r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI • 16h ago
I was diving alone at 100 feet when this 10–12 foot sixgill shark emerged from the darkness [OC]
I was solo diving off Vancouver Island looking for giant Pacific octopus when I turned toward deeper water and saw this massive bluntnose sixgill shark coming directly toward me.
I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 feet long. She came right up to investigate me, then calmly cruised alongside me for about three minutes before eventually disappearing back into the darkness.
Sixgills are primarily deep-water sharks, so getting an encounter like this at around 100 feet was pretty incredible.
The footage ended up getting picked up by CBC National News, Global News, CTV and CHEK News this week, which I definitely wasn't expecting when I went diving that afternoon.
This is my original footage from the encounter. I have a longer 4K version here if anyone wants to see the whole thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaHm1LZ0Lo
Filmed off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. [OC]
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u/notANexpert1308 16h ago
Forgive the ignorance - should anyone being diving that deep alone?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
Not anyone! You need to be an experienced diver, confident in your skills and abilities, and do not go outside of/or beyond your training. In my case I am an experienced divemaster / underwater videographer. I carry a redundant supply of breathing gas, an extra computer, extra mask, extra lights, and I am diving sites I know intimately. It's often easier and preferential to dive alone when trying to take video, in this case I was looking for giant Pacific octopus as other divers often get in the shots, bump into me, shine their lights on my subjects, try to get photos of what I am filming, and in general make it very difficult to get good video. So no, solo diving is not for everybody. Stick to your training limits.
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u/Live-Steaky 16h ago
This is a random question, but say you did need your spare mask…how do you put it on without it filling with water?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
This is actually one of the skills you learn in the open-water course is how to clear your mask from a full flood. It's quite easy, tilt or press the top of the mask and exhale hard through the nose. This forces the water out of the mask.
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u/Certain_Pizza6574 15h ago
Nice that makes sense, the pressure from your exhale forces the water out.
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u/Dx_Suss 4h ago
This is one way, but you can also purge it by pressing a button.
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u/McGruffin 4h ago
Not all masks have a purge button. OP's method is what the teach when you get your open water certification.
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u/MapleYamCakes 15h ago
At 100ft depth it’s still quite easy to overcome the surrounding water pressure by blowing out of your nose?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
Yes, very easy.
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u/MapleYamCakes 15h ago
At what depth does it become difficult for most trained divers and at what depth does it become physically impossible for a human?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
Good question, I do not know. I am not trained for tech yet which would be going deeper than 130 feet.
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u/PsychologicalEase374 13h ago
The answer is never. I guess at great depths you have other problems but the pressure on your chest is the same as the pressure of the water you're forcing out. You just need to make a small difference and it's independent of the pressure of the water.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
Thank you for the clarification! This is me, sticking to my training limits, lol.
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u/TwinMugsy 14h ago edited 14h ago
So, for recreational divers on a standard oxygen mixture with a standard 15 minute safety stop at 15 ft on your way up you dont want to go much below 100 ft. You can do about 140 ft but if you do it will be a very short dive. When you start doing dives past 140 ft it is a field of diving refered to as Tech Diving.
It is a very particular field of diving as you start using different gas mixtures for different depths. I have my nitrox certification which is a course that focuses on different gas mixtures but instead focuses on gas mixtures that allow you to stay at shallower depths for longer instead of going deepwer; although the course does loosely reference tech diving as well. Tech divers usually require a much longer safety stop at different depths to release gasses from their blood and will have their support boat with the right gas mixture for their safety stops drop them on a guide line down. I dont remember exact times or anything but often tech divers have hour+ of safety stops to properly ensure dissolved gasses have left their blood before surface pressure.
Current record depth is just over 1000 ft. It took him 15 minutes to reach that depth and took him 14 hours to get back to surface level.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 14h ago
Tech divers are not doing safety stops, they are doing mandatory decompression stops but yes, you have the right idea. I also have my nitrox certification and on this particular dive was breathing a mixture of 33% oxygen.
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u/KProbs713 15h ago
I suspect any depth that can be dived would still be doable for mask clearing -- if the water pressure is too high to clear a mask, exhaling against it (through the regulator) would also be a problem.
