One of my favorite films of all time. The scene with the nightvision makes my hairs stand on end. PERFECTION!

Me too!  That part freaked me out as much last night as it did when I saw the movie years ago.

I always watch 'Jaws' before a dive trip.  I love sharks.  They totally amaze and fascinate me.  I try very hard to educate people on sharks and their need to be here.

COOL!
I don't care what anybody says...the fact that probably billions of others have stood in that spot, walked down that street....who cares, I know I would brag about it if I had the chance!

and re: sharks...you remind me of my friend Laura (who is pictured playing the cello in the "pics of your place" thread)...she's a huge fan of sharks, too...and she's really passionate about letting people know that they're NOT just bloodthristy monsters who need to be killed for OUR safety or well-being...that they're beautiful, fascinating creatures in themselves....
cool...

do you have any good links or favorite sites you'd like to share that might help some skeptics or other shark-ignorant individuals here?
...and by "shark-ignorant," I simply mean, those who don't know much about sharks...heck, I'd consider myself somewhat shark-ignorant, too....

Bimini is so close to Florida.  That is why they chose that location.  Many people with boats go to Bimini for the day.  I think I will have to rent the movie and look closely at the phone location so that when I am there in August, I can sit at the same place in a bar! :-)

As for sharks, I was terrified of fish.  I would go in the ocean and run out screaming, there is a fish in here.  My sister forced me to snorkel in 1997.  I actually swore at her when I jumped in the water.  Pretty loudly too so I probably offended many people.  I realized that wasn't enough for me once I decided what the ocean had to offer.  I have always loved the ocean to play in and look at, smell and listen to.

So I vowed before I turned 40, I would learn to dive. I did.

Then I decided my goal for year 2000 was to dive with sharks.  I still remember looking over the rails of the live a board and seeing many sharks.  I then thought year 2000 shouldn't be the year.

None the less, I went in the water with a 6 or so foot shark just feet below me.  The minute I hit the water, I realized that my fear of sharks had evaporated.  I was totally intrigued.

We did a dive at a black hole where shark after shark emerged from it.  Caribbean reef sharks.  There were probably 40 to 50 within feet of us.  The young ones looked just like the big ones.  Totally amazing.  My dive buddy was freaked as I swam toward them to get pictures.  As long as I have a camera, I am fearless.  OK, idiot, I know.

We also did a shark feed.  A line was lowered and there was a feeding frenzy.  Many are against this but if the participants come out of it and try to protect sharks, then good comes from it. 

The crew of the live a board stayed behind us with these long sticks.  All I could think of is that will help if one attacks us.  That wasn't their purpose.  Sharks are messy eaters.  They had the sticks in case a piece of fish got flung on us.  They would use the stick to throw it off us.

We also had to sign a waiver before that particular dive in case something happened to us.  We were told if we were only doing it to please someone else but were afraid, not to do it.  About 8 people bowed out.  Reason being, they didn't want any one shooting to the surface and potentially getting an embolism or freaking out the sharks.  After all, it was a feeding frenzy.

My dad, although he loves watching the video can not discuss diving with me before I go on a trip.

Yes, I am passionate about sharks.  I am so glad your friend Laura is too (BTW, loved the pictures of your friends).

They are so misrepresented and have been killed and tortured for years.  Shark fin soup where they are caught, their fin cut off and thrown back in the ocean to die a slow painful death.  Or shark cartilage to help prevent cancer.  Years ago, I bought shark cartilage when Boobie, my cat had cancer.  Once I realized what I was doing (part way thought the bottle) I stopped doing that.

Now since meeting sharks, I will fight for their right to be the top predator of the ocean.  Without sharks, the oceans can not maintain their health. 

Shark fin soup can sell up to $500 a bowl in some Asian countires.  How absurd!  How disgusting.

No, I would not jump in the water with great whites but on my wish/to do list is going in a cage and seeing one close up.

Nurse sharks really are big babies.  More like puppy dogs unless you harass them.

Caribbean reef sharks don't want to mess with people either, unless you provoke them or think spear fishing is a fun activity.  Of course they show up when they smell dying fish.

