Night diving with hungry sixgill sharks in Seattle, Washington 🦈

[@AzulUnlimited]

Share your thoughts on chumming and shark dives here 👇 ✅ Join the Azul scuba community: www.patreon.com/azulunlimited Dive with me 🤿: azulunlimited.com/upcoming-diving-expeditions/

[@Edsharkman]

Jeff is the right person to have interviewed for this piece. He brings a balanced and personal point of view. I have participated in sharks dives with a variety of locations and sharks, chummed and not chummed. My time with sixes has been not chummed and has been at multiple locations in Puget Sound. I believe that the sixes were first attracted to Redondo by fishermen who through fish cleaning scraps into the water (there is not only a fishing pier, but a boat ramp where fishermen launch to fish). I believe that because the sixes were there before the chummers. In organized chummed dives the leaders brief (read "train") participants in how to behave when the sharks are present. The tough part of this location is that it does not have that level of organization. As the video points out, it's just dive buddies bringing chum. The missing piece is that not all the divers have that briefing or experience around sharks. I have multiple KZbin videos of tiger sharks and hammerheads and in those one can see that the divers are organized. That was set up by the dive leaders. There is never an "unending wall" of divers for instance. We are trained to dive and as we follow that training we successfully make dive after dive. This is another part of interaction with nature where training lowers the probability of a mishap. And chumming intensifies the need to be trained .

[@AzulUnlimited]

Yes yes yes👏 well said. I could’ve spent a whole day talking to Jeff. Great human🙏 thank you for sharing your experience with us😊

[@AddAdventures]

Great information. I can't wait to go diving at Redondo again. I've seen them three years in a row now. 🤞🦈

[@AzulUnlimited]

Woohoo! I’ll see you there😁

[@jonathanfrank1189]

This is great The vid has been a great distraction rn

[@AzulUnlimited]

Happy to help😊🙏

[@YukonSeanHolland]

We where happy to see these sharks on a dive and there was no chum present. We do believe we saw the sharks because they had been chummed all month. The first encounter, the shark actually came right next to us at 68 feet deep. That was surprising and we where not ready for that. We continued down to 100 feet where we spent the rest of the dive with that shark. Much of what this shark did I had seen Nurse sharks behave around Cristina Zenato when we dived in Cozumel. It was wonderful!

[@AzulUnlimited]

Your Redondo dive sounded amazing!

[@slicksavvy5745]

Was that a night dive or a day dive?

[@AzulUnlimited]

@@slicksavvy5745 The sharks typically come out at night. I believe Sean was there for dusk/night and all the shark footage in this video was shot at night.

[@AzulUnlimited]

sounds about right @Navy1977

[@theck672]

🚫 No to chumming 🚫

[@AzulUnlimited]

Totally hear you

[@jonathanfrank1189]

Aye!

[@BlueWaterCozumel]

I used to dive with six gills when I lived on Vancouver Island. One trick we used to do to attract sharks was to take a plastic bottle under water and squeeze it. The crunching sound seemed to attract the six gills up at Hornby island there. We would often see 12 to 15 foot six gills. I have a negative opinion on shark feeding activities as it changes those animals behaviour. This is how the bull sharks are attracted in Playa Del Carmen in the winter and in Cozumel there is one or 2 dive operators that feed sharks in the north of the island. They claim its for education purposes, I say its for the $200 USD they want for people to do the dive.

[@AzulUnlimited]

There is definitely some opposing opinions regarding chumming. Many divers I've spoken with are against chumming. Preferring to encounter these beautiful animals without luring them in. I've also heard that last summer, behavioral changes were unofficially observed. Mainly, sharks coming shallower looking for divers in hopes of a salmon head or other fishy treat.

[@00bikeboy]

This is a really great piece of journalism. As much as you love the sport, your fellow divers, and ocean creatures, you were able to distance yourself from them(metaphorically) and provide us with an objective, insightful view of the situation. Really good piece, thanks.

[@AzulUnlimited]

Thanks so much💙 I aim to be understanding and respectful with this stuff. I’m of the opinion that it’s easier to get closer to conservation solutions when we’re calm and kind with each other

[@scubajuan]

I’ve never been on a chumming dive, but I’ve been wanting to do it in a place where chumming is used as a means of protecting the species, while bringing tourists money to the local residents. This as opposed to hunting and selling the sharks for a profit. After a recent, and not so pleasant experience with Oceanic White Tip sharks in the Red Sea (not chumming just a casual encounter), my idea of human/shark interaction was heavily shaken. Maybe we should let “sharks be sharks” and we should find other creative ways to interact and protect them? 🤷‍♂️

[@AzulUnlimited]

Yeah I think it’s very possible to continue pushing communities to tourism instead of fishing the sharks even without chumming. To me, there’s an important shift needed in the mindset of us divers. When I sell the shark experience in Baja, I tell people, it’s high risk, high reward. We may see hammerheads or we may see nothing. That’s just nature 🤷‍♀️

[@timgosling6189]

Very interesting. And I agree that interfering with natural behaviour is often prone to unintended consequences. If we encounter them, it's amazing, but these animals are not there just for our entertainment.

