Hello and welcome back Shark. Here is to another episode of
Deep Dives with sharks. My name is Alex and I am the
host of this thing, and I feel like everyone thinks that I'd
become a shark if I could, and they're right, but I do feel
like I'd miss my hands. Anyway, we're back for the third
time with Shark Week versus Shark Fest to see which I felt
portrayed sharks best and provided useful messaging or
where they failed to do so. You may have realized last year
I said it was Week versus Fest 25 because I evidently cannot
read a calendar, but this is the true and correct 2025 episode.
I would like to add that I am not paid by either Shark Week or
Shark Fest Discovery or Nat Geo, so all my opinions are formed by
watching 3 specials from Shark Week 3 from Shark Fest and then
comparing them. Please do not take this as any
excuse to send any negative comments or any sort of attacks
towards either organization or event.
They both were started to raise awareness about sharks and help
protect them and hopefully they will continue to spread these
messages. Now I also want to note that I
did take these notes and write them out as I was watching them.
So it may seem a little bit forwards and backwards, but
it'll make sense. It's chronological that you'll I
think you'll get it. It's not too too confusing.
If it is, yell at me in the comments and I'll do better next
year. Now I do want to real quick take
a second There was some very sad news the other day.
On Thursday morning, the Georgia Aquarium announced that one of
their whale sharks, Toroko, had passed away and I was lucky
enough to get to see him twice. The first time was along with
Alice Trixie and Yu Shawn in 2019 and then again in 2024 when
it was just Toroko and Yu Shawn. Now all the whale sharks were
absolutely beautiful. They received great care from
the team at the Ocean Voyager exhibit and these sharks were
initially rescued from a fish market which is what got them
into Georgia in the 1st place. So the options were to either
have them become food or other materials or live in an aquarium
and thankfully they chose the latter.
Now I wanted to send all the love possible to the Georgia
Aquarium and all of their staff, but especially those who worked
with Toroko as this is like losing a family member,
especially for them. My heart goes out to the people
who live in Atlanta as well who are also grieving as any of you
who might be taking it hard as well.
I believe me, I get it. When I found out, I had to take
a minute to fight tears because I felt like it was losing a 60
foot friend. But of course, we love and miss
you Toroko already. But I do want to reset the
momentum because this is a more fun episode and it stinks that
we have to kind of bring it down a little bit with that, but real
fast because everyone's probably really stressed out again and we
haven't done this in a little while.
We're into a little quick the exercise.
So as we shift into therapy slash counseling slash calm
voice Alec like us to real quick take a deep breath in and then
let it back out and then once more we're going to take another
breath in and then back out. And you can keep doing that, but
real quick. I also want you to just think
about something you really love or you really appreciate.
It feels nice, right? Just taking that moment to take
a break, kind of get away from all the hecticness and then
breathe in once more and then right back out.
Just remember to take care of yourselves and also it's time to
get started. So we're going to ramp the
energy a bit back up and also to stay up to date on everything
that is deep dive with sharks. You can hit the follow button on
Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, Amazon Music,
anywhere you get your podcast or any of the social medias.
Once again, I don't really use Twitter as much, so if you
followed me there, it's kind of crickets.
I don't even think I've updated what episodes I've put out
there. But that's all right.
We'll get there eventually. Now I do have a little
correction corner to get to because we are back on the topic
of whether or not sharks have bones and this will definitely
come up again, but I got a message from Metal Fan that shed
a lot of light on this debate, or at least made it make sense
of my own brain. So sharks do in fact not have
bones. Other jaws and teeth are made-up
of calcium, but they are still cartilage and have different
structure than bones. So they're bone adjacent, which
is kind of the conclusion that my brain landed on, which
although bone adjacent still means no bone.
That's why, as they mentioned in their message, we haven't found
a full set of jaws. It's usually recreations or
things like that as the cartilage tends to wear away.
As mentioned before, it does depend on the source that you
are using. I have found websites in the
past that will 100% say with certainty that it is yes bones
and no not bones. So the debate will definitely
continue as more research comes out, but this I kind of felt
made the most sense in my own brain.
Now of course if you have more information on it and want to
send even more info my way because I feel like the
correction corner is low key turned into do sharks have bones
debate corner. And that's OK, I'm fine with it.
But it is one that'll probably come up again because you all
seem to know a lot more than I do, which is really cool.
But going on to the event at hand, we are going to start with
Shark Fest this year. Now Shark Fest, of course, is
the three-week event put on by National Geographic and usually
takes place throughout the month of July, although they've also
dipped into August and late June, so can kind of go
wherever. But the first show that I
watched was called Sharks of the North.
