Hello and welcome back shark. Here is to another.
Episode of Deep Dives with. Sharks, I am the host here.
My name is Alex, and for those of you joining us for the first
time, welcome in. And for those of you that are
returning, I am very. Happy to see.
You here again. We officially have Shark Week.
Versus Shark Fest 2020. Five it took over 2.
Months to get here, but you know we got it done.
As those of you that have been following along know there were
a lot of life events going on between finishing school,
working jobs, internships, the whole 9 yards.
But we finally I got enough free time for me to go back and
actually watch these on Discovery Plus and also on that
Geo Plus over on Disney Plus. There's a lot of pluses.
Going on these days, but for those of you who do not know how
this works, who haven't listened to last year's, I watch some
shows from both Discovery Shark Week and National Geographic's
Shark Fest and we'll discuss my thoughts on them, how I feel
they portrayed sharks and their message towards the overarching
goal of conservation. Now, this year is going to be a
little bit different as I've also been asked to talk about my
experience at Shark Khan, so that'll be coming at the end.
So that way if you. Want to hear that you've got the
option, and if not, then you get the important information first,
right? It works out.
Now there are a couple things going on in the background when
it comes to the podcast. So keep an eye out.
On the social media, more specifically over on Instagram.
At deep dives with sharks. So that way you can participate
in polls when I throw them up eventually.
There's things we're considering working on and we're going to
see if they fit in now or if we're going to hold off for now
and work on it later. But we also have a Twitter at
Deep Dive Sharks. I don't update that one as much.
I need to be better about that and I'm going to try to do that.
But without further ado, we are going to officially get into.
Shark Week versus Shark Fest. 2025 Now.
Both events were created to initially spread awareness of
sharks, their importance to the environment, the grace and
beauty, and the power and prowess that they have and the
respect. That they deserve over the
years. They have changed their delivery
of information. As they are part of.
Television networks and they need to be entertaining to
retain viewership and that can cause messages to be blurred at
times. These programs do not have a
proper entertainment factor. They will not retain viewers and
that will cost their channels a lot of money and therefore they
will be cancelled. Now I am the type of person who
could watch documentaries on sharks.
All day, every day. For 12 hours through the month
of July and still want more when August rolls around.
And for some people, that just simply won't do.
They need a little bit more. A little bit more violence, more
bites, more fear, more hutzpah. They need a little something.
Extra but each special. Is going to do it differently,
and that can even be among the same events.
It can be something simple as having a shark expert explain
what they're doing and that'll get me really excited, or
including a celebrity. Or they can also take that
celebrity and put them 5 inches away from the shark and have the
shark bite something and. Have the celebrity.
Lose their mind, making you think they just got bit, kind of
like how Shark Week did when they had Mike Tyson who punched
at a shark and then they cut the commercial.
It's got to be something to hook you, but different things can
hook you in different ways For example, whenever I watch Blue
Planet or anything narrated by Sir David Attenborough, his
voice does it. I'm simply.
Hooked by his voice. He has that special way of
gripping the viewer by using the cadence of his voice.
He doesn't speak monotone and boring, but stresses certain
words that they grip you. So for example, he could be
talking about something like a. Coral and he'll sit.
There and go. Here we have the amazing sponge
coral. It does it's amazingness by
sitting here and absorbing the sunlight and it has no defence
to the sea turtle that eats it. And the entire time I'm hooked
simply. By the way, he delivered.
That. Now that is a horrible
impression. Thank you for sitting through
it. But that was to let you know who
David Attenborough is. But all that is simply to say
that shark. Week has to make money for
Discovery the same way that Shark Fest needs to make money
for National. Geographic, but I feel.
That one has leaned more into an educational message while
utilizing entertaining factors, while the others simply aim to
entertain their audience even if their message spreads fear
around sharks. Now all this will of course be
wrapped up in a nice bow at the end, but for now we're going to
get into the shows and starting with Shark.
Week we've got Belly of the beast.