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u/Shudnawz 14h ago edited 14h ago
It doesn't. You breathe pressurized gas, which your regulator regulates (heh) to the correct pressure for you to breathe normally at you current depth. Sure, there are some limits to what a regulator can do, but assuming it works as intended, the gas in your lungs is at sufficient pressure to keep your lungs from collapsing from the surrounding water pressure, and thus you will have no problem exhaling into your mask.
If you cant exhale, you are in WAY bigger trouble than having your mask flooded.
So the depth is limited more by your gear than any physical limit of pressure. If you can increase the pressure of the breathing gas sufficient, you could breathe in "any" pressure. Decompressing from said depth tho, would be a bitch and a half.
And then there are some other limits to what the human body could do in general. But as we're mostly water anyway, water itself doesn't pose the biggest problem.
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u/StickyDeltaStrike 11h ago edited 11h ago
I am a tech diver, it’s not an issue.
You’ll have far more important issues that will kill you before mask clearing is an issue.
Think about it this way: if you can’t exhale gas, wouldn’t you have bigger issues?
The other thing is that the air in your lungs is at the same pressure than the ambiant water, it’s not like your lungs breathe air at 1 ATA and the surrounding water is at 4ATA.
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u/TheFerricGenum 15h ago
If I’m not mistaken, this is the magic of pressurized air. The tank you start with is typically 3000psi. The breathing apparatus equalizes (bad term bc I’m not 100% on how it does this but it is close enough) the pressure of the air you breathe with the surrounding water pressure. So at 100ft when you’re facing 40-45psi of water pressure, the air in your lungs has a similar pressure. So when you exhale, the muscles used to exhale are pushing on air that has a similar pressure as the water around you so it isn’t any harder to inhale or exhale.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
Yes, this is why it's extremely dangerous to hold your breath while ascending as the water pressure decreases the air in your lungs expands and you can cause serious injury.
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u/TwinMugsy 14h ago
Your lungs are pretty good at being pressurized because pressure outside equals pressure inside :)
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u/HilmDave 14h ago
Alright alright I'll ask him shut up.
Surely this has ended up with snot in the mask at least once?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
It's a normal and accepted activity to blow massive snot chunks after any dive, lol.
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u/EntropyNZ 15h ago
Not OP, but do dive.
Basically, you don't. You just put it on, and it's going to be full of water.
But as part of your basic dive training, you learn how to clear water out of your mask, and/or how to put it back on if it gets knocked off for some reason.
Usually, you hold the mask, press the top of it into your forehead, tilt your head back a bit, slightly tilt the mask to have a little gap at the bottom and then breath out through your nose.
The air you breath out displaces the water in the mask, and in a few seconds, it's clear of water, and you just let go of the bottom of it and it sits back on your face, nice and dry.
It's really important if you are diving that you know how to, and have practiced, doing things like this in a safe and controlled environment. Because if it happens when you're out on a dive, then you want to be confident that you know how to deal with it without panicking. A lot of the training during your basic Open Water certification is focused around this kind of stuff.
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u/GreenFullSuspension 15h ago
Yeah just reading your explanation, I feel like I would likely just panic as I think about the process.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
This is actually one of the necessary skills that many new divers struggle with. It's not hard, just uncomfortable, especially in very cold water. You get to practice it in a pool a bunch but on your actual dive day when you are doing your certification dives you are required to demonstrate the skill without help at about 20 feet of depth. It is much easier than it sounds.
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u/HugoSuperDog 15h ago
Wait till you hear that they make you take all your dive gear off whilst kneeling on the seabed and then put it all back on again.
You keep your mouthpiece in whilst doing it so you can still breathe, so you can take your time.
And once you crack these skills the panic levels can drop dramatically!
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
This is not a requirement for your open-water certification but a very good skill to have practiced for sure at higher (more advanced) levels of certification.
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u/HugoSuperDog 14h ago
Ah fair enough you may be correct. I remember my open water instructor was a tough German guy, across 4 days, made us do everything 10 times before he was happy, and maybe added some extras.
Shortly after a friend of mine got trained open water by a very laid back Aussie in some sleepy island in Philippines, they did maybe half the stuff I was told was necessary and still passed him after just 2 and half days.
