Diver explains near death experiences with deadly sharks and says you need to convince them to 'not eat you'
A man has explained that there's just 'one little problem' he faces at work: coming face to face with bloodthirsty sharks.
The second generation abalone diver described a 'traumatic' experience with the apex predator which left him 'looking over his shoulder' for 12 months.
His advice for anyone else in that situation? "Do whatever you can to convince that shark not to eat you."
Advert
According to diver Marc Payne, dodging the creatures ‘isn’t a skill - it’s just luck’.
Payne dives for abalone, a type of sea snail which is considered a great delicacy in some countries and can sell for hundreds of pounds.
As a diver with over 30 years of experience, he’s had his share of run ins and he’s opened up about what it’s like to dive in the Australian depths.
Speaking to Our World on YouTube, he recalled a moment where a shark swam above him.
Payne said: "Abalone diving isn't for anyone - you've got to love nature and you've got to like being alone.
"We work alone under water all day long and so it's quite a scary environment for some people. We're working in the pathways of white sharks and we've just got to use the best tool available, most divers will say a cage is our safest option."
He added: "I personally work right next to my cage because of my experiences and I tend to look a lot as well.
"Experiences with white sharks can vary a lot - they are always different.
"You can get that really nice experience where you just see the white shark in the distance. You can just see how the camouflage works and just how they use their stealth so well.
"It's such an amazing experience to see how they operate - it's something you do not see unless you're an abalone diver."
While that might sound alright, he went on to describe other instances when the sharks ‘get quite motivated and be quite aggressive.’
"You find yourself hiding, they are coming straight at you and you try and fend them off," he said.
"Sometimes if a shark comes in you have to confront it."
He added: "My first experience was that traumatic that I spent the next 12 months diving looking over my shoulder, terrified.
"In that situation, that shark was a 3.5m female - I drove head on at that shark probably 10, 15 times and it would just turn and go away, and then turn around and come at another angle.
"It just kept coming at me and coming at me and it just kept doing that for 20 minutes.
"You're wondering when's it going to hit me, when's it going to bite me?
"I would not like to have been down there without a cage, I think I might've been in a bit of trouble."
He added: "Basically you're in the control of the shark in that situation so you've got to slow your heart rate down and try and do whatever you can to try and convince that shark not to eat you and then you've got to be lucky as well.
"This isn't a skill, quite often it's just luck.
"Over time I've just learnt to try and move that shark on and get back on with the job.
"It's a great place down there, it's just one little problem we've got to deal with - it's about being able to work with sharks in that environment."
Rather you than me, mate.
Britt Jones