Death and the Shark

If I see something in an instant, I replay in my head the sequence to make sense of or identify events. I suppose most of you do the same. For example, David J Zaharychuk, my first dive instructor turned Thai farmer, would attest to the possibility of the following. Once diving a beautiful coral wall I looked into the murk along the wall, my visibility range was probably 25m, when suddenly I saw the face of a big shark coming at me and then just as suddenly I saw its tail disappear, back from whence it came. I had no time for fear or shock, I was momentarily unmoved by it. Then it knocked me back and I swam wildly up to my buddy and made the shark symbol and the international fisherman's signal for 'bloody huge!'. For the rest of the dive I was playing it over and over in my head, trying to determine how close I came to death. My conclusion was the shark saw me before, or as I saw him and he turned about face to avoid the confrontation. I estimated size of his tail was about my shoulder height. Which would make him three or four meters long. That white face and shaped tail, it was a White Pointer, a Great White Shark. The most feared and hunted of all sharks, pointers are the ones The Discovery Channel makes the docos about.

At this point, I must cut the narrative and say I, in no way expect you to believe me about the size of the shark, or even the level of danger I was in. It is as I remember it and no more. I could, and probably am, wrong about both. Whereas I cannot imagine it was half that size, but if it was, it could have still taken an arm or leg. But would it? I always say that sharks don't attack divers, we are not their favourite food. The truth is that sometimes they do. But if road safety campaigners could get the road deaths down to these numbers, they would be ecstatic. Every diver I know or knew, would be disappointed not to see one where others did. They are extraordinarily beautiful animals, we just love to see them.

Now, of course it is just a memory and subject to my failing faculties. But it got added to one of those special memory categories reserved for life and death situations. At almost sixty years old I have faced death three times and lived! Each one was just as terrifying, but only in retrospect. There was no time for fear in the moment. All three times, I just watched, acted and waited to see what would happen.


[Oh and don't believe the myth that sharks have to keep swimming to breathe, I have seen one motionless for minutes on the sandy seabed. We divers were peering over the top of a rock and cursing our bubbles.]