Bigger and bloodier. So the promise of this is the
same that they did kind of last. Year they had a.
Belly of the Beast event where they debuted a whale.
Carcass sub that would allow researchers.
To mimic a dead whale, that would be an easy meal for
sharks, thus getting amazing. Sharks.
Shots of sharks. Eating that.
Was a lot of SH. Sounds shots of sharks eating or
grabbing and tearing into a whale.
Now they named the whale Earl, which is kind of neat.
But this year their. Goal was to find the queen boss.
They had a lot of terminology like this which I felt was
trying to reach to the younger generation with Skibbity.
Rizz or is the older? Generation calls it brain rot,
so you know that that kind of thing.
But they've used similar phrases in the past, so this is not new
for them, but they've called them big Mama, monster, Mama
queen, shark, etcetera. So it was kind of like going for
the more I guess youthful terminology there, but they
wanted to get a large female do a lot of damage on Earl, a large
issue I have. With this is last year they had
a. System that could pump a lot of
material. Through a hood.
That would mimic when the. Whale would fill with gas.
And then it would explode. I did not see that in this
year's rendition, but it's fins were ripped off rather easily
once again and then spit out because of course they're not.
Blubber they're I forget. What material?
But they're made of something different and it always puts me
on edge because the sharks are strong and they just kind of RIP
it apart really easily. And I don't think it's made very
flimsy. But I still feel that the.
Divers occupying the stomach area are one stomach blubber
bite away from being in serious trouble and thankfully that
hasn't happened that I know of now.
Next year if they bring Earl back and you see a.
Shot where? A shark.
Bites the stomach. I want credit, that's all I'm
saying. It's fine.
I just just they listen. That's what I want to know.
But I didn't feel like it got a whole message or goal out of
this program. Just kind of felt like, hey,
we're going to take a big shark and it's going to.
Bite a fake. Whale and we're going to make
some money so that was that was neat but going into.
Shark topia by Shark Week. I picked the last program
because it mentioned bloodier so I assumed it would be a bunch of
blading and blood and. It it really.
Wasn't so kind of misleading there, but this one I chose
because it sounded fun. You know, Sharktopia.
Woo Hoo. And I was right, because
whenever I see a program that's got to be Dread Man himself,
Kina Scully, it's a good time now.
Kina seems like a mega sweetheart who simply loves
sharks, and I want him to be my friend.
So Kina, if you were listening, please let me know.
I'd be very happy to interact with you.
But anyway, they're trying to look.
For zebra, sharks or leopard. Sharks as they're known down and
sorry for the impressions. I don't have my Adderall
currently. I picked it up today though.
Exciting but unless you want more accents let me know in the
comments. I I can do a better Australian
eventually It'll it'll come out probably one day.
But this program was very neat as it showed many cool.
Sharks like the epaulette shark, the zebra shark, the.
Wobegong and a lot of whale sharks too.
Except all sharks. Are cool.
So, you know, if just 'cause you see a shark and you think it's
odd, it's, it's cool, don't worry.
But it showed a lot of diving scenes and showed the different
cool things that sharks can do. I like how the epaulette.
Shark can walk or the woebegong is a stealth ambush predator and
how whale sharks will inhale fishnets to get some food.
But on that note, I need to have a quick.
Chat with the people. Who live around the Hallmahera
Sea as their name for whale sharks, according to the program
translates. To stupid shark.
I just want that to hang there for a minute because why must
you hurt me in these ways? I did find it.
Really wild because I guess if a great white looked at a whale.
Shark and had a conversation like Dang, you have to be eating
so many huge fish to get that big and the whale shark is like
Nah, microorganisms. The Great White would definitely
think that's a rather. Stupid way to do that.
But that's another little tangent.
The whole point of the program was to.
See if it would be viable to release a Babri zebra.
Shark or leopard shark into the area that they were looking at
and if it could survive towards the end of the program, we do
get an adorable. Shot of a zebra shark.
Pup eating a little shrimp and it made me want a zebra shark
pup because it's so tiny and adorable and I want to pet.