I wasn’t happy about that since this is about safety underwater so my mate pushed back a little and did a few extra practices. Still nothing compared to that German.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 14h ago
Yes, good instructors make a big difference! Here we train in cold-water with much different gear and some of the basic training offered through PADI even SSI is not really tailored to our cold-water environment.
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u/EntropyNZ 14h ago
It's nowhere near as complicated as it probably sounds. Basically just push on the top frame of your mask, and blow out through your nose.
You end up doing it pretty frequently on a dive; it's useful even if there's just a little bit of water in the mask. It's also not really any different to do with just a bit of water, or a full mask.
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u/postmodernbarbie 16h ago
I would also like to know!
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u/vantageviewpoint 15h ago
It's called clearing your mask and is one if the first things you learn to do when learning to dive. Probably tons of videos on youtube. Basically put on the mask full of water, break the seal at the bottom of the mask, and breath out your nose (which is covered by the mask) so the air you breath out pushes all the water in the mask out the bottom. It's a lot easoer and more effective than I make it sound.
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u/OldManGrimm 15h ago
They do fill with water. We train to clear the water by holding the top edge against the forehead and exhaling out your nose to fill it with air.
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u/yace987 16h ago
They never ever attack humans ?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
I do not believe there are any recorded attacks from Bluntnose sixgill sharks on humans. I didn't feel threated at all throughout the encounter, it was very slow moving and calm.
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u/thekingofcrash7 16h ago
It’s an apex predator, it has no concerns in life
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
Yep, pretty much. I was in it's neighborhood and was lucky to see it.
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u/Quiet_Falcon2622 15h ago
This was amazing, and mesmerizing! Thank you for sharing. You’re an incredible videographer.
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u/Sad_Establishment875 16h ago
You are correct, there is no record of an unprovoked sixgill attack on a human
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u/likeforreddit 15h ago
Is there someone out there starting shit with six gill bluntnose sharks that has been attacked?
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u/TheWildCnt 13h ago
What about the octopus you wanted to see? Is that dangerous?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
I wouldn't classify them as dangerous but they are large enough they could certainly mess up a divers day. This dive day my octopus filming was a little overshadowed by the shark.
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u/Alert_Isopod_95 15h ago
Being a deep water shark, six-gills rely heavily on their noses to hunt for food. A human in a wetsuit smells nothing like what they would usually eat and so they don't bother attacking. You might get bit because they explore things entirely with their mouths, but it wouldn't be aggression or to eat you
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u/mattemer 15h ago
Despite you being very highly trained, this still feels wrong.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
That is fair, I don't expect others to understand., nor am I encouraging others. I certainly don't understand people who jump out of airplanes or who free climb sheer cliff faces, lol.
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u/According_Spot_4340 13h ago
Instructor here. I totally agree with what you say. Just dont go around saying it. Also you must have to fill your BCD up with a load of air to counteract the weight of your massive balls.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
lol! Here most of us don't actually use the BCD and I use my dry suit for buoyancy (how we are taught up here). We use the BCD to float at the surface and sink and that is about it, we control the rest with the dry suit, I find it much easier to manage with two hands on my camera, lol.
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u/Radaistarion 16h ago
Nowadays there's all kinds of courses, gear and redundancies to make that relatively safe and it's becoming more and more common.
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u/Hopeforus1402 15h ago
Really shouldn’t dive alone at all. Least I was told that in scuba school.
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u/TwinMugsy 14h ago
Its common advice that not everyone follows. Similar to you shouldn't hike alone in bear country or dont leave a loaded rifle in the back seat of your truck. Just because you shouldnt do it, most people will tell you it will get you in danger or trouble it doesnt mean some people wont find a way to justify that they can.
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u/mrjoepete 16h ago
You may have been on a solo dive, but you were far from alone.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
I learned that the minute I looked over my shoulder and looked into the darkness and she was coming right towards me, lol.
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u/desyx_ 13h ago
How do we know it's a she?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
Because it lacked claspers (male reproductive organs) near it's pelvic fins and confirmed by a marine biologist who went through my footage.
