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.