It it looks very pettable. But it will bite me and I cannot
properly care. For it, so I will.
Have to love them from. Afar, but I thought.
That one was pretty neat. I like that one a lot.
It did kind of do what I hoped the programs would do, which.
Was showcase the beauty of? Different sharks showcase a lot
of them and it did a great job at that.
So that one I thoroughly enjoyed and definitely recommend
watching that one now. We do have shark week.
Caught when sharks attack. This one sucked.
I I'm just right off bat I'm just going to say it.
It was it was trash. I did not like it.
It was just footage of people getting bit by sharks with
little to no explanation and being like oh they could.
Die like dude dude. Shut up.
Like come on, stop. They had input from shark.
Experts such as Doctor Chris Lowe which a huge shout.
Out to him I got to see one of. His talks talks at Shark.
Con, which I'll talk more about that in a little bit, but
there's just nothing but panic and cutting off the shark.
Experts so it. Seems sharks are scary and
horrible. One point they.
Acted shocked because a shark. Eats a dolphin?
Yeah, that happens. Like they also eat fish.
Whoa, weird. I was so mad watching this.
Like the the notes on this are quite literally just me roasting
this program and this is the toned down version of it.
At a certain point they mentioned that.
A great white gives a spear Fisher the.
Stink eye quote UN quote. After he shot a.
Fish and then shoved the shark. The shark just kind of looked at
him. You shot a fish and the fish is
freaking out and the shark stole your.
Fish. Like, I don't know.
What the surprise is? Like, let me let me set up a
scene for you real quick. Imagine you're at home.
You're playing some good old Scrabble, as one does, maybe
some farkle even. You know an alien comes into
your house, goes to your kitchen, pulls out some ground
beef from the freezer, cooks it into a beautiful cheeseburger
with your favorite toppings, or, for those of you who may not eat
meat or animal products, a lovely lentil bolognese.
And you eat it, but your alien guest gets a noise with you,
annoyed with you for eating it for reasons you don't quite
understand. Congrats, you are the shark in
this situation. It was dumb, but it makes just
as much sense. You took a thing the shark eats
regularly, made it even easier to eat, and you got surprised.
And that the shark. That it stole your fish.
Like it? It does not make sense the
announcer in this program. Also.
Loved interrupting the shark experts just to contradict
anything they said, which was. Really cool dude.
Like so cool. I'm really glad that a person
with a deep voice was like, oh, this.
Shark's giving the stink eye like no, it was so annoying.
Like at one point I remember. Doctor Lowe was.
Talking I I can't remember about what it was something with a
great white and the spirit Fisher.
And he was like, yeah, things like this will happen when you
shoot their prey, but they happen to do these things and
you see him open his mouth to say another line and they cut
and you're like, he was going to add to that man.
And I'd rather hear what he has to say instead of this shark's
giving the stink eye. Cool like that.
Oh my God, it was so dumb and stupid and dumb.
I give that one a 0 out of 10 like any any episode like.
That we're just simply just, hey, look.
This shark's biting a person. Hey, look, this shark's biting a
person. Look at this shark bite.
But we're going to blur it like it's dumb.
No, like, don't do that when you're trying to spread
conservation. And your whole message is look
at how horrible and horrifying these can be.
And it wasn't even like, hey, here's how to be safe, and
here's what measures they're doing to be safe.
Like they showed doctor. Lowe at the end with the Shark
Lab looking at different like tags, kind of like what he talks
about in the upcoming talk that I'm going to let you know more
about. There's a lot of talking.
But he. Talked about a shark con, which
will make sense in a minute. But anyway, they showed him
doing that a little bit, which was cool.
But then they don't explain how that data helps to protect
people and also helps to protect sharks.
Like it doesn't really, it doesn't link the two together.
Like someone like me who's seen both sides of the talk and
understand what's happening. I'm like, oh, that's neat.