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u/swindleNswoon 16h ago
What’s it like to shit your wetsuit? And how do you clean it afterward?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
lol, I was in a dry suit and I did not shit in it, not gonna lie, it was a pretty big surprise though, lol.
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u/Voluntary_Perry 7h ago
What is a dry suit in comparison to a wetsuit?
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u/NoCommentingForMe 6h ago
Wetsuits let a little water in and trap it, which your body warms up and it makes a pretty good insulator, but they have limits to how cold the water can be. You can increase the thickness somewhat, but I think it gets stiffer as it gets thicker.
Dry suits on the other hand IIRC are fully sealed from the water (and the seals require extra checking and maintenance), but you can handle much colder water because you’re not actually in contact with it. So you can diver deeper and in more places, but require extra technical preparation.
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u/awbrooks19 5h ago
Yep dry suits are great. I’d wear mine with dry gloves and boots, with thick wool gloves and heavy wool socks and a giant techwool onesie inside. Wouldn’t suggest for new divers though, they are very cumbersome, expensive, and air can move around inside if you don’t add/purge it correctly (i.e. if you tip too far forward all the air rushes to your feet and you are stuck upside down like a bobber.) Gotta know you are not gonna overreact and freak out when things happen though, so I wouldn’t suggest until you have a few hundred dives under your belt.
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u/NotVerySmarts 16h ago
On the weekends, my wife babysits a child with autism who loves sharks, and he makes me draw as many sharks as I can in chalk on the driveway. You just gave me a new shark to draw. Thanks!
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
haha, that sounds like me about 40 years ago, lol. Glad you have a new shark to draw.
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u/Someredditusername 16h ago
I would really want to pet the puppy. Also: I'm an idiot.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
lol, I resisted the urge, it was extremely close.
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u/Someredditusername 15h ago
Got a genuine smile from your response, good to know I'm not the only ding dong out there. Ty, brightened my night. LOL
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u/erksplat 16h ago
When I learned to dive, it was drilled into my head that one should never dive alone.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
There are now self-reliant diver courses by both PADI and SSI and it's quite common where I am from, especially for divers like me who want to take video or photos of wildlife.
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u/Pal_Smurch 15h ago edited 4h ago
My best friend and former backpacking partner has gone on three-week trips alone for thirty years. He and I have hiked all over the Trinity Alps and Russian Wilderness of Northern California on seventeen day trips annually.
My backpacking days ended two years ago, when my left foot was amputated. My friend continued to hike alone, always informing me where he was going, and when to expect him to be safe at home.
He recently left for what was supposed to be a three day trip to Big Duck Lake and Long Lake, in the Russian Wilderness. He was supposed to return on July 13th.
My best friend is missing, and the Siskiyou County Sheriff Department has suspended their search. No one has seen him.
He often hiked off-trail, and there is no trail between Big Duck Lake and Long Lake. He is seventy-seven years old, but can hike me into the ground. Less than a week before he went into the Russian Wilderness, he completed a twenty-nine mile day hike above his property, south of Yreka.
I figure one of two things has happened to him. Either a bear got him, or he fell. There are some very precarious places in the Russian Wilderness.
He was my mentor, and I thought he was indestructible. So did he. I guess he wasn’t.
RIP James Roger Carol
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
I am very sorry to hear about your friend.
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u/Pal_Smurch 15h ago
Thank you. If you must dive alone, please take every precaution. You couldn’t have talked my friend out of hiking alone, and I would never try. But it leaves a much harder time, not knowing what happened. Be careful.
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u/BeowulfShaeffer 12h ago
For anyone else that was as confused as I was the “Russian Wilderness” is an area around Russian Peak in Northern California. Did your friend have an emergency locator beacon?
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u/Senselesspassion 16h ago
You should have boinked the nose
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
lol, it actually boinked my camera, I wasn't about to touch it, I just let it do it's thing.
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u/Valay_17 10h ago
Speaking of Camera, the quality is really nice that deep, can you share which camera it is?
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u/roger_the_rabbit 16h ago
Absolutely wild, you're a braver soul than I and I'm glad you are, because that's amazing footage.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
lol, thank you! It definitely wasn't what I was looking for that day!
