I have been fascinated with Shark week for the better part of 15 years. I love it. Since the invention of Tivo I watch it incessantly. Last evening 7/30 I see an episode from last year I believe, the one where they are diving with great whites off Guadalupe Island in the south Pacific. They bring in Andre the iconic shark swimmer from Sou Afrika [who looks like and even sounds like Quint from Jaws] This guy gets in the water with great whites, swims up to them and rides their dorsel fin.
Then aboard the boat they are filming from he chums the water and lures the great whites right up to the stern of the boat, and right before they bite down on the chum lure, he touches their snout, repelling them back and away from the boat.
:dubious:
I live in an area where off shore shark fishing is very big, and I can’t wait for the drunken sport fisherman to to come back from Montauk sans a hand, white as a ghost, shaking like a leaf. It only takes one bloke with a little memory and a lot of brandy to try this and f*ck it up.
Another thing that irked me about last night’s swimming with great whites was the still photographer a woman - who had a broken forearm, broken neck and torn disk in her back. But she was Ok to dive with whites :rolleyes: The producer for Ogsakes yelled at her to get out of the water at the end…she was whining that she wanted to stay in and "ride one of them "
Frankly this episode was beggin for a Darwin Award.
I love shark week I really do. But some of the content is laughable sometimes.
I had exactly the same thought – especially because I watched that particular episode after having seen the “guy getting his calf bitten off by a bull shark after assuring the journalist next to him that they were perfectly safe” clip (also from Shark Week) in the 'net.
You’d think the photographer would have thought something along the lines of “yeah…but if that shark decided to eat me I’d have no chance…so…I think I’ll skip the whole riding-a-great-white thing today…”
I found myself saying “don’t touch that! Its pointy and dangerous at that end!”
Shark Week is great. I remember the story of the guy that got his calf but off by a bull shark. So, he goes back after he’s healed. Maybe he had one more calf too many and wanted to change that.
It’s also interesting to see the shift in focus from one year to the next on Shark Week.
As I recall, the first few seasons had a “let’s give people whose only knowledge of sharks comes from seeing Jaws the real story about these amazing creatures” slant.
These days it seems to have morphed (at least from the 3-5 episodes I’ve seen this week) into danger porn.
Exactly, people want to see other human beings swimming with the most dangerous sharks in the sea…not get bit or eaten in one episode then 50 minutes later show the episode with the five worst shark attacks in the world…caught on film no less.
Looks like discover producers want to eff with our heads - again.
It’s so funny how known scientists and shark researchers use the words “perfectly safe” so gratuitously during shark week for such dangerous situations.
I’m for Shark Week and all, but they’ve pre-empted the 5PM/5:30PM CT Cash Cab episodes. That was my favorite thing to rush home from work to watch, now it’s Shark Week. Here’s hoping they bring Cash Cab back when Shark Week’s done.
Yeah…it was such a slow bite. Not the kind of violent strike you usually associate with a shark attack. It looked the way I imagine I look biting into a drumstick. Just…::chomp::