But when you're just watching and you do not know what's going
on, it's like, OK, cool. They're like they're putting
acoustic tags on to track the sharks.
OK, now what? Like we just get to know how
close they are and they're they're close to shore.
That's terrifying. That's.
Really all you get. So that program irritated living
daylights out of me. 0 out of 10 don't.
I mean, go watch it if you want to, but Oh my God.
Anyway, moving on to. Our Shark Fest shows.
We're. Starting with Shark Beach with.
Anthony Mackie. Now this program followed
Captain America himself, Anthony Mackie.
As he shows viewers. Around a 20 year post Hurricane
Katrina, New Orleans and how things in the area, including
sharks have changed since then. The program took us around the
Bayou and gave. Us a look at.
How sharks are interacting with. Fishers offshore as well as
closer. To the city, it starts over at
Lake Pontchartrain, which is an amazing song by Ludo.
This is the most ADHD. Episode I have put out.
I'm really sorry Anthony was with experts the entire time but
was able to. Help tag baby bull sharks.
And. Utilize the lake as an estuary
that provides a good food. Source and protection for those
baby sharks. He was also shocked to find out
that the lake he played in as a child would be able to sustain 3
foot and larger. Bull sharks.
They also look at how fishers in the Gulf are encountering.
Sharks around oil rigs. As they become a.
Hotspot for sharks to steal their fish.
Now this is where we get to see Doctor Yanni Papas Tamatou.
His name's really hard to say in action, as he is on board the
boat at this time. Now they do.
Hook a few. Fish that are almost immediately
taken off the line by. Sharks as they were really fast
to get there, it really showed. The power and hunting prowess of
the sharks in the area as well as the dangers that they can
present when hunting in these high density areas.
They're also able to catch. And tag a tiger shark.
I believe. Later in the episode and they
show how safety becomes first, especially with students and
celebrities, so Doctor Yanni gives.
The pep talk slash safety speech.
Giving reminders that they're essentially fishing by hand, so
he is using a hand line there. To stay clear the line, keep
your hands away from his mouth. Etcetera.
Like this is a shark. It's.
It's not just here to play, it's.
Here to be a shark, so you got to be careful there, but it's
very cool to see. Overall, how even in these
situations where? You've got the celebrity.
You're still. Getting that kind of like.
Hey, like safety first. We can't have Captain America
showing up to the next Winter Soldier event missing an arm,
which is an old reference. Winter Soldier came out forever
ago. But they also looked.
At how the destruction of the wetlands around New Orleans has.
Deteriorated the last line of. Defense against hurricanes
leaving the city vulnerable, and it was an incredible.
Watch I highly. Recommend it if you have.
Disney Plus, Hulu or. Any other way to watch Nat Geo
on demand now? I did get interviewed about this
program at. Shark Fest or Sorry Shark?
Khan, hosted by Shark Fest, Surprise and.
They they. Used everyone else's interview
but mine, it's fine. Everything is fine.
But what I will say. Is you are right now going to
get a look. As to what I had to say.
About that program, congratulations.
But I will say, growing up in Maryland.
We had a couple. Hurricanes come through.
We had Isabel. That came up the Chesapeake Bay
and did some damage. Living in Central Florida in the
past couple years, we've only had a.
Couple that have caused. A few issues but nothing too
crazy. Even living in Maryland when
Hurricane Sandy came through that hit mostly New Jersey.
So I myself have not been in anything that.
Really was over a category. One, I, I think if that yes,
because Isabel was a Category 1. I don't think anything else has
been, So seeing the flooding and the damage that occurred around
Maryland, we were pretty much up and running before fall.
Hit we. We got in there, cleaned
everything up. From what I remember the
Annapolis had flooded a bit but once the waters receded the
flood damage was taken care of and people were OK for the most
part. But seeing the absolute damage
and. Just the utter.
Shock of what a storm can do to an entire city 20 years later.
Is crazy they did also. Show how the house that Anthony
Mackie was in when Katrina hit and the levee behind his.
