It’s Shark Week time for those of us watching Discovery Channel. Unfortunately for me, my hotel room doesn’t have the Discovery Channel (and I haven’t been in it much anyway) – but once I return home you can bet the first order of business will be getting in my Shark Week content. Yes, some of it’s fairly sensationalist, and some just a bit skewed from reality – but that doesn’t mean we don’t all enjoy watching it.
![IMG_0147[3]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2011/08/a-brief-shark-week-link-bait-post-of-my-shark-adventures.jpg "IMG_0147[3]")
(Yes, that’s me…and yes, I’m wearing a FR310XT. The short story is that I had killed my cheap Target watch the day prior in the cage, and needed a way to know how long for rotations, it worked well. Rest of the story down below in the Great White trip.)
For those that have followed for a while you know I love sharks, and there’s no better time to display that love than this week. It’s like setting off fireworks leading up to the 4th of July. Oddly enough, now to think about it, both fireworks and sharks could result in loss of limb or life if handled improperly.
(Whale Sharks in the Maldives with a Whale Shark Research Team, details below)
Back in December I had a fun post featuring some work that Olympic Swimmer Amanda Beard did around shark conservation. It’s always good to see athletes getting involved in conservation efforts, and especially nice to see one so close to our sport do so.
So here’s a collection of my best shark related adventures for you to relive (or to burn away any productivity you may have had this Thursday morning at work):
Great White Shark Diving:
This was a big trip my brother and I did out on a live aboard with a bunch of film producers working on a documentary. We spent a week onboard hundreds of miles off the shore of Mexico – took us about 30 hours nonstop to get there. Very very cool. Would love to do it again some day. Start from the beginning and enjoy the trip.
Pre-trip: Getting all ready and packed
Day 1: The journey to the island
Day 2: Arrival at the island and the first day in the water
Day 3: Great White Sharks – woot!
Day 4: Sea Lions and Great White Sharks – double woot!
Day 5: The journey back to land and the trip home
Hanging out in the Maldives with Whale Sharks:
A day with the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (Probably one of my all time favorite posts I’ve written).
Other Good Shark Posts:
Nation’s Tri Athletes – Just ignore the 8’ Bull Sharks… (Don’t read if you are afraid of sharks while swimming in freshwater as a triathlete)
Shark Week Time (Starring me?!?!) (You can actually go and download the production on iTunes!)
Shark Week – A history of my shark dives (includes South Africa and Tahiti shark dive mentions)
I’ve got a few other shark related places I’d love to go visit. For example, the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Kenya with more Whale Sharks, the great migration off the coast of South Africa (see this incredacrazy video):
Sardine Run Craziness
…and maybe even some Tigers in the Caribbean some day.
In the meantime…back to watching Shark Week. Enjoy!
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If I get this job in Australia, I’m kind of petrified that I am going to get eaten by a shark while training. Granted there are a billion other things that could kill me in Australia, but I fixate on the sharks as a particularly bad way to go…
Ray, I totally recommend Galapagos. I have been there in 2008 I guess it was. And the diving there is just amazing, we have seen everything except for the whales that are there in different season. We were there in February and the whales are there in “summer” months eg June-August (I am not sure about exact months). I hope to put together some photos sometimes 🙂 The number of hammerhead sharks there was amazing – I have to say, I have never used my oxygen that fast as for the first dive with the sharks … then I got kind of used to it 🙂
Ray, as a shark enthusiast myself (I volunteer at a large aquarium and dive with many sharks including great hammerheads and tigers), prepare to be disappointed with Shark Week.
Once again, Discovery has let us down, last nights line up was an episode with the Dual Survival hosts, and another show that had nothing to do with sharks.
Lucky for me I get Nat. Geo. Wild, and they have been running better shows all week.
I didn’t know you were into sharks, that is pretty cool. If I didn’t struggle with math I would have been a marine biologist personally…
Always get a little extra spring in my step during Shark Week – AND, more importantly, hours of shark to to watch while on the trainer!
Ray,
This is why I think Garmin should add a depth sensor to a watch like the FR610, make it 200M waterproof, and add the no-decompression tables to the software.
The ultimate uber-sports watch!
Hey, Ray. Believe it or not, some of the most amazing shark diving you’ll do it right down around Wilmington, NC. My friends and I went down last year and again this Labor Day weekend. Tons of huge Sand Tiger sharks around wrecks, up to about 9′. They’re big and nasty-looking, but don’t bother you at all. They’ll sometimes get real close to you, too, but just to check you out. It’s amazing.
Interesting, I had heard that from someone else as well at one point. There’s also some six-gill dive spots just a few miles from my hometown near Seattle, though the exact dive spot is a heavily guarded secret amongst the dive operations that do ‘tours’ there. Never gone unfortunately.
I am a shark junkie too. I actually got a very large tattoo on my back of myself and my 3 daughters as sharks. When you wrote about the bull sharks in the Potomac, I was about to do Nation’s and I was hoping to see one. No luck.
Enjoy shark week.