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Maggie’s Motivational Pic Thread v2.0 - - New Rules - See Post #1

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I was diving along the south side on the palm Beach Inlet back in the 90"s (incoming/slack tide) and was always on the watch for the big ships coming through dragging anchors or crap or the new boat owners who didn't know what a dive flag was.

Needless to say I had my encounters with wolf packs of barracuda's, sharks and the such but it always expected so no big deal. One day I was collecting some fish for my tank and I saw a big shadow go over me and I thought crap don't they see my drive flag, then it occurred to me that there was no motor noise so as I looked up there were about 10 big ass manatees above me with one in my face about a foot or two a way. Not sure why but that almost made me soil my wet suit for a second, caught me by surprise those sneaky bastards. I recovered in a few seconds and petted them and they followed me for a while and left.
 
I was diving along the south side on the palm Beach Inlet back in the 90"s (incoming/slack tide) and was always on the watch for the big ships coming through dragging anchors or crap or the new boat owners who didn't know what a dive flag was.

Needless to say I had my encounters with wolf packs of barracuda's, sharks and the such but it always expected so no big deal. One day I was collecting some fish for my tank and I saw a big shadow go over me and I thought crap don't they see my drive flag, then it occurred to me that there was no motor noise so as I looked up there were about 10 big ass manatees above me with one in my face about a foot or two a way. Not sure why but that almost made me soil my wet suit for a second, caught me by surprise those sneaky bastards. I recovered in a few seconds and petted them and they followed me for a while and left.
When the Coast Guard moves my cutter from MS to NorCal it was a whole new world for me as the unit rescue swimmer. Doing training in the gulf we would occasionally see dolphins, while training in Prince William sound an orca surfaced not far at all from me and looked me over (I was still about 100 yards from the cutter at this point), in Humboldt Bay a great white swam right under me but the most scared that I have ever been was off of Santa Cruz when I found myself closer than I ever wanted to be to a sea lion. The ocean is an incredible place but you are most definitely not at the top of the food chain anymore.
 
When the Coast Guard moves my cutter from MS to NorCal it was a whole new world for me as the unit rescue swimmer. Doing training in the gulf we would occasionally see dolphins, while training in Prince William sound an orca surfaced not far at all from me and looked me over (I was still about 100 yards from the cutter at this point), in Humboldt Bay a great white swam right under me but the most scared that I have ever been was off of Santa Cruz when I found myself closer than I ever wanted to be to a sea lion. The ocean is an incredible place but you are most definitely not at the top of the food chain anymore.

So I dive and occasionally do repair work on boats or marina water lines that are ran underwater. Over the last 5 years or so the sea lion population has exploded and now we have resident as well as transient sea lion here. And they always swim by to see what’s going on when you are in the water.

Everyone always told be that they don’t bother divers and are harmless. I believed them until I was dumb enough to google it. I’m not sure if the pics are fake or not, but now I can’t get the jaws music out of my head when ever I dive.

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When the Coast Guard moves my cutter from MS to NorCal it was a whole new world for me as the unit rescue swimmer. Doing training in the gulf we would occasionally see dolphins, while training in Prince William sound an orca surfaced not far at all from me and looked me over (I was still about 100 yards from the cutter at this point), in Humboldt Bay a great white swam right under me but the most scared that I have ever been was off of Santa Cruz when I found myself closer than I ever wanted to be to a sea lion. The ocean is an incredible place but you are most definitely not at the top of the food chain anymore.

My wife and I spent 20 minutes doing underwater video of Sea Lions in the Sea of Cortez. If they don't see you as aggressive they are as playful as 2 year old Golden Retrievers. Had one swim right up to the lens of my video camera. Also got good shots on that trip of Hammerhead Sharks.
 
My wife and I spent 20 minutes doing underwater video of Sea Lions in the Sea of Cortez. If they don't see you as aggressive they are as playful as 2 year old Golden Retrievers. Had one swim right up to the lens of my video camera. Also got good shots on that trip of Hammerhead Sharks.
If... Sea lions bite more people every year than all of the shark species combined in the US.
 
Sea lions suck. Diving in zero viz (Pacific Northwest waters) doing piling repair and you feel something thump into your back that damn Jaws theme starts playing in your head. Turned out to be a sea lion trying to play and he was a persistent bastard. Even after knowing what it was it was still unnerving to know that little fucker would come swooping in out of the gloom and give you a little bump for shits and giggles.