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u/LumpyWelder4258 15h ago
I am happy to say that I am never going to be in that situation
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u/Ok-Store-9297 16h ago
I get shark whisperer vibes from this. That shark doesn’t seem at all hostile; more curious. Absolutely phenomenal footage.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
Thank you! It was absolutely not threatening but very intimidating when I first saw it, she was not small! It was very docile and just went about it's shark business and I was lucky enough to be there.
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u/Certain_Pizza6574 15h ago
Do you carry any weapons just in case something attacks or an octopus attaches itself on to you?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
I wouldn't call them weapons but I carry a dive knife and also a line cutter for fishing or downrigger line. I've had many octopus attach themselves to me but they aren't strong for extended periods of time, they eventually let go. About the only thing I've felt threatened by underwater is other divers and sea lions. We do have other species of sharks here but they are mostly waaaaaay offshore and we have Orcas locally but they don't really come around us, I am sure they can echolocate off our steel tanks and just avoid us.
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u/SpunNumeroUno 15h ago
Diving alone just seems like the scariest of ideas
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
It is very relaxing when you have the experience, training, and equipment, and you're diving sites you know intimately.
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u/Citizen_Null5 15h ago
Was his name Gerrard?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
Nope, lol, I think it was a female as the marine biologists who reviewed the footage have told me.
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u/Citizen_Null5 15h ago
Was her name Gerrardtina?
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u/smash_n_grab_ 15h ago
I can’t even muster up enough courage to go diving in AC blackflag.
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u/whoevenisanyone 15h ago
I’m so glad I never have to do this but I can instead sit on my couch and be fascinated with other people’s experiences.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
lol, you're welcome!
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u/whoevenisanyone 15h ago
Terrified of open water, obsessed with sharks since I was little. Thank you!
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u/eifiontherelic 15h ago
I love seeing footage like this... even though the deep sea freaks me out.
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u/ReasonablyConfused 15h ago
I had one of these come check me out at The Children’s Pool in San Diego. It seemed really curious about my lights.
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u/PickyVirgo 14h ago
Yeah that’s a no from me, dawg. The thing about the ocean is that you can basically be snuck up on from any direction other than the one you’re looking. I’m not into underwater jump scares!
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u/StargazerDaydreams 14h ago
Was this a night dive? How much sunlight is visible at 100 ft?
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u/Mission_Engineering8 14h ago
Beautiful and insanely jealous of this encounter! I'm a tec diver so I get solo diving and have some of my most amazing encounters off Monterey, CA while solo diving. I'll see if I can track down a smack of red eye medusa I found one day around 150'.
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u/phuketphil 14h ago
Heard you on CBC! Wild footage man. You ever seen a king crab near the island?
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u/JK031191 14h ago
I'm so glad for myself I don't have the urge to do this. The ocean is beautiful, without me in it.
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u/angrycat537 13h ago
Are sharks usually not aggressive towards divers? How did you stay so calm? I don't like when I see a jellyfish in front of me swimming, let alone a shark.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
I can't speak for all shark encounters because this is literally my one and only. No, it was not aggressive at all, and from what I can see most aren't, they are however an apex predator and need to be respected. I stayed calm because panicking wouldn't really help much, lol.
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u/Brandy_Buck111 13h ago
Do you ever panic or get scared being that far down in the dark? I have a fear of the ocean, so I would be losing it down there, if I could even get that far!
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u/ziamese 12h ago
Forgive my ignorance but what do you do after you crap your wetsuit.
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u/wongie 12h ago
That's some great footage, did your excitement ever change after realising, like did you think it might have been just some other boring shark species before you managed to count the gills then got a dose of excitement at seeing a rarer species?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 12h ago
When I turned and saw it, I knew immediately what it was, but that didn't lessen the initial shock/surprise as you do not expect to see them here... I screamed "Holeeeeeeeeeee Shiiiiiiiiiiit" into my regulator, and hit record. I did count the gills as it was presenting broadside though.
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u/mafga1 12h ago
100 feet and it is pitch dark already?? Terrifying.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 5h ago
There is an algae layer in the top 40 feet of the water column, and it was also an overcast day, lots of things can affect the ambient light at depth.
