I've been glued to the screen this week because...Shark Week! I mean what else is there? Afterall it's the middle of the summer, and it's not like
Game of Thrones is on television with new episodes. So with that out of the way, I want to talk about
Air Jaws, and how I seriously question the sanity of the people involved. In the below excerpt, a guy named "Dickie" (yes his name really is Dickie and if he were to introduce himself to you at a bar he'd say "I'm a shark wrangler" as if that's a thing...). So in
Air Jaws, our hero Dickie boards "Parthenope" which is basically a 14-foot female shark decoy that they created. Oh and they tow it behind the boat on what looks like a kite string. You've just got to watch the video to understand, but as I was watching it I was saying to myself,
what's wrong with these people? The point of this exercise is to find "Colossus," a giant shark that's around 18-feet-long that they previously recorded two years ago breaching from below to eat seals. But as you view the video, please ask yourself the following question: "If this was in my job description, would I do this?"
In the same episode, another of the "shark wranglers" named Fallows descends in the WASP, which stands for Water Armor Shark Protection (but honestly it looks like a flimsy cage) so that he can watch a gang of HUGE great whites. Again, why would you do this? If you watch the video, you'll see him reach his arm out of the cage and actually grab hold of a big shark's nose so he can turn it aside. It's insane.
I just don't have the balls to do any of this. But I guess there's a part of me that's in awe of these guys for being so fearless. Shark wranglers are either lunatics or stupid and yet, they capture some amazing footage.
The guy riding the decoy shark is nuts. That was unnerving to watch.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet we watch it so they keep doing it. It's like watching a horror movie but you know it's real. You really can't look away.
ReplyDeleteI think sharks are fascinating creatures, and would love to do the cage thing one day, but I think these guys get a little too close for comfort.
ReplyDeleteI read an article a few days ago about how Shark Week producers find scientists to interview them for a documentary on Shark Week. And then they take the footage, attach it to a fake documentary and edit it to make it seem like the scientists believe in a giant shark or whatever. I guess they've done this for the last few years.
ReplyDeleteSo now i'm suspicious of anything i see on Shark Week, because somewhere along the line it stopped being about science and started to be about ratings. I don't know why they just don't air sharktopus or something.
I vote insane.
ReplyDeleteEgads! Insane indeed. My sis-in-law loves sharks, while my other friend is terrified of them. I think I'm in the middle. I'll look at them, but I don't want to be out with them.
ReplyDeleteThese guys are insane. That's all I have to say. Insane. My kids were studying sharks the other day and did you know they actually grow teeth on their skin too? I definitely wouldn't want to rub up against one of those things.
ReplyDelete@Crystal: What?!? They grow teeth on their skin? Eeep.
ReplyDeleteDid they find Sharktopus? :) I wouldn't want that job either.
ReplyDeleteInsane or not they get the job done and you keep watching.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the crocodile hunter and we know what happened to him.
ReplyDeleteI watched these videos with both feet off the floor, safely tucked beneath me.
ReplyDeleteI would never have the courage to do something like that. Unless I was Aquaman
ReplyDeleteI love the way the guy is saying so calmly, "Careful, Dickie." That Looney Tunes isn't a shark wrangler, he's shark bait! Why? Because his mother dropped him on his head when he was a kid! Brain damage alone explains these guys!
ReplyDeleteI had a professor in college named Dickey...
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's crazy. But I guess there have to be some crazy people out there so we can watch.
I have no desire to swim with the sharks. I did feed stingrays ... and forgot to protect my thumb one of the times (the last time) and the stingray clamped down on it. YIKES. I thought I'd lost it for sure, but he released me. ;)
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