shark week -- can i have my life back?

discovery channel has managed to trick me into racing home from work every night so as not to miss a minute of the latest shows during this special week dedicated to sharks.

i am intrigued by these creatures because one of my favorite pastimes is playing in their backyard and each time i walk down the stairs to swim at la jolla cove, i feel extremely alive yet extremely scared shitless.

i know i am afraid, like most people, of the unknown - that knowledge that it is their habitat and they are down there but that i can't see them. last year in hawaii, i woke up early one morning and swam in kailua bay along the ironman hawaii swim course. on the way back to shore, about 800 meters out, i stopped a few meters from the Coffees of Hawaii catamaran and approached a couple of kayakers who were out enjoying their morning. the water was clear and visibility below was good down to the ocean floor. swimming gracefully below were a handful of reef sharks, minding their own business, yet in close proximity to a few dozen swimmers. i was initially surprised with how little it bothered me and then i realized how uninterested they were in us, and how being able to physically see them was far more calming then the anticipation and fear the mind is able to conjure up.

watching the episodes throughout the week, one thing in particular strikes me about the people who have been victims to shark attacks. not one of them put blame on the shark for the attack and noted it was likely a case of mistaken identity and they understood they were in their backyard and natural habitat.

i respect these animals for their beauty, mysteriousness, and their raw power and i also know the lifestyle i willingly choose to participate in puts me in their playground. it is an amazing spectacle on friday nights down at la jolla cove to see the tri club of san diego members and other open water swimmers, numbering in the hundreds, flock down for their half-mile, mile and two-mile swims in the 60-odd degree water, enjoying the ocean and it's habitat, while holding ultimate respect for what dwells beneath.