Swimming with Sharks
So blindly trusting. Scuba divers sinking slowly into the surreal subterranean sea…downDownDOWN…darkDarkDARK…deepDeepDEEP! Playing water torch games with the giant silver trevally looking for dinner. The octopus in the hunting position digging a new bottom to evade our light. The reef sharks circling and circling looking to feast. Some come in to say hello and some keep their distance. At night, it seemed as if these sea creatures had one thing on their minds::::food.
http://www.vimeo.com/7462243There are a two things that I am afraid of. Ok, maybe more than two, but we will only touch on these two today: the dark & sharks.
I don’t really like the dark. I like to see where I am going. I like to see what is around me. I like to see who is around me. I strongly dislike the unknown.
I don’t dislike sharks, but they are rather intimidating. We humans are so limited in the water that a shark’s closing speed and desire for human meat glorified by Jaws scare the shit out of me.
Well, scared the shit out of me. I have gotten over that…somewhat. After diving with them on several occasions, I realize that they are just doing their thing. Swimming around and maybe looking for food at times. If I am bleeding profusely or get in their way while scuba diving, they should want to take a bite out of me. That didn’t prevent me some stupidly swimming towards them while in Malaysia, but still.
But what happens when we mix the black unknown with sharks? How will I handle that? The video above is what Stephanie and I plunged into without the word “No” crossing our minds even though we saw a thick 10-foot black-tip reef shark while diving that morning. It didn’t matter. We were living on a boat in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and it was scuba diving time!
That was our nightlife in the Great Barrier Reef. That is where the party was. No taxi ride to the bar. No limo to the club. No! We are diving head first into the black abyss with what seemed to me life from another planet.
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What are you afraid of? Or what were you afraid of and conquered?
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That’s about as close as I’d ever want to get. When I was learning to surf last month, I swear I spent 90% of the time looking around for sharks!
I used to be afraid of small spaces so I had a friend lock me in a closet for 4 hours one day. Voila! I was cured.
Earl´s last blog…Travel Ideas for 2010: Why are Camels so Expensive?
Great post,
I too am really only afraid of one thing and that one tiny thing is the rather large, quick moving water dwelling creature with sharo teeth that is the shark. I think it is mainly to do with my inability to protect myself in the water and it’s amazing capability to inflict damage.
I went scuba diving with 7 foot bull sharks about 2 weeks ago and came within 10 -15 metres. An absolutely incredibly experience.
That sounds crazy. Were you in Thailand for that? I think bull sharks would be a bit intimidating.
This rocks. I have an intense fear of sharks, and I plan on making it down to Texas to dive with hammerheads in the next year.
Cool experience, and post, Casey.