Shark Week

  It’s here again… and is it me or does Shark Week seem to be growing.. to like, a month long festival..just to torment me.

   My fear was first ignited with the  1975 movie  JAWS.. which was hideously irresistable to my friends and I  in the midst of our glorious adolescense.   (Sort of like The Exorcist, but we won’t even go there…)     Back in the day, the book was considered risque due to the skinny dip scene and the resulting ravaged and naked torso of the unfortunate young woman who’s hand was found sticking up out of the sand in the opening scenes. 

The  three mechanical sharks used in the first  Jaws movie were named Bruce
… after Steven Speilberg’s lawyer.   It never occurred to me while I watched that movie again and again…that the shark was fake.  
My family and I vacation on Martha’s Vineyard when we can get there, and every time we visit, we stop at the Shark bridge and watch the young people jump off into the cool blue waters.  I’m a swimmer. I’de like to do this myself!… but.. I.. just..can’t.  It’s where the film was shot, you know.  Bruce might still come for revenge..they didn’t kill him in one, two or three…and I didn’t have the guts to see four.

 Some things you may not know about Sharks:

* They’ve been around for about 400 million years – long before dinosaurs even existed.”
I can appreciate their resilience, really!.. but I think I’d rather live with dinosaurs.  At least we know how to wipe them out.  Just sayin.

“Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet.”
Wonderful.

“Sharks never run out of teeth – when one is lost another spins forward from the rows of backup teeth.”
I think Newt Gingrich has the same affliction.

“A shark may use over 20,000 teeth during its life.”
On unsuspecting surfers, divers, small boat operators,  swimmers and those poor harbor seals, I’m sure.

Now, what got me going on this tangent, you might ask?  

THIS VIDEO.. of a crazy surfer dude who decided to go back out after he had already escaped the damn things… and film them. Alone.   If I were there at that moment, I’de die of an instant panic attack, an easy lunch for Bruce.

Check out this great MSN Video: Surfer Encounters Sharks

THIS JUST IN:  Mark of  Marks Rants and Raves   gave me this little bit of pertinent information:

“Falling coconuts kill 150 people worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributable to sharks,” said George Burgess, Director of the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File and a noted shark researcher.   “The reality is that, on the list of potential dangers encountered in aquatic recreation, sharks are right at the bottom of the list. ”

So..while you THINK you’re safe under the palm trees in your comfy beach chair, far from the terrors of the Great White Grip… there just might be a killer coconut dangling overhead….

I’ll take my chances with the nut, thank you.

19 thoughts on “Shark Week”

  1. Hey Karen,

    About ten years ago my kids and I were at Stinson Beach (outside San Francisco) 20 minutes before a shark attacked an 18 yo surfer that we were WATCHING… his mother was sitting calmly in her lounge chair reading a magazine, within 20 feet of a sign warning of recent great white sightings. The boy was fine, after 300+ stitches, and I suppose his mother survived, too. I am so glad we left early… and very glad I refused to let my kids swim that day.

    How does one sleep after watching all of that programing on tv?

  2. The shark bridge, how cool is that? And what a great movie, huh? Loved it.
    How about this for a shark fact. More people are killed by coconuts then sharks, each year.
    Just thought I'd throw that out there.

  3. I was a nervous wreck watching the video. It's sort of unsettling when the video just stops.
    I couldn't watch 'Jaws' when it first came out…but I finally did but only for the MV scenery 🙂

  5. Ha! I'll brave the nut myself.

    Your new banner is lovely! Is that watermelon tea or punch or whatever it's called? Looks nummy.

  7. …too funny karen. i have to admit i did not watch jaws…i knew if i did i would never go in the water again…and i enjoy the sea too much for that! we actually watched that surfer's clip today…funny how it affects us…i'll take my chances on the nut tree too…especially sipping a pina colada underneath it…that is preventive medicine for the knot on my noggin i might receive…

  8. I suppose I should be grateful that a bird pooped in my Kahlua (sp) and cream at the beach instead of getting hit on the head by a falling coconut. Love your new header, Karen, so pretty.

  10. I have never liked salt water, so even swimming in the ocean as a kid, was not that appealing to me! I didn't see Jaws until I was in my twenties.
    It made me like salt water even less!

    When we lived in south Florida, we would always go to this fantastic boardwalk in Palm Beach. One of longest in the state. People would be swimming, surfing, etc. From high up on the boardwalk you could see the shadows of the sharks just circling…and all those swimmers had no idea how so very close they always were!

    Salt water-no thanks! We would go home and jump in our pool 🙂

    xo, misha

  11. Oh my gosh! I just laughed my tail off! Too flipping funny! I love sharks, but have no desire to hang out with them. What in the world was that guy thinking with the video camera. Hope his feet weren't dangling!!!

    I love being in the ocean, but have a healthy fear of what is around. My friend's brother was in the Air Force and stationed in Florida. They would fly along the coast and he said you wouldn't believe how many sharks they could see swimming all around people. I just try to be ignorant and enjoy the beach!

    I am pretty sure the photo of the helicopter and shark are a fake. I saw it several years ago and it came out it wasn't true. If it was true and that was me on the ladder, I would have been shark bait after my heart attack!

    The coconut thing is hilarious!!! I'll join you with taking my chances with the nut!

  12. Oh hahahaha, poor you. Great post. I really felt your fear and frustration. Thanks for the laughs to start the day with 😉

    And I thought I had an irrational fear of coconuts. HA! Thanks for clearing that up! (to be really honest; I'm not afraid of coconuts. And not of sharks either. Very few sharks around in our neck of the woods ;-))

  13. I have always loved the ocean, and I'll just take my chances with the sharks. Learned to swim in the Mediterranean when I was a kid (do they have killer sharks there?), and snorkeled with sharks in The Bahamas about 10 years ago(which was seriously cool!) It always seems to be surfers who get eaten, I don't surf, so I figure I'll just play the odds. You all can dodge coconuts … I'll be in the ocean.

  14. "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

    HA! I still love watching that movie! My 5 year old son asks a million shark questions all the time too!

    I think we should fear the jellyfish more!!! Funny post Karen!!

  18. I've never gotten over that movie! I've seen surfers boards with a shark bite out of them. We learned to stay close to shore during shark season. I don't think we have them here, but our waters are warm enough. You won't catch me jumping off the boat for a swim! I love your new header too!! 🙂

  19. Great post although is that one real, where the shark is lunging for the guy hanging from the chopper?!!!
    Many decades ago, I was part of a group that fished and tagged sharks off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was a Smithsonian program and quite dangerous although my danger level was driving down there…I wasn't one of the taggers, thank God. Those were amazing times and I always stayed on shore. I despise swimming where I can't see what's around me or on the bottom so it's pools for me. Those or big tubs -grin-.

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