Thistlegorm, Egypt
ongala, Great Barrier Reef. Queensland
President Coolidge, Vanuatu
Proteus, Duane and Bibb, US East Coast
Andrea Doria, Nantucket Island. Massachusetts
The Britannic, Greece
The Lusitania, Ireland
Extended Range (Technical) Diving
Closed Overhead Environments
Cavern Diving, Menorca
Cenotes Diving, Yucatan. Mexico
Gunter’s Cathedral, Coron Island. Philippines
Blue Holes, Bahamas
Turtle Cavern, Sipadan. Borneo
Wookey Hole, England
McMurdo Sound, Antarctica
Directory
Index
Acknowledgments and Credits


Great White Sharks, Western Cape, South Africa:

Great Whites have long been hated and persecuted, but a new breed of eco-adventurer is fast realizing that this incredible predator is more than a simple killing machine; it is a great creation of nature. In 1991 South Africa became the first country to protect the Great White Shark and today, many people make a living from taking tourists, film crews and researchers to see this threatened species.

South Africa is thought to harbour the largest population of Great White Sharks in the world, with the highest concentrations occurring on the south and southwest coasts of the Western Cape, South Africa. The water here is usually between 13 and 19°C (55 and 66°F), creating the perfect temperate water conditions that this shark prefers.

The Great Whites spotted off the Cape typically measure around 3.5m (11.5ft), but every year a few intrepid adventurers may get to see the huge 5.5m-plus (18ft) females that are the reproductive future of the species.

For cage dives, the sharks are attracted using the chumming method. There are three prime viewing and dive sites in the Western Cape where, during the winter and early spring months (April through October), cage divers have an exceptionally good chance of seeing Great Whites, as they congregate in these locations each year to breed.

The first is Seal Island in False Bay, on the east coast of the Cape Peninsula, just a few kilometres from Cape Town. The sharks are attracted to its colony of 64,000 Cape Fur Seals and the abundant birdlife, while the surrounding mountain ranges create a scenic site for divers. The area was first opened for scientific study, and to a limited number of regular operators, in 1995.

It is unsurpassed for the observation of natural shark behaviour such as predation, due largely to the strict controls exercised over operators. Winter’s offshore winds clean and flatten the bay, and average visibility is around 8-10 m (26-33ft), reaching 15m-plus (50ft) on good days. Great Whites can be expected in varying numbers on a daily basis.

False Bay is home to a legendary shark, called the Submarine, estimated to be 7m-plus (23ft), and the more recently spotted Gin-plus (20ft) creature nicknamed Hercules.

The second site is Dyer Island, off Gansbaai, on the Cape’s south coast. This is the best-known site, due to the large number of operators working there (the first operators started up in 1991, with a major influx in 1996). Most of the diving takes place in a channel known as Shark Alley, with Dyer Island on the one side and Geyser Rock, supporting a seal colony, on the seaward side.

The shark-viewing season here is slightly longer, from March through November, and even in the summer months, sharks are sighted on a semi-regular basis by many of the charter operators. In this unprotected area, the winter winds whip up large mountainous seas, which first have to be negotiated to get to the site. On calm days, however, Dyer Island is a good dive site with visibility upwards of 10m (33ft) and sometimes 15m-plus (50ft).

A very select group of operators is based in Mossel Bay, 385km (240 miles) east of Cape Town. Cage diving takes place around a small seal colony based in a relatively sheltered bay that allows the running of expeditions on most days. Visibility here ranges from 5-20m (16-66ft), with water temperature the highest of the three sites. This year-round site peaks from April through October, while shark activity varies greatly in summer (November - March), although Great Whites are often spotted here out of season. (Dive operations close for the main summer holiday period in December.)

As divers enter through the door in the top of the steel cage tied alongside the boat, the bleating of the surrounding seal colonies fades once they enter the eerie silence of the Great White’s watery world. Waiting for that first glimpse of the untamed master of the ocean, the general feeling is one of excitement tinged with apprehension.

Then, unexpectedly, the broad, toothy smile of a shark glides effortlessly up towards the divers from the surrounding abyss, and the perpetual rocking motion of the cage is forgotten while awe holds them spellbound at the grace with which the huge animal moves. [...]