Sharks

Few animal encounters will be as memorable as getting in the ocean with a shark. If you’re like most people, your first thought after reading that sentence was “What the HELL is wrong with you? I’m not getting in the water with a shark! You’re CRAZY”.

No species on this earth are more maligned and misunderstood than sharks, thanks in no small part to Steven Spielberg’s classic ‘JAWS’*, and if we’re being honest, the fact that some of them really do look terrifying. After all, beady eyes and row after row after row of razor sharp teeth aren’t the most endearing qualities. While it’s difficult to overcome phobias, galeophobia in this case, it is possible. The first step is in learning that not all sharks are cold-blooded killers. Great Whites aren’t even actually cold blooded, and Whale Sharks are only dangerous if you’re a krill. Never mind the statistics we’ve all heard about how many millions of sharks humans kill every year, despite the fact that they only actually kill a handful of people, if those numbers worked you wouldn’t still be shit scared of largely docile animals.

The solution is something of a Catch-22. You aren’t willing to get in the water with a shark until you understand them, and it’s nearly impossible to understand them until you’re in the water with one.

*Peter Benchley, who wrote the book JAWS and co-wrote the screenplay for the movie said, after gaining a better understanding of sharks, that if he could go back he wouldn’t have written the bestselling book.

Making it Happen

The first step is to STOP watching ‘Shark Week’ and under no circumstances watch either of the Sharknado movies. The former because it pedals misinformation, and the latter because it’s just awful**. Seeing sharks docily swimming around in your local aquarium isn’t the worst start, but it won’t do much to allay your fears, for that you really need to talk to people with first hand experience. Check out which of your friends - over on the left - has already been in the water with sharks, and ask them what it was really like? Much like skydiving, getting into the ocean with a shark requires a bit of initial courage, but the memory and pride of having done it is something that will last the rest of your life.

**Like painfully bad. Having said that, if you DO want to watch a stupid shark movie that is actually quite funny, we recommend ‘Two Headed Shark Attack’. Which is really quite entertaining.