House that broke. So he was very much affected by
this and it's really crazy to see him return to that area and
see how it still isn't really. Recovered like that levee that
broke? Behind his house it seems like
that house and the neighbors houses aren't being used.
It's so wild. Just overall.
Because that is something that I can't even comprehend.
And yeah, that's just an amazing program.
I definitely recommend it. But going on to Sharkano,
Hawaii, now, this program follows Doctor Mike Hite House
and Doctor Francis Farabaugh. I'm not sure how to pronounce
her last name. I apologize.
As they explore the area. Around Hawaiian Islands and the
Hawaiian volcanoes. Now they are mostly exploring
how tiger sharks interact with the environment and the sharks
around them. But also examine white tip reef
sharks, whale sharks, and others in the area that benefit from
these volcanoes. They aren't looking at sharks
that live inside volcanoes. To be incredibly clear, sharks
aren't swimming around volcanoes that we know of.
As it is very hard. To get inside of a volcano and
not. Die.
It's rather hot. But it's not impossible
something could live in the volcanoes, we just don't have
the ability to get in them. That being said, don't go jump
in a volcano to try to pet lava. Creatures, if they exist.
I feel I shouldn't have to say that, but I'm just covering my
own butt here. It it's something that could be
possible in the future, but for right now we don't have the
ability, but this one it. Was a really beautiful relaxing.
Program that showed the power and beauty of sharks in the
area, even having a tiger shark going in for bait.
Out of the water. Feet away from Doctor Mike's
head, without him panicking or being worried, he simply
exclaims about its. Beauty or the power?
Like whoa. Would you look at that?
Like something along those lines.
And it was really. Cool to see.
Especially coming off of watching the look at how many
sharks. Bite people every year.
OK, cool. Thanks.
Bye. They did also utilize the help
of local dive guides to help respect.
The sharks and the wildlife in the area without causing a
disturbance or a stir. With the Sharks.
They don't want to put them in a frenzy, especially when you're
diving there now. IMDb gave this a 5.5 out of 10
and I disagree. I think it was even better.
I gave it at least an 8 if not more.
It was very beautiful, very relaxing.
I definitely recommend checking it out.
I thought it was a good time, but overall both events spread
messages. About sharks, whether it be
through fear. Entertainment, education,
spectacle, and many other ways. Now, as mentioned in the Jaws
episode, fear can still drive shark education.
But people who do not know a lot about sharks may be slightly
afraid of them. And when you incorporate fear
into a program, that gets them talking about it a little bit
more. And then they may end up talking
to their friends, going to an aquarium, something like that,
and mentioning what they saw. Now this can help to spread that
message. Of fear a little bit.
But it also can help to cut down on that fear and have that be
corrected. Because if you're in an aquarium
and you're like. Oh hey, I saw.
That on Shark Week, sharks are hunting cruise ships.
No, not. Quite cruise ships were.
Disposing of their food improperly and they were
throwing it overboard, which then brought sharks towards the
ship. So now it's a practice that has
stopped. Oh that's good to know.
Now I'm calmer so it's a whole thing where it helps even though
it's not necessarily the best message to be sending.
I feel that Nat Geo is gone for the educational route.
I find their programs are exciting through showing what
sharks are capable of without showing them biting or
threatening people constantly. Shark Week is gone with the more
entertaining route by having celebrities such as Michael
Phelps racing a CGI shark. Which was dumb, especially as a
person who loved Michael Phelps growing up and also living in
Baltimore, which is where he is from.
The idea of him racing a shark was insanely cool to little Alex
and I wanted to see how they. Do it safely.
And then they didn't really do it.
They kind of. Just had a shark casually.
Swim and then Sprint at the end. I could get into a whole rant
about that. We're not going to do it.
But Shark Week? Aims to pick the most.
Relevant celebrities like. Having Wee Man and Johnny
Knoxville on when their movies coming out or having Tiffany
Haddish around when she's involved in a lot of projects.
But Nat Geo does similar things with Anthony Mackie or Ross
Edgeley, but instead of putting AC.
