Sharks in HK

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  1. #11

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    I'd say that only a small percentage of the world population even ventures into the sea during the course of the year, so of course dying from lightning or falling coconuts is statistically more likely.


  2. #12

    You might have a good point there.

    Quote Originally Posted by grandcider:
    I'd say that only a small percentage of the world population even ventures into the sea during the course of the year, so of course dying from lightning or falling coconuts is statistically more likely.
    Comparing deaths by shark attack and deaths by falling coconut in that "raw numbers" way just gives you the relative probabilities given a random person. That random person may or may not be a beach swimmer or a person that walks under coconut trees.

    I guess if we really want to be accurate about the relative dangers of swimming in the sea and walking underneath coconut trees you have to divide the 10 shark deaths by the number of people who "invite death by shark" by swimming in the sea, and then compare that to 150 divided by the number of people who "invite death by falling coconut" by randomly walking under coconut trees without looking up.

    As well as many people not swimming in the sea, I bet there are a lot of people who don't randomly walk under coconut trees too. I haven't walked under a coconut tree for at least two years (good thing too, sounds like a real daredevil activity!)

    15 times as many people die from "falling coconut syndrome" than from shark attack annually. In order to truly work out which activity is more dangerous, we need to know if there are 15 or more times as many people who randomly walk under coconut trees as there are who swim in the sea. If there is, then swimming in the sea is more dangerous (just in relation to death by shark attack). If not, then random coconut tree strolling is in fact the more deadly activity. Of course none of this discussion takes into account injury or other negative (or indeed positive) consequences of eaither beach swimming or coconut forest strolling.

    Ok, I admit it, I am currently working on something incredibly boring on my laptop and typing this cr*p out is a great excuse to procrastinate. I really don't want to do that other work!!
    Last edited by Andrew W Scott; 01-10-2006 at 06:31 PM.

  3. #13

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    if we are talking about Hong Kong then

    instead of using the coconut analogy, you should use the falling masonry analogy.

    I was here 2 months before my son (11 months old at the time) was hit on the head by a lump of masonry that fell from a third story Air-Con ledge

    Mind you, death by earth bound debris, or being chobbled by a shark and turned into shark poo, I think I would opt for the former.

    He was OK, by the way. 30 hours in hospital and some stitches.


  4. #14

    On the serious side, I'm very glad to hear your son was OK.

    On the less serious side, I wonder if the Universe is trying to tell me something...I was walking along Hollywood Road earlier today (after having breakfast at the Flying Pan at 2pm) and walked under some bamboo scaffolding, just to get at that moment a light sprinkling of rubble from above. Nothing serious, not much more than sand, but something to think about with all the construction going on in town.

    Maybe I should look up a bit more. Than again, that could be a good way to get some grit in the eye...


  5. #15

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    thanks, yes it was a bit scary

    a Hong Kong baptism of fire for us all, he was lucky it didn't kill him, and the piece had broken in two on the way down, the other piece landed in between my daughter and myself (the gap was about 2ft), so I guess we were all pretty lucky as it could have been all of us getting brained. The case should be going to court, not sure when.

    But anyway, back to sharks. The big fin off Lamma could have been a whaleshark, they are known to cruise the area on their way south. And there aren't many sharks that could cut an outline so big with a dorsal fin.

    I did read an article about the guy who runs the shark tank at Ocean Park, he used to be a fisherman. He claims to have caught a 3m Great White accidentally whilst fishing back in the 70's.


  6. #16

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    What kind of sharks are the giant fins displayed in those Sheung Wan "marine products" shops from? Some are ridiculously huge!


  7. #17

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    Scuba dive in HK

    Pekkerhead:

    Where do you scuba dive in HK? Also, need to rent gear? New here and love to dive, but not sure about it? Any recommendations on long weekend trips for diving as well. We are planning on the Phillipinnes for a long weekend, but is there anything else? We are interested in Thailand (Phuket) and Australia, but will plan on weeklong trips there.

    Thanks.


  8. #18

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    don't know, would have to see them

    but the big fin brigade would include Whalesharks (easily reach 5 or 6 ft in height), basking sharks (doubt they come here), Great Whites, Tiger sharks, Oceanic Whitetips (their fins are more rounded at the top and easily identifiable), Scalloped hammerheads are the big ones , probably a few more.

    Not sure what would inhabit the local waters though.


  9. #19

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    local dive operations

    Quote Originally Posted by mander:
    Pekkerhead:

    Where do you scuba dive in HK? Also, need to rent gear? New here and love to dive, but not sure about it? Any recommendations on long weekend trips for diving as well. We are planning on the Phillipinnes for a long weekend, but is there anything else? We are interested in Thailand (Phuket) and Australia, but will plan on weeklong trips there.

    Thanks.
    If you want an English speaking club with a good expat network then you can try SplashHK run by Damon Rose. He is an absolutely top bloke and is based out of Hebe Haven in Sai Kung (it's a Marina).
    He has kit to rent and will service your scubapro regs if you have any.
    He does local shore and boat dives (mainly shore diving though) and overseas diving trips in case you fancy a few days in the Phillipines or Palau etc. http://www.splashHK.com.

    If you are looking for regular boat trips to the outlying islands then I have a friend who dives with Prodive and he recommends them highly. They run trips pretty much every weekend (from Wong Shek Pier). They are very popular with locals but their staff have very good English. They're a big operation with a big boat that holds 60 people. Less personal than with SplashHK.
    They also have a holiday department in their Wanchai shop (lockhart road just next to the MTR).http://www.prodive.com.hk They can book you a trip to pretty much anywhere in SEA as an independent diver. SplashHK tend to do club trips whereby their instructors will go along as well to do courses if needed.

    As for the diving here, it can be quite nice. It's not the most challenging as it rarely goes deeper than 10 - 15 metres, but there is some nice stuff to see and there are several Coral Communities (too small to be classed as reefs) dotted around the islands.

    Fish life can be a bit sporadic due to the overfishing (lots of juveniles get fished before they sexually mature and so the fish lose vital reproduction opportunities). But you do get butterfly fish, clown fish, file fish, remoras, damsels, wrasse, eels, pufferfish, lizardfish etc. It really depends on where you dive. It is by no means the best diving I have ever done, but it isn't the worst either.

  10. #20

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    interesting link

    http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=116071

    although it wrongly identifies recent dead sharks as grey reef, when in fact they were silky sharks