And this follows Alina or Alana, I'm not sure how she pronounced
it. I missed it.
Who's an ocean educator and scuba instructor in Nova Scotia,
Canada. Despite not working closely with
or really seeing any sharks in the water during her dives, she
worked with sharks researchers to learn more about the white
sharks of Nova Scotia. Which is incredible because that
is just something that is not usually part of her world.
But hey, let's learn more about it.
I love it. Now, this program gives a very
good background on white sharks, such as how they're warm blooded
and can regulate their body temperature above the water
temperature around them. And the research that has been
conducted in Nova Scotia, like tagging, tracking their movement
throughout the area. And they even tagged one
individual who traveled over 10,000 miles, which I wish I
wrote down that shark's name because that is incredible as
well. Now, they did share that the
great whites can smell a drop of blood in 10 million gallons of
water. Now, a lot of times people like
mention that to me and they're like, is that really true?
And it's like, well, yes, but it's not pinpoint.
Like they're not sniffing and all of a sudden are like, oh,
Yep, there's blood exactly 2.4 kilometers that way.
It's more like when you notice it's about to rain and you can
smell the rain coming, but you haven't, it hasn't started
raining yet. You can kind of be like, oh,
there's rain somewhere. Well, sharks do the same thing.
They're like, oh, there's blood, blood, but where?
So that's when they use their other senses to find it.
It's not like an exact pinpoint. They can find that drop of blood
amongst the water and be like, I got it.
They still have to search. Now they did introduce their
drone operator who was named Nick.
He's probably still is named Nick, but they showed footage of
a shark biting the boat that he was on a few years back.
And while presenting that footage, they had to call music
in the background, like almost uplifting, like kind of the end
of Undercover Boss episode type music.
And he discussed his excitement and his journey filming sharks.
And I absolutely loved that they didn't put spooky music or
create tension as sharks aren't bringing boats down on the
regular. That's orcas and it's yachts,
but that's different, and so about 12 minutes into this
program I realized I was loving it so much I could not recommend
it enough at this point. They've explained that sharks
are naturally found in the area, why they would be there, and
positive interactions the crew has had with sharks previously
was just a big old ball of shark love and it was fantastic.
They did a great job explaining the behaviors displayed by the
sharks as the great whites would come up to the bait and test it
out a little without fully biting any of it off.
They would take a pass, hold it for a couple seconds and then
spit it out if they weren't sure.
And the researchers discussed their usual cautious behavior,
especially since great whites are portrayed as mindless eating
machines, especially in the media.
So giving them this more cautious example and being like,
yeah, no, this is their usual behavior, not just ripping
things apart. It's pretty cool.
They also foster a healthy fear of the ocean, though, because
they have been kind of portraying sharks in this nice
light. But they did discuss the effects
sharks, discuss how weather effects sharks research and this
case in a pending hurricane, force them to return to shore
rather than attempt to dive in unsafe conditions and also
talked about how sharks can bite people.
So it is kind of a nice ball of shark love while also giving you
a healthy dose of reality of, hey, you can love sharks and
have a great time with them, but also be careful because they can
hurt you. The program also paid homage to
the native Canadians who inhabited the land and how they
interacted with sharks during their time, which was incredibly
cool. Such as using different things
like using teeth in tool making and a lot of stuff like that.
You can also find that in the indigenous people around
Florida. One of the museums I saw up in
Gainesville, that one had a really cool exhibit that showed
how shark teeth were used and I thought that was really neat.
But yes, it's definitely something that's really cool.
Although they did note that the interactions between early
settlers and or the native people I should say and sharks
does tend to end historically once the European settlers moved
in as Europeans tend to not interact with sharks as much.
Now that is not to take a shot at anyone there, that is more
just a fact of the history of it.
Europeans weren't using shark teeth as often if at all in any
of their tools. Meanwhile, Native Americans and
Native Canadians, I believe also the Australian Aboriginals, and
I believe the Inuits as well, tended to utilize shark teeth in
their tools because when you find a thing that's razor sharp
on the beach, that's going to be really helpful thing to use.
Now it also captured a reality of working with sharks in the
field and that was that they can go days, weeks, even months.
So without finding what you're looking for due to weather or
the animals just not wanting to be in that area and a variety of
other factors, I think they waited over a month to finally
capture these white sharks on camera because they were mostly
just sitting on the boat. And one of the jokes they made
was that I believe it was the drone operator Nick kept saying,
I I've got a good feeling about today.
