More and more people around the world are jumping into seas full of sharks, and paying handsomely for the privilege. An estimated quarter of a million people will - intentionally - have a close encounter with a shark this year. One reason why shark-diving has become so popular is, of course, the danger. Or, rather, the perceived danger. While we now know that most sharks are too fussy about what they eat to take much interest in divers, there is no escaping the fact that they still have lots of very sharp teeth.

It's not the feeding frenzy of Hollyood movies, but even so, the master scuba diver wore a protective chain mail suit to hand-feed 12-footers with razor sharp teeth. My heart fluttered wildly when I spotted the first shark circling below me, less than ten feet from the surface. I was scuba diving to the sandy bottom of Shark Junction, about five miles off the Lucaya Beach area of Grand Bahama Island.

As a child I always relished being in the water. Whether it was the local swimming pool or rivers or lakes, come the summer months you just couldn't keep me out of them. There seemed nothing better on a warm day than splashing around, duck-diving down and imagining what was underneath. Trips to the seaside were the highlight.