Diving with maneaters

Jim Abernathy assured me his shark diving operation was "quite safe." He added, "We have had more than 2,400 dives without a single incident." That was in the summer of 2001, when I went shark diving aboard one of Abernathy's boats on Florida's east coast.

But when you play with wild animals, sooner or later, you'll get bitten. On Monday, a a 49-year-old lawyer from Vienna, Austria was killed on one of Abernathy's trips off the Bahamas, where he had moved his diving operation after Florida officials banned shark feeding in 2001.

Like most shark feeding operations, Abernathy used dead bait to lure the sharks in. On my particular dive, in 75 feet of water more than a mile offshore of Ft. Lauderdale, fresh yellowfin tuna attracted a variety of Caribbean reef sharks, which are veritable toy poodles compared to some of the other sharks in local waters.

On Monday, victim Markus Groh was hoping to see hammerheads, tigers and bulls, which are an entirely different story. I've seen all three in open water. Of the trio, the bull is by far the most aggressive, and like pit bulls, have a fearsome reputation.

It is not known what kind of shark hit Groh, but if I were to guess, I'd wager it was a bull shark. Spearfishermen know that when these bad boys of the ocean show up, it is time to leave. If a bull shark shows an interest in your stringer of fish, let them have it.

Sharks are unpredictable animals. Just when you think you have them figured out, they will do something totally unexpected. Sure, you may have 2,400 encounters without incident. But don't be surprised that if on dive 2,401, one may turn around and bite the hand that feeds it.

For after all, when in the ocean, you are just another link in the food chain.