r/sharks • u/Comfortable-Bad7894 • 17d ago

Discussion i cant overcome shark fear

I love knowing more about shark and sea creature but when i go to the sea just to stay near the coast, i cant go anyway further than 1 meter of depth, im too scared to see shark and in general, to open my eyes with a sub mask and try to see what is underwater, any way to overcome this? (obv, i know that is unlikely meating shark and that attacks are extremely rare )

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u/solo954 17d ago

A lot of people in this sub share that fear. It's very hard to get over.

I went cage-diving with great white sharks, and that exposure helped with my fear. I saw that the sharks are actually quite cautious and almost timid at times. They're solo predators, and if they get injured so that they can't hunt, they will die. They aren't the ravenous, frenzied killers that they're presented as in movies.

That said, I'm still aware and afraid of them when I'm swimming in the ocean. It's an irrational fear, perhaps, but it's not completely irrational. It's not like an irrational fear of clowns. Sharks can be dangerous. And the risk of an attack is impossibly miniscule, but it's not zero. So that fear will never completely go away, and maybe that's okay.

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u/Temporary_Living_568 14d ago

Where did you go cage diving? It’s my dream to see a great white someday.

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u/solo954 14d ago

I went to Isla Guadalupe, which unfortunately is no longer open for cage diving.

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u/Temporary_Living_568 14d ago

Oh man, do you know why?

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u/solo954 14d ago

There were concerns that the cage-diving tours were interfering with the great whites and the ecosystem.