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Diving Instructor Stops Shark From Biting One Of His Students

Diving Instructor Stops Shark From Biting One Of His Students

Instructor Eli Martinez showed the kind of calmness that most of us wouldn't be able to muster when confronted with a hungry 70-stone shark

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Footage has emerged that shows a diving instructor taking some decisive action to stop a shark having a go at one of his students.

Eli Martinez intervened to stop a huge tiger shark from possibly having a bite at Joe Wong, a pupil at his dive school in The Bahamas.

Footage filmed back in 2014 shows him grabbing the nose of the shark and moving it away from the diver, showing remarkable coolness under pressure - the kind of calmness that most of us wouldn't be able to muster when confronted with a hungry 70-stone shark.

Wong had foolishly turned his back on the huge beast as he came to the end of his session and headed back to the boat. However, it should definitely be included in the first lesson that you shouldn't turn your back on a gigantic shark.

Luckily, the footage that was filmed has now made it onto the curriculum and Eli uses it to teach his students about naively showing your back to a shark.

The shark in question is called Hook and she is a massive tiger shark that hangs around near Eli's dive school, Tiger Bay.

Eli is well familiar with her, and with sharks in general. He knows that you can't give them even an inch, or you'll lose a foot.

Caters

He said: "I have known Hook for 10 years.

"It is unwise to turn your back to a tiger shark, because they know when divers are looking and when they are not.

"They tend to approach divers closer that are not looking. Tigers by nature are ambush predators and it is just an instinctual response for them.

"Hook may have just swum up to Joe, bumped his fins and then swam off.

"Or she could have tried to bite him. Those are chances that I, as a safety diver with people under my care, am not willing to take.

"Had I been further away and unable to intervene, then I would have been worried about what was happening."

This guy obviously has ice running through his veins. It's one thing to be a dive instructor with a decade-long relationship with a shark, it's another thing entirely to grab it by the nose and give it a big shove away from biting someone.

Caters

It's probably a good idea not to get between a shark and its food, unless you're an absolute badass.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Animals, tiger shark, shark