Feeding Sharks - posting of older National Post article at the request of a reader
Underwater encounters off St. Maartens The sharks’ bad table manners leave bloody bits of half-eaten mackerel in spectators’ hair By Stephen Weir Underwater, a mile off shore from the island of St. Maartens, surrounded by a pack of hungry 10 foot sharks I learned an important life lesson. Always look an incoming shark in the eye and stare ‘em down … and if that shark’s nictitating membrane suddenly drops over the eye you are glaring at, put your hands under your armpits and pray! “Show fear?” said shark trainer Estanda Koblasa. “You can’t even think fear. They will know and they will be on you like a pack of dogs chasing a mailman.” Three afternoons a week Estanda is the centre of attention at an underwater sushi party for sharks. While the Czech diver dishes out hunks of raw meat to the sleek gray fish a dozen paying customers sit on the ocean floor and watch this high voltage dinner. “There are shark feeds in a couple of other Caribbean islands, ” said Estanda. “Here in St. Maarten