Swim with Sharks

Written by Lauryn Niles

This is post 3 of 3 for the shark week series!

 

One of my favorite movies is a film called The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It follows a dude who lives a seemingly monotonous and uneventful life, daydreaming about wild adventures and transforming into a hero of sorts. He regularly becomes so bored with his mundane existence that he escapes into various stories in his mind where he can be the macho adventure hero who rides off into the sunset with the girl of his dreams. These remain as fantasies until Walter is driven into a real adventure, one not in his mind but a thrilling journey across the planet that gets him out of his head and straight through his fears. He ends up with authentic, wild memories rather than fabricated ones. He overcame the anxieties that never came to fruition. And, of course, he gets the girl. 

I love this movie because the message is about getting out of our own way. Out of our own heads. Finding truth behind our worries and fears and not leaving this life with only fantasies and unlived dreams but stories to tell and experiences that can’t be taken away. 

There’s a scene where Walter jumps out of a helicopter into rough open waters trying to board a fishing boat. As he battles to stay afloat in the choppy swells, a shark rushes at him. It isn’t until Walter gets into the boat that the shark stops pursuing him. 

As we’ve seen, this depiction of sharks is commonplace in movies. His extremely rare experience with a shark is made to seem like it is the only encounter one will have with this animal. But I can tell you that real encounters with these beautiful creatures are eye-opening and undeniably peaceful.

I bring up this movie because I, too occasionally find myself getting all cozy up in my head, tucking into a certain irrational fear or anxiety that will never actualize. I sometimes have anxieties about the goofiest of things. But the beautiful irony is that one of those silly worries ended up being where I found the most peace. 

I was scuba certified at the ripe old age of thirteen. The diving fever ran in the family and I always loved the ocean, so it wasn’t too hard to convince me to become a diver. I was fascinated by the ocean; however, my fascination didn’t completely dismiss my fear of its unknown nature. I had plenty of unease for a while with diving as well: the long boat rides to sites, the incoming storms on the horizon, choppy waters that rocked our boat and jolted our bodies around like ragdolls. Gnarly underwater creatures. Looking below and seeing only blue, knowing anything could emerge from the deep. I feared lots of the dives I was on. Many times, I avoided what I could. 

But I still did it because I liked the feeling of getting past those fears and irrational “what-ifs” in my mind. 

Then things drastically changed when I first dove with sharks. It was the summer of 2021 in Roatan, an island off mainland Honduras. Our group submerged 70 feet down onto a beautiful reef where a few Caribbean reef sharks circled. It felt surreal to sink into their territory where they gracefully swam. Once we got down there, more started to appear from the blue outskirts. Eventually, we were surrounded by upwards of 15 sharks, most of them bigger than me. These tremendously feared animals swam directly at me with only curiosity and calmness, changing direction when they came within a couple of feet from my face. But many of the sharks didn’t even acknowledge our presence. They did not give a flying hoot about us or our “scrumptious flesh.” My eyes were opened to just how misunderstood these animals were. Because when I was down there, I felt safe and I didn’t want to leave. I was in a state of meditative tranquility.   

After that, I grew to enjoy the very things that I didn’t like about diving. The long, choppy boat rides became intoxicating to me. The ominous storm clouds and dark waters were compelling, and the neverending blue, empty space felt safe. And now, my favorite dives are those with sharks. It’s a liberating feeling to be so completely proven wrong about your fears. 

The more we can shine a light on sharks’ true behavior and eradicate this fear-based stereotype, the better ability we will have in explaining just how important they are to the oceans. Apex predators are key to a healthy ecosystem. Without them, our oceans die. And, not to get dramatic here, but as a result, we on land aren’t looking too hot either.          

So I encourage you to find the truth behind something you fear. Become aware of the exploitation of our natural world and the people living in it. Corruption and lust for power and money exist in places we don’t expect.

 

Dive into your fears.  

Swim with sharks.

You’ll find peace in the thrill.