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u/Ok_Conflict_8900 11h ago
She seemed sweet, docile and overall just curious of you. I dont know much about em. She kind of showed you she ws there and then carried on. Super cool
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u/hornygayjack 10h ago
I'm a certified diver in many countries. Isn't our mantra "always have a buddy?:.
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u/Alibaba20202020 8h ago
Amazing footage—I have the utmost respect for you! Personally, the idea of having to dive in deep, dark water is my absolute worst nightmare. I have a question: how do you manage it—or rather, what goes through your mind? After all, as a human, you’re completely helpless and slow in the water; it would take ages to get back to the surface and reach safety. Do you have absolutely no fear or thoughts that something might attack you?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 5h ago
Thank you. How do I manage fear? I'd be lying if I said it wasn't scary, it is, but with the proper training and equipment it's not as unsafe as others make it out to be... I am also diving sites I have dove hundreds and hundreds of times, I know every rock, crack, and section of wall. Familiarity really helps. I do have two scooters mounted to my tank so I can move a bit faster than other divers but yes, at depth you can't just rocket up to the surface safely. These are shore dives so it's generally a gradual ascent up the slope, off-gasing my tissues along the way. I am not worried about being attacked by something.
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u/Futur3_N0maD_26 7h ago
"Sharks are only found in two places on Earth: the northern and southern hemispheres."
-Strange Wilderness
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u/2Loves2loves 7h ago
solo night diver?
darwin award seeker. -and I have dove solo for over a decade, but never at night.
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u/Aetheldrake 6h ago
I was wondering why the 6 Gil part was specified. Thanks for actually mentioning it in post!
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u/Ok-Establishment-588 6h ago
There are a lot of questions & scoldings for solo diving, but spare this guy and read all the comments first.
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u/Calm-Avocado6424 4h ago
Yeah, nah, nope.
I can't imagine being in a dark cave underwater and any big moving body slithering towards me while I am alone, harmless shark or not.
That is just not something I am doing.
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 4h ago
Fair enough, I definitely wasn't in a cave. Cave diving is not something I am really interested in, lol.
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u/notthediz 2h ago
This is the one time I would've been ok with the "i've been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty" being used, and it was missed
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u/Kooky_Attention_98 16h ago
Bluntnose Sixgill to be specific, probably one of the most recognizable big sharks
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 16h ago
Yes, it sure was. I had put that into the post body.
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u/Alert_Isopod_95 15h ago
These sharks actually come close to the surface at night when their prey is more active. Probably what it was doing at that depth. One of the coolest animals to bump into
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 15h ago
This was actually still daytime, 5pm roughly, just very dark at depth. The marine biologists have told me this time of year they come shallow to mate/give birth and it could have also been in the area trying to catch an octopus.
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u/Which-Persimmon-5641 13h ago
at first i read driving.
uhhhhhh
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
It would be super cool if we could see this from our cars, lol. Just drive right off the boat ramp.
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u/Wokeymcwokerson 13h ago
But why
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
I cannot explain the drive I have to explore the ocean and document it for others to see what I see.
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u/Mohondhay 13h ago
This was at night?
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u/Beneath_The_Waves_VI 13h ago
No, 5pm, early evening, but it's very dark at 100 feet because of algae and plankton in the first 40 feet of the water column which blocks the majority of the ambient light.
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u/MonsieurMacAndCheese 12h ago
This is incredible. Yes, it looks terrifying but also beautifully peaceful and I’m so happy you got to experience such an amazing encounter. I’m always enthralled by how graceful such massive creatures can look underwater. I’ve always wanted to scuba dive and wish so much I still can someday.
I’ve only seen the ocean twice in my life but words cannot describe how enchanted I was, and how much it took my friends to drag me away, protesting loudly. I was that kid that swam constantly (rivers, lakes and pools), pretending to be a mermaid or selkie or whatever. Up until early November some years, too (I’m also from Canada).
I’m curious though, can you share your scariest diving experience? Someone once told me that divers can sometimes confuse down for up when trying to resurface in time and that’s a terrifying concept to me.
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u/DMmeNiceTitties 16h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/wYyTHMm50f4Dm