GI Shark versus Ross Edgeley. They showed why he had a passion
about sharks and showed how he was going to go against four
different sharks in different aspects such as breaching,
eating, speed and agility and see if he can out shark a shark,
which even he sets up as a pretty insane goal they set.
It up to where they'll. Show what the shark can do and
then they show him training for it and then show him trying to
compete. As well.
And not really getting close, but since Ross Edgley is a
person who is an insane athlete, and I think he has, I forget
what the number was, it was some insanely high percentage of
muscle mass for his body. But the man is.
Just a athletic. Mind blowing person.
It is nuts the dude can do such. Incredible.
Athletic. Feats.
That's what I'm trying to say there.
We go, we got there, but the way they.
Show this on shark Fest I thought was much more
interesting than having him be going up like I'm on a race a
shark and then having him train for months.
To race a shark. And then getting in there and
being like, yeah, it wasn't even close.
Like they were like, hey. We're going to have him train
for a couple days. He's been training his whole
life to do things like this. He swam the English Channel
couple times. You know he's.
Got like the world record. For that or something.
And we're going to have him who's already trained, instead
of having him trained for months as if he's in a fight, we're
going to just have him do what he can do.
And if he does great and somehow out sharks, a shark and can
somehow breach out of the water. Incredible.
If he can't, well, there you go. He he just can't so.
I like the way that they put it because it's.
An insane task as is. It's kind of funny, but I.
Love the way they portrayed it. I do still love both events
though. I know this was kind of putting
down some. Of the Shark Week shows.
They were just kind of the ones that happened to pop up first on
my feed. I tried to watch different ones
from different days like I said. I was a little bit busy that
week. So I didn't get to.
Watch the full week or all of shark Fest.
I caught a lot of. It.
When I was at work. So like watching through like
captions which isn't the same. So next.
Year should hopefully be. A good one as well.
But now we go on to Shark Khan, and this was my experience
there. And as I mentioned earlier,
Shark Khan it was. Of course, sponsored by Shark.
Fest so it caused me probably be a little bit more biased.
Towards Shark Fest. This year as well, but I did
still love both. Events.
Now going to shark on. I bought a 2 day ticket so that
way I could participate. In both days of the.
Event which took. Place at the.
Expo Center at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, so I did
not have. To travel too far to get there.
Now I had no idea what to expect when I got there.
I never been to any. Con before comic.
Con anything like that and I didn't realize it was happening
until one of my friends sent me a Facebook invite and I realized
I had to go. Now my uncle's also rather into
sharks and thankfully I got to meet up with him when I got
there. So.
There were so many vendors. We got to walk around shark
experts. It was just so incredible to.
To see it was a. Wonderful time, I'm almost
overwhelmed now just thinking about it.
But to start. Out we had a little.
Walk around to the vendors to meet with one of my uncle's old
friends who's been a marine biologist in Tampa for most of
her life. She was actually really nice
enough to give me a collection of shark teeth she had found out
of the hundreds, as she had found throughout her time as a
marine biologist. No, unfortunately at this point
my uncle did have to leave, but I decided I'd hang out for a
while, see some of the talks, and see what else I could find.
Did a couple nervous laps around the convention.
Because I was really overwhelmed.
You walked in and saw a giant megalodon.
There were vendors. Everywhere there were people.
In inflatable shark costumes there was a lot going on, so not
knowing to. Expect all of that or.
Really expect anything at all. I I was.
I was. Shocked to say the.
Least it was. Amazing.
But also I was I was anxious this weekend.
I'm not quite sure why, but I started listening to Doctor Mike
Heithaus talk. About the ecology rule of.
Sharks and how they affect the ecosystem around them, which was
incredible. They talked about how usually
when you see a reef you can see the the.
Safety area where? You can see some grasses.
Outside of the. Fish don't tend to go.
Past because that's where. Sharks tend to hang out and
they'll. Eat the grasses up over.