As well, sharks are not attracted to menstrual blood so women can swim, snorkel and dive while they have their periods.

I have a couple of funny shark stories.

When I was a new diver, someone grabbed my fin.  I thought a shark or worse had grabbed me!  I panicked!  The diver was only trying to grab my attention to show me my first nurse shark.

Then stupidly, my dive buddy and two others went to a site where we knew shark feedings occurred.  We knelt on the sand in hopes we would see sharks.  Of course the sharks saw us kneeling there and thought, oh goody, a feeding.  Of course we had no food. A few arrived.  We then wrote on my slate that we were basically saying, come on, we are chum!  Once the sharks realized we were 'IDIOTS' they left.

My last funny encounter was on a night night.  We had gone to a wreck where it was  known very old loggerhead turtles slept.  The dive was a very shallow one.  About 20 to 25 feet.  My buddy shone his flashlight in a cave.  We obviously woke up a nurse shark who came whizzing out and stared my buddy and I in the face for what seemed like hours (within inches of our faces). Probably only a minute.  I had my legs spread open to retain buoyancy.  The shark then swam through my legs.  Touch down!

I must mention this was one of the best dives of my life.  As divers, we are taught to touch nothing and respect everything.  The only hunting we are to do is with a camera.  Turtles are my favourite sea creature.

We were told these turtles were quite used to the once a week dive at this spot and if they seemed OK with them, we could touch them.  I lay on the ocean floor next to a 7 foot loggerhead.  My face very close to  his or hers.  I will call him a he.  He opened his eys and looked at me.  I was crying in my mask.  I couldn't believe that I was lying beside this gentle old giant.  I touched him and he blinked his eyes and then would close them.  I continued to cry.  I was totally overwhelmed at this once in a lifetime experience.  He would then open his eyes again and blink at me.  I lay by his side for well over 1/2 hour.  As it was such a shallow dive, we all had lots of air.  It was a very spiritual experience. 

I have had a few spiritual experiences.  Two were with sea turtles, two with dolphins, one with a whale shark, one with a squirrel, one with my cat Boobie, and one with two of my budgies.

If I had died while lying beside that sea turtle, I would have died happy.

OK, so I regressed.  I actually don't know of any websites regarding sharks.  I have read many books since diving with them, watched most of the Discovery Channel specials, gone to a lecture by a shark specialist, watched Jaws and more so, Peter Benchley wrote a book about sharks years after Jaws.  He felt bad about scaring the world and went on to promote them as viable beings, trying to protect them.

There are many theories why there were so many shark attacks a few years ago in Florida.  Many being that the oceans are so over fished that big game fishermen/sport fishermen are getting closer to shore, thus luring in sharks who are attracted to the dead and dying fish.

Sharks have bad eyesight.  When they see someone on a mat flailing their arms, they think it is a fish or prey in distress and chomp.  They don't like the taste of us and usually let go.  Unfortunately, people struggle and end up bleeding to death.

OK, I have rambled.  Can you tell my passion is the ocean?  Many people look at the ocean and see beauty and water.

Look beneath it.  There is a most beautiful world to be discovered.

Like lobsters holding hands.  Seeing a crab at night eating some tasty morsel with his arm or hand.  Seeing the fish (Ramoras) hanging on the shell of a turtle or near a shark to eat the scuz off them.  Seeing the little cleaning shrimp go in to the mouth of a fish at a cleaning station and eating the yuck from their mouth.  A fish will actually sit still with his mouth wide open and allow a little shrimp in there to do his job.  Doesn't eat the shrimp. Being very close to a hammerhead shark.

Like snorkelling next to a 23 foot whale shark with his mouth wide open trying to gather plankton.  Wide open mouth within a foot of your face.

Yes, I love the ocean.  There is nothing in the ocean I hate other than a fishing hook, a spear gun or an ignorant diver, snorkeler or swimmer.

Everything has to be protected.  If we kill the coral and we can do so just by touching it, we kill off the habitat for all the creatures.

So, I might us well say now, do not ever buy black coral jewelry when on vacation.  Black coral is endangered.  Coral is a very complex living body of creatures.

OK, now that I have put you all to sleep.... Night night!

Di