It's the drowning that scares me My girlfriend is 30 and has never set foot in any "dark" water. No ponds, lakes, or especially the ocean. Why? Sharks. Scared of sharks in ankle-deep water. She went to school on a swimming scholarship, and is scared of the ocean. Me: "look hun, sharks don't live in Lake Tahoe, it is fresh water" Her: "yeah, that's what they want you to believe" women?!? BTW, that link is friggin fantastic.
LOL! Well I do remember from "Jaws" that sharks attacked in three feet of water. But yeah, Lake Tahoe... Not a place one automatically associates with sharks... My fear is more like being washed overboard in the middle of the ocean. No land in sight etc... The infinite abyss below... That freaks me out. As for the video, it's awesome isn't it! That guy is brave/insane. (Possibly both.)
Ha! I had to spend months with my wife in the pool at the gym over 2007 to get her ready for visiting the Great Barrier Reef on our Oz/NZ tour. Even after all that she had to wear a life jackets just to wade in the shallow water off Michaelmas Cay, wouldn't go further than waist deep and was completely thrown by the saltiness. But she had fun, so all good.
I spent a long time on our honeymoon convincing my wife the ocean wasn't so dangerous. Finally got her to at least try the piggy-back approach, but that kind of flopped . . . Me: "Huh." Her: "What." Me: "I just got bit on my toe by something. Just a nibble, no big deal." You can guess the rest.
We've just had a week of big surf on the east coast down here. Most beaches were closed and we had waves up to 5 metres. Much too big for this little black duck. The big wave surfers are possibly some of the craziest people on the planet. But at least they're not tanking up and then driving their cars at 200 kilometres per hour on a public road. And the footage is unbelievable. But why would you pay to see it live via satellite, when the DVD will be out in a few months with all the best waves? On sharks - I've been surfing all my life, and have seen sharks on only two occasions. Even at the beach with the family, I think the shark alarm has only gone off once in 16 years. More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. Of course, none of this matters if you try surfing for the very first time and then come across a white pointer. JJ, come in, where are you?
More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. I had initially read that as: MOST people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia...
"I just got bit on my toe by something. Just a nibble, no big deal." I'd be out of that water screaming like a little school girl.
On sharks - I've been surfing all my life, and have seen sharks on only two occasions. Even at the beach with the family, I think the shark alarm has only gone off once in 16 years. More people are killed by lightning or bee stings than sharks in Australia. Of course, none of this matters if you try surfing for the very first time and then come across a white pointer. I was a kid taking a summer scuba diving class when JAWS came out in 1975. Our Scuba Teacher made us a deal. He would take us all to see the movie but we all had to go straight from the movie to the ocean for our class. I have never seen a group of more freaked kids in my life. Class ended early when one of the kids pinched the teacher's thigh. Hard. I have never heard a man scream so loud in my life. Or a group of kids head for the shore so quickly.