Here, But once they get too far out, that's when the sharks tend
to get them. So it was really neat to kind of
talk about that. Then Dr. Yanni Papas Tomatillo.
Was after. A screening of Shark Beach and
he was discussing his experience tagging sharks with Anthony
Mackie and it was another phenomenal speech.
He did mention that safety. Aspect because of course.
He said he's not allowed to send Captain America back to the next
screening. Missing fingers.
That's just not OK. I'm right after.
There was a. Breakout session for 25 people
with Doctor Mike and Doctor Yanni which I was lucky enough
to sit in on and participate in, which I did unfortunately miss a
speech about the cocaine sharks which I was really curious.
About but I figured like. Having an experience to actually
talk to shark experts rather than just sit in was.
Going to be a lot. Cooler and in the.
Speech is like breakout. Room.
It was really neat. Because they started early.
And finished a little bit. Late, I will say that I felt a
little. Like I it was incredible.
I I love the whole. Thing but sitting in the hearing
other people's questions, I I was almost.
Outsmarted by people. In the room, which of course, as
I mentioned before, I myself am not a shark expert in the sense
where I have a degree in shark sciences or I have a job in the
shark world. I just have a shark podcast.
So listen to people who are talking about their research
projects that they want to do or the different things that they
want to study or or similar things of that.
It's incredible because it's something that.
I could appreciate. But not exactly live up to now.
I did get to ask a question. About a podcast I was.
Listening to called. Shark pedia, which I definitely.
Recommend. Where they had had a whale
shark. One of the the scientists they
had on had a whale shark in their study that kind of kept
messing with the researchers. He he was a little bit too.
Friendly as they put it when I asked them if they had had any
experiences in that realm and they were both very nice and I
mentioned that they wouldn't say friendly but.
They will say that they. Kind of stressed the importance
of having a large sample size, especially when you do have
sharks of that nature and working with sharks.
So that way they will. Not skew your data if they
decide to suddenly get a little bit too inquisitive.
About the researchers. Which I thought was incredible.
You can definitely feel the. Passion and love for sharks all
around the room. It was just incredible.
It also was freezing. I was really jealous.
Of the girl that was sitting next to me because she
remembered a jacket and I was in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts and
dying for a jacket or a blanket or bonfire or anything.
So I remembered to bring one on Day 2.
But it was an incredible time. Doctor Yanni and Doctor Mike
also were kind enough to take a selfie with me.
And also they busted out the gelatin lollipops that they used
to measure shark bites and see shark bite patterns.
Which of course. If you watched any of shark week
or shark. Fest this year they did.
Bust them out on both programs, which was neat.
Now when the session was over, I went around and shouted a little
bit around the vendors, which I do want to give.
A quick shout out to. Peppermint, narwhal and sea
monkey. Apparel as they were two.
Of the nicest vendors I got to speak to there now that.
Is just who I got. To speak to, I'm not saying that
the rest of the vendors were mean.
No one was mean or or rude or anything like that.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium was also incredibly nice talking
about their new manatee. Exhibit which was very cool to
hear about so. All the vendors were incredible.
They did take a good bit. Of my money, the prices weren't
insane, it's just I wanted to buy.
Stuff for everyone. That I knew, so I kept getting
things for people. So it's definitely great.
Feel free to check them all out. Also follow Shark.
Khan, they have all their vendors still up and everything
like that, and they're also already selling tickets for next
year, so that's fun too. But starting in Day 2.
I decide to hit the. Ground running, getting a little
bit of the feel of the place. I participated in the raffle
that was going on, trying to win a couple things for friends and
myself and only kind of spend around $10 on it, which was
rather good. But I listened to a few more
talks by Doctor Chris Lowe and Jackson Hooton and got to see
the jaws panel, which was really neat.
Although I would have liked. To ask a few more shark related
questions rather than film questions, but there were so
many people sitting there for that panel that they were
standing room only at that point and I did not want to take away
from the people. That were die hard.
Jaws fans. I really wanted to ask.
