This week is SHARK WEEK. We commemorate one whole week to the shepherds of the ocean. They keep the population of other fish in check, affect movement patterns of other fish and ensure that the groupers and other big reef fish do not explode in population and kill off reef life. Our lives are tied so closely to sharks, it is ironic we have created the biggest smear campaign against them.
I dive with sharks. Here are some photos I took of some of them. Some of these are 3 feet long. Others 6-10 ft long. There are a couple of sightings in Anilao and that’s a big deal. Diving Tubbataha, sharks are everywhere — in the hundreds. From the boat, you can see 80 ft down. They’re circling the chase boat welcoming you as you backroll into their domain. The most graceful are the thresher sharks that dive deep into the ocean and surface for food. Their whip-like tails stun their prey. The most peaceful are the whale sharks — the gentle giants, the labradors of the ocean with mouths that look like airconditioners sucking up all the plankton it can find.
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When you’re with them, you can’t help but feel a deep respect for these ocean shepherds, and they feel very disconnected from what Hollywood and the media show us on television.
The best moment of my life (so far) was caught on video with a whale shark making eye contact with me.
5 replies on “This Week is Shark Week. Here are photos I took diving with sharks.”
wow! hindi po ba nakakatakot to dive with them (or am I just influenced by shark movies)?
not really.. once underwater you wish they wouldn’t swim away from you
Awesome!! makes me want to dive with sharks someday. Actually those shark-attack-movies and stuff makes this gig extra exciting.
Harmless po ba na sharks sila? Parang nakakatako po Sir Jayvee…
pretty harmless .. if you swim near them they are the ones that get scared.