And the captain looked at him and said, you said that
everyday. So it is one that they do kind
of capture that reality because I feel like often times these
programs are like, Yep, you're going to get on a boat and see
sharks guaranteed. And that's just not the case.
They're wild animals. They're going to do what they
want to do now. They did get amazing shots of a
6m or 19 foot great white, which was really cool because of
course having that pay off is really rewarding for the viewer
as well. Even though all we did was sit
here and watch, it still makes it a lot more fun.
They did wrap up the footage by explaining how this shark being
here is good for Nova Scotia as it shows signs of a healthy
ecosystem. Without those apex predators,
the ecosystem can fall out of balance, which can have
devastating effects. They also discuss the benefits
of sharks and how they aren't as scary as people tend to assume.
So clearly, I mean with the notes, I feel like it's very
easy to tell. I love this program and highly
recommend all the shark here is to check it out.
I feel like this is one that's good for every one of all ages.
It's not scary, it's very cool and it gives you a lot of
different information. So the next one that we're
looking into is called Super Shark Highway, and this one we
focused on the first episode of 6, which followed shark
migration routes around Australia and why the sharks
migrate here, as well as looking at larger sharks that tend to
hang around northern Australia and why they are there.
So I'll be focusing on that episode out of the six.
Now, I'm not positive that this is the one that came out this
year. It could be 6 years old and I
just didn't realize they were doing this.
For those of you that missed the Shark Week versus Shark Fest
episode last year, I used to be a very strong Shark Week
supporter and thought Shark Fest was like whatever.
And then I realized Shark Khan that I went to was also hosted
by Shark Fest. And it kind of made me realize
that the programming I was looking for more laid in Shark
Fest. But I'll also talk more about
that later. But also, I'm very new to it is
essentially what I'm trying to get out of here.
I'm not positive that I've watched all the new ones from
this year. I tried to, but you know, we'll
get better as time goes on I'm guessing.
So they have two teams that split up to gather their
research. The first team is tagging as
many great whites as possible, which is really cool and they
know some of the individuals they are tagging as they've
possibly tagged them before or had at least worked with them
enough to identify the individual just seeing them in
the water. Now, this program did a
phenomenal job at explaining a shark's aggressive behaviors,
what might be making the shark show those behaviors and what to
expect from them. As many people will look at a
shark and be like, oh, look how cool it is when clearly we can
tell that it is darting at you in a way to intimidate you.
And people will still sit there and be like, that's so cool and
it's like that's about to bite you.
So it does do a really good job of explaining that and telling
you what to do when that is happening.
The second team was looking at sharks near Heron Island and how
they interact with each other and other species.
Now, this show, I feel fostered a healthy fear of sharks as
well. That may sound crazy to some of
y'all, as I'm usually talking about why folks shouldn't fear
sharks, but we do have a healthy fear of them because they can do
a lot of damage to both humans and other animals as well as
equipment. So as much as I'd love to say,
hey, I want people to see sharks as puppies, they're not like you
can get bit by a dog. It's not going to do as much
damage as being bit by a shark. Very different.
So I'm kind of glad they do foster that a bit here.
But they also can be curious, goofy.
And they show the same shark bumping the camera three times
in a row, not being aggressive, but just trying to see what it
was. They also showcased how
different senses play into a shark's ability to explore their
environment. They rattled the diving cage
door to get a shark to come closer and attracted three or
four more. So sometimes has a little bit
more of an A wider array than they intended.
Now they also show some lesser known species such as the bronze
whaler shark, which is absolutely gorgeous and I think
one of the first times I've seen them on film.
So I might love them. They might be my new obsession
for a little bit. And you all are stuck with that
for as long as you listen. And if you want some good views
of multiple sharks interacting, you're going to want to watch
this show. There were so many swimming
around and I was just in heaven watching this.
I want to tell you like I just want to be in the middle of it
all, I swear, but also mom, if you're listening, would love to
do that. But I'm going to tell you after
I've jumped into a school of sharks and that survived, So
don't worry. I've also made the the same
promise with my sister, but they also took the time to delve into
a lot of the sciency things that occur on field missions and why
they're doing them. That includes the equipment they
use such as Bruvs and fin cams, which often times it seems like
programs just kind of assume people know what they do.
This program really kind of broke down what they do so that
way people are really clued into what's going on.
I also really enjoyed watching this episode.
I'm excited to watch more. They have some beautiful shots
throughout the program. I definitely recommend this one
as well. I, I mean spoiler alert.
I think I recommend everything. I watched a little spoiler alert
for the shark week bit too. Now we lastly for shark fest
have shark quest hunt for the apex predator and it was at this
moment that my TV froze and I was sad about it.