If they had shark knowledge prior, but you know a lot of
people had really good film questions and as someone that
also loves movies. I thought it was.
Really neat to listen to as well, but just to sit back and
watch was great as well and I got to listen.
To doctor Chris Lowe talk about his experience with.
Tagging sharks over in California and working with
students. At the Shark lab.
They've been able to tag many juveniles and position the
receivers just offshore created. Grid so that they.
Could see movement of these sharks as well as water
temperature and depth that would almost give pinpoint data and
also. Would be able to provide.
Potential explanations as. To why the sharks are.
Moving in these ways so. For example.
One shark did not like the water temperature when it got too warm
and went down South to then go up into the Baja California
peninsula, which was rather neat.
But I do want to give another massive shout out to Jackson
Hooton. He gave the.
Last talk at Shark. Khan, but it was probably my
favorite. He connected sci-fi references
to white sharks. As it was white shark.
Sunday and I thought. All the talks were.
Great, but this one really resonated with the nerd side of
my brain as I am a fan of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Solar
Opposites. All the stuff like that.
One of my favorite things to do is when the topic is about to
change in a conversation and all randomly just chiming to go.
You know? I don't mean to get political.
But the Galactic Republic was corrupt.
They let a trade. Federation be part of their
Senate and ignored an attack on Naboo.
But why do I do this? I don't know.
It's not even funny, but that's just.
Showbiz baby. What we got to do?
But anyway, back on track, Jackson connected with the
audience of nerds as we proclaimed ourselves to be in a
way that other speakers had not. And if you're listening,
Jackson, please at least come to Shark Khan again next year,
because I would love to pick your brain about all the sharky
things. But Shark Hum was a.
Great way to talk to. Shark experts, meet local
vendors and just feel completely immersed in sharky awesomeness.
You walked in and saw a giant inflatable megalodon.
As mentioned, the staff was incredibly helpful and nice, and
I also won a Shark Lab hoodie and hat which I am still wearing
to this day. I need to put that on again
because it's getting a little bit chilly, but they're also
selling Jaws theme pinball machines.
I did not have $6000 to drop on one of those, unfortunately.
And also my apartment is not large enough to house a pinball
machine at this time at least. Maybe we'll do something to
change that in the future. We'll find out no time soon, but
they did have them set up and allowed anyone to play them and
I may or may not have been the coolest guy in the room to one
kid watching as I got my third multi ball in a row and set a
high score. Not trying to brag, but the song
Pinball Wizard was clearly written about me 28 years before
I was born. It's fine they could foretell my
coming but I plan on attending next year and.
Hopefully we'll be able to. And hopefully I'll be able to
see some of the shark here is there.
If you all are there. As well I would also like to see
if they can book a speaker on simply getting into the world of
shark sciences from a non traditional way as someone like
myself who does not have a degree in sharks doesn't really
know how else to get into them other than just talking about
them in a podcast which is neat. But I will say.
If you do make it out to the con next year and it's at the Expo
Center once again, bring a hoodie.
It's in Florida in the middle. Of July, but that AC.
Works incredibly well. It is nuts.
But. That is what I have for Shark
Khan, Shark Fest and Shark Week of 2025 or 2024.
I don't know why I kept saying 2025, what year is it?
Oh my goodness. Anyway, 2024 I completely.
Skipped the whole year. And it took me till this point
to realize I don't know what year we're in 2024.
That's great. But anyway, hopefully we'll be
there at 2025. I just realized it's because
I've been reading the Shark Khan post and they told me that it is
the Shark Khan 25 tickets are selling already.
Oh boy. Anyway, this was 24.
You'll hear me mention 25 a whole bunch and then I'll have
to address that next year as well.
But thank you all for listening. Appreciate you all being here.
Please share with a friend if you'd like to someone that will
enjoy it, hopefully someone who might not as well send it their
way to why not, but thank you all for being here.
I appreciate you all so much and I look.
Forward to talking. To you in the next one.