|
Testimonials from divers using the original shark POD
?In August 99 I was trying to erode the remaining 2 tons of my yearly abalone quota, I decided to work Weirs Cove at the western end of Kangaroo Island, which normally is a difficult area with large swells, but with the right weather, a days catch there is worth 2 or 3 elsewhere.
Visibility was incredible. At a depth of 10M the his was about 35M. My bag was half full and I was working outside the cage and changing position - that?s when I saw it!
This Great White was BIG, 5M at least and coming straight in. The cage was too far away, but almost between me and the shark. It came directly towards me, but as it got to approximately 5M from the cage it shook and almost turned inside out - that?s when I realised it had hit the ?Shark POD field? that I had set up on the cage.
My relief diver had previously had a similar experience and had told me that ? Shark PODs work?. Now I believe him.?
Rene Spruyt Abalone Diver,
Kangaroo Island, South Australia
?Ever since Damon had a very bad encounter with a very large Great White at Purdie Island in 1996, we have looked into any way of avoiding another encounter with Great White Sharks. We started out by using an underwater cage unit which we found very restrictive and unsuitable for our working environment, therefore found we still needed to dive freely on hookah gear most working days.
When we saw the first Shark POD unit on the market, we looked into the type of protection it could provide us. We decided to purchase the first model which wasnąt quite what we expected, as we needed to use a unit which had a power source on the boat and a hard wire attached to the dive hose. This unit proved unworkable, as the hard wire was too heavy for our air hose and caused it to sink to the bottom and constantly became caught on rocks, reef etc. Therefore we basically used it as a safety unit, which we kept in the boat, so it could be used in the event of another problem.
The day came when I was diving in approx. 35-40 feet off Flinders Island in low visibility, and had been in the water for about 1.5 hours. I was inflating a parachute when a Great White shark, approximately 10 feet in length, approached me. I laid flat on the bottom until Damon got the message to send the Shark POD down to me. I had seen the shark pass very close by five times in about 30 minutes, before the POD was sent down to me, switched on. I stayed on the bottom for another 15 minutes before I felt confident enough to break for the surface. From the moment the POD was in the water, I never saw the shark again. Since the Oz PODS have been available we (my bother Damon and I) have used these every time we enter the water and have found it gives us confidence to dive in most places, without the encumbrance of a cage. We have come to trust and rely on the Shark POD.?
Dion Edmunds
Abalone diver, Streaky Bay, South Australia
?I have from a young boy had an affinity with the sea, and acquired a love for diving that still continues today. I have been professionally abalone diving for some 20 years. The majority of those years I have free dived without the protection of a cage unit. It wasn?t until 2 years ago after 3 White Pointer sightings over the years, and continued pressure from my family, I decided that perhaps I was ?pushing my luck? and purchased a Shark POD.
I was however, a little sceptical of the protection that the inventors claimed the unit to have, but my doubts were short lived after my fourth confrontation.
I was diving in approx. 25 feet of water for Blacklip Abalone when the swell built up, making it too uncomfortable to work ?blacks? so I swam out to the drop off of approx. 45 feet. As I swam out, I caught sight of an 11 feet White Pointer swimming in towards me. I sat on the bottom and watched as he turned and swam along the face of me approx. 18 feet away, and then turned in toward me. I realized then that the battery was low, as the red light was on and remembered Mike telling me that fully charged, the protective electrical field is approx. 7 metres in diameter. How far was it when only half charged? The Shark kept coming straight at me, not rushing, but definitely curious. He hit the field approx. 10 feet away from me and unbelievably it was like he hit a brick wall. He turned tail and bolted leaving me in a wash. I sat on the bottom for a further few minutes but never caught sight of him again. I was that confident, even with a low battery, that I finished filling my bag and returned to the boat where my sheller was totally oblivious to the Shark.
Jeff Grocke
Abalone diver, Elliston, South Australia
|