This is a video I shot the first time I went swimming with sharks off the coast of Jupiter, Florida.
To look for sharks you go several miles offshore from the Jupiter Inlet, leaving State waters, about thirty to forty minutes away.
In particular, the place where I shot this video is called deep ledge, which has a depth of about 130 feet (40 meters) and which generally abounds with marine life.
That day we encountered this silky shark that was dragging a line and had a hook stuck in his mouth (which was then removed). Very often sharks get entangled in fishermen’s hooks, sometimes because they pounce on the caught fish.
In the Jupiter area there are people who “support the cause” of sharks (shark advocates), diving with them every day trying to demonstrate that they are not the “man-eating” monsters that the media portray and also free them from their hooks. One of these guys took the hook out of this same shark’s mouth a few days after I filmed this footage.
The silky shark is among the most daring species and, as can be seen in the video, it has no fear of man. It is very curious and swims straight towards people, in fact at minute 1:08 you see the shark coming straight ahead against my camera!
