In recognition of Shark Week on the Discovery channel I relate an experience seeing my first real shark in the open water.
I’ve been watching this. I am absolutely scared to death of swimming in the ocean, but have to do the Kona swim in October and think about it every day. Not to mention that almost every single shark in the top 10 of most dangerous sharks was being studied somewhere off the coast of Hawaii. At IMFL a few years ago the only way I could do a pre-race swim was to have 2 friends swim on both sides of me. Not sure what i’ll do in Kona.
The USS Indianapolis special was pretty good, but I still think that all 600 of those who died were actually eaten…
That’s not such a bad way to go. Your friends and family would have a helluva story to tell, and you get to “become” the shark. Then you can turn right around and REALLY make an impact at 2008’s IMH.
I wouldn’t be so worried about swimming in the ocean with a large group of people, I’d be more worried about swimming in the open water alone, especially near dawn or dusk…That seems to be the most common characteristic of shark attacks.
Being eaten alive is high up on my list of ‘bad ways to go.’
Right up there with being ‘buckwheated.’
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Dude just imagine…Ive been waiting for Shark Week all summer and I swam out with a friend to a bouy close to a quarter mile out the other day at Miami Beach, not a wk or two before they had emptied the beach and cleared the water after a 6ft 600+ lb Bull Shark was spotted swimming right along shore…Hawaii is a different beast though, Great Whites, Tigers, Lemons, etc lmao…I think we are all a bit scared eh?
Did you catch the documentary last night about the two fellows researching tiger sharks? That was utterly fascinating and featured incredible photography. I absolutely loved it.
I am more afraid of tiger sharks than any other species. They seem particularly… fearsome. That borad mouth and those curved teeth- awful. I have never seen a tiger shark but would like to if it were under the right circumstances.
Yeah…scared to death. My wife is a swimmer though and she talked me into a week of open water swimming in Malta. We’re going in september. I’ll post pics if I’m not eaten.
No affiliation here…just if you wanted to check out the trip details. We are going to Gozo/Malta:
your real worry is before you get in the water
more people killed by sand
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I guess Shark Week makes fun watching but I think it really sensationalizes the poor shark. Do you know how many thousands of sharks are killed by Asian industrial fishing trawlers just for their fins? Humans probably kill thousands of sharks for each one that harms us. They are pretty amazing animals that face a tough future because of habitat destruction global industrial fishing practices like nets that drag along the bottom and kill everything. Seems like these shows just make people afraid of the ocean and less inclined to want to help save it. I hope not…ok off soap box.
In 29 years of swimming in the ocean off Kona I have never seen a scary shark.
I am fascinated with sharks…you are correct and i believe that stat goes 80% of Shark species are endangered now including the Great White Shark…
I think my next vacation will be in Australia to go cage diving with Great Whites…seeing these beasts in person just adds to the respect level that we must have when entering their environment…I have swam with White Tip Reef Sharks once and Nurse Sharks…but never anything thats super dangerous
I was out surfing a few weeks ago and kept hearing these large splashes around me. I couldn't tell what it was until I saw the first shark pop out of the water. It was like three feet long so I was not too concerned(I was on my 11' longboard). It was when I saw all the other sharks up to 5 feet I decided I should call it a day. I've been in the water with all kinds of sharks over the years. The freakiest was a White shark at Stinson beach. Yikes!
They really don't care to eat us. You're probably in more danger from jellies or stepping on some sharp crustacean. Stitches suck but a Man'o'War really hurts.
Here’s where I swim 1-2x/week. Never seen any sharks, but some dolphins and whales a few hundred yards off from my furthest point out.
Once I pass the kelp and get into the OPEN water, boy, do I feel vulnerable. My mind plays tricks on me and I think I see things swimming under me.
Once back in the kelp, I relax and feel pretty safe. Guess that’s why the otters hang out there.
Chris
shark week’s a bunch of bull!
- even if it is fun to watch.
The marine science community is really rather concerned about the portrayal of the shark as a killing machine.
Here’s an open letter to Dsicovery Channel by a shark conservation group
http://www.divephotoguide.com/discovery_shark_week.php
I live in South Florida, have worked with sharks in the Bahamas, swam with them and never ever had reason for any concern, wish I’d see them more often…
I guess Shark Week makes fun watching but I think it really sensationalizes the poor shark. Do you know how many thousands of sharks are killed by Asian industrial fishing trawlers just for their fins? Humans probably kill thousands of sharks for each one that harms us. They are pretty amazing animals that face a tough future because of habitat destruction global industrial fishing practices like nets that drag along the bottom and kill everything. Seems like these shows just make people afraid of the ocean and less inclined to want to help save it. I hope not…ok off soap box.
nicely said, second that!
Recommended reading:
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Yeah, when I was in the USN back during the first gulf conflict, before I headed to sandy hot places, I was stationed in both San Diego and Charleston, SC, and I tried my hand at surfing, was never a very good surfer, but I did see a few sharks, mostly nurse sharks, and they were all docile, and never really worried much…I did see ONE though that scared the cr*p out of me and a buddy. It was swimming towards us and it’s dorsal was HUGE, I never got a really close look as we headed to shore pretty quickly, but that thing was a friggin monster, definitely NOT a nurse shark. My buddy who was a rather experienced surfer, said he thought it might have been a mako, but I have no way of proving or disproving that theory. All I know is it was one of the rare instances in my life when I really felt scared and afraid. It was not acting menacing, but it was just so big and was swimming purposefully, not lazily. I don’t know.
from that letter:
[…
In recent years, conservation groups as well as individuals and scientists have become concerned to the point of alarm at the speed with which sharks have been depleted, mostly for the growing market for shark fin soup. It is estimated that roughly seventy-three million sharks a year are slaughtered, (though some estimates are as high as two hundred million), a plunder that has stripped the oceans of roughly ninety percent of the accessible species. Casting sharks in a negative light leads to increased devastation of the species that you feature, even if that is not your intention.
Apart from the waste and brutality involved in shark finning, the threat of extinction is such an important part of the reality sharks face, that we ask why you have not used your power to publicize it. It is your responsibility as a credible media company to portray the perilous situation sharks face, thus bolstering consumer awareness and action.
On the contrary, we know from personal experience that you take the trouble to clip information about the finning crisis from your sequences about sharks, deliberately concealing the facts of this oceanic catastrophe from your viewers, who innocently believe that you are presenting them with science.
Thus not only are sharks misrepresented as monsters when they are not, but the truth of the ecological crisis that has befallen them is left out.
…]
And, I especially like this one:
[ … In using shark attack mania for profit, you are reinforcing the main obstacle to shark conservation. In projecting an air of scientific knowledge when you are presenting only tabloid journalism, you are wronging the animals you portray.
…]
Jesus Tom! Now I’m going to have bad dreams tonight.