[@AzulUnlimited]

Yep. Completely agree🤙

[@leezynel7203]

Very visual & informative video on sharks 🦈… 👍 Nights dives are awesome… when the ocean comes alive! I wish more divers here in Baja, California del Sur were interested in night scuba… not sure why… maybe fear, maybe only one tank dives is not attractive… Even SCUBA magazine doesn’t do many feature articles on night dives. 🤔 Look forward to next vlog! Adios y buena suerte….

[@AzulUnlimited]

Gracias!! That’s too bad. I love the night dives in that area

[@essentialadventurer6005]

I’m an anti-chumming advocate. As a diver I’m a searcher and would rather find animals living naturally. It’s exciting and unexpected. My excitement is purely in not knowing what I will find. Having a shark brought in for me to see, I’m really not interested. Now seeing a six gill unexpectedly scavenging around, that would be a great day in the water!

[@AzulUnlimited]

Totally agree with you, but chumming is going on in different places around the world (some with lots of rules and some with zero) so I think it’s worth taking the time to discuss it and hopefully encourage more thoughtful shark interactions. Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@ralphromano8501]

No one goes out to the woods with a pack of bologna to feed wolves and bears!

[@AzulUnlimited]

Hahaha that’s a great point😆👀

[@AzulUnlimited]

Do you still have all your limbs? 👀🤣@Navy1977

[@tanabobbi]

I think for future sixie dives, I would prefer a non chum dive. The sitings will be less frequent but it will be that much more special seeing them. You gonna come back for them next year?

[@AzulUnlimited]

That’s the plan!

[@stucorbett]

Hi Sarah, Have you heard any discussion of implementing any local rules or regulations?

[@AzulUnlimited]

As far as I know, there aren’t any. It would be nice to see something put in place, even if it’s just an unofficial agreement among divers that regularly visit the site.

[@submergedstories]

Really cool episode. I certainly think that a chummed dive where the shark is surrounded, blinded, and harassed is unethical and a recipe for disaster. But it's not black or white in my opinion. I do see a place for responsible shark chumming. The argument in favor of chumming I find compelling is that you are you are putting an economic value on live sharks. The sad reality is that many organizations and governments only act when there is an economic incentive to do so. Unfortunately, many would ask why bother protecting sharks if there is no dollar benefit. Writing and enforcing fishing regulation, protecting their food chain, tackling pollution, and stopping development that encroaches on natural habitats.These are all more deadly to sharks than anything scuba divers can do. But they are complex issues and the fact is that having a monetary incentive makes people more likely to solve them. So I do think that shark diving and chumming can be done right and be a net positive for everyone involved. It can also be done really really poorly. I think thats similar to scuba diving as a sport overall. I can think of some incredible operators and I can also think of some really scummy ones. There's nothing wrong with divers seeking out encounters with unique wildlife as a long as they vet they operators they are using and do it in a moral and sustainable way.

[@AzulUnlimited]

Very well said👏 you are totally right. Money is, unfortunately, the key factor in implementing any change. I’m a big advocate of vetting tourism operations before giving them money.

[@willsmooth45]

Fck dude of course I just spent 4500 on an rd1 rebreather and 1200 on a dpv fml I would love to fill that open spot

[@AzulUnlimited]

Ah bummer, but fun toys!!

[@joshhart4652]

No to baited shark dives. Commercial fishermen in SE Florida killed a dozen adult bull sharks in a state approved cull in 2022. Their reasoning, the baited shark dives create habituation behavior that attract the animals to boats in the area. Their customers can’t land a gamefish without the sharks getting to it first. I can’t speak to the truth of this but it’s an interesting perspective to consider. If it were true then the baited shark dives off Jupiter caused the death of those bull sharks. Or maybe there’s a certain kinda person who just really likes to kill sharks and creates any reasonable sounding narrative to do so? I don’t know the answer. Personally I prefer my encounters with marine life to be organic. Just means more to be there when it happens at random rather than by design. Cool video. Thanks.

[@AzulUnlimited]

Totally agree and I had no idea about that situation in Florida. I’m going to read up on it. Thank you so much for sharing🙏

[@kjelpeterson5236]

Chumming/baiting for sharks should be illegal without a permit (research). Expecting recreational divers and tour operators to stop willingly is nonsense

[@AzulUnlimited]

I hear you and agree

[@brenocavalcanti1486]

I'm about to invest a lot of money in PADI certifications up to Instructor (I'm currently at OW). I'm 20 years old, I have a wife, I have a dog and I'm very willing to work with this. I am already aware that the salaries are not the most attractive. I live in Brazil and I'm already improving my English and Spanish for future work opportunities abroad. I don't mind moving, I just want to know if it's possible to take my wife and dog with me. I know that with them it will be much more difficult, including the issue of adaptation and I know that each case and place is different, you can't generalize like that. But even so, I would like to know if this is possible in any way and if there is a better place or way to do this. I'm really up for it and I'm betting all my chips on it.

[@AzulUnlimited]

As long as your wife is able to work wherever you go, you should be able to make it work. Unfortunately a scuba salary can’t support a family unless you get into upper levels of management for large companies or work for a certifying organization or equipment. It’s not going to be easy and you’ll have to do your research about where your dog can go. Good luck!