So my note literally says my TV froze dot dot dot cries.
So just just wanted to share that.
Evidently Alex at the time was going through it.
We lost Heroko, it's not OK. Now this show looks at the home
video of human shark interaction and how to stay safe while
interacting with sharks. Now, I'd also like to issue an
apology to Ralph at the International Shark Attack File,
as I have made fun of him in previous Fest Versus week
because the guy he was working with, I was acting really like
doofy like, and I kind of just added Ralph into it.
But I did not realize they did you dirty, Ralph.
And I apologize. So I didn't know your game.
I apologize there. So yeah, Ralph, if you're
listening, good work. Now, this episode starts with
the video of the great white getting into the dive cage,
which thankfully no one got hurt, but also led to Mexico
suspending shark tourism around Guadalupe Island due to unsafe
practices. Now, I feel like all of us have
seen this video. It made its rounds around the
Internet. Essentially, the great white is
trying to figure out what is going on with the cage.
And one of the bars break. So he just ends up swimming
right on in the cage, which is terrifying.
So use this to discuss the tools that sharks have to hunt, which
I thought was really awesome. And they also had an interview
with the man who was inside the cage and showed he was unharmed
and did not fear sharks. The cool thing about this show
as well was that it kind of went over like the shark stats of the
different sharks that were involved in the videos because
they went right into the great white senses and how they hunt,
which is incredible. So they did discuss all of that
in this video without making the shark look like a crazed beast
trying to eat the person when in reality they were probably like,
what in the world is this? And the cage broke and they were
like, well, now I'm stuck in here.
Fantastic. So it was, it was a really cool
video to watch, really cool episode.
The next thing they do talk about is a shark bite that
occurred off the coast of California.
It was not bloody or anything, so don't worry.
But they do discuss why the shark may have acted this way,
including not appreciating someone wandering into their
dining room uninvited, which I do think was incredible as well.
This one really focused more on the why do these happen and how
can they be prevented versus look at how horrible the shark
was as some other programs had done in the past.
Now when discussing the next incident as well, it was
involving shark tourism in South Africa, they discuss what the
staff did improperly and what caused the shark to act in this
way. And This is why I look recommend
looking into any company that you are going to work with when
interacting with sharks as the cage they're in was not built
properly, which ultimately puts lives in danger.
So for those unaware of this incident, there was a really
crude shark cage put on the side of a boat and they kind of just
went out in the water. And then we're like, Yep, go
ahead. People like jump in.
And the bars that were keeping the shark out, you were supposed
to keep like your hands and feet on to keep you from like sinking
or floating away. And of course, a shark comes up
and is trying to figure out what's going on because they
also like threw way too much chum in the water.
So the shark acting on its natural instincts, it just
starts biting stuff, which included the cage, which it bent
very bad. And thankfully, the people that
were involved, no one got bit. Everyone was OK, but it's just
really dangerous to put lives in danger like that.
That's just so reckless for no reason at all.
And as exciting as it may seem, to save money and see sharks,
don't do the cheapest option just because it's the cheapest.
Make sure you will be safe and don't get in the water if you
feel it is not safe to do so. Now this is where my favorite
part comes up because for those of you that saw the episode last
year or follow on the Instagram, I posted a picture with Doctor
Yanni, Papa Stamatio, and he popped up on the screen.
So I get so excited whenever I see Doctor Yanni.
But I got to meet him last year as well as Doctor Mike
Heighthouse. And I also got to meet Jackson
Hooton. And simply the fact that they
acknowledged my existence made them my favorite shark experts.
So it doesn't really take much to win my heart.
Just in case you guys wanted to know.
Yeah, just acknowledge my existence.
It's all I need now. Doctor Yanni was here to tell us
about sand tiger sharks and the fact that they eat their
siblings while other sharks will eat unfertilized eggs.
So it was kind of neat but also very weird to come out of
nowhere. They covered a hammerhead shark
going after a kayak after the kayaker was fishing.
Is that what you call them? Kayaker I guess.
Kayakee. I don't know when I typed that,
but that word just doesn't look right.
But it's OK now. The program also talks about
shark teeth being stronger than bone, thus confirming no bones,
which is really cool as well. They even touch on how a shark's
jaws and teeth are designed for hunting particular prey.
I am blown away to think that this was my favorite program of
all that I watched. No spoiler the ending of the
podcast, but the shows do get better as I watched.
Now I do want to give a quick warning that there is some
language in the episode, but it is all bleeped.
And when I go diving and I'm live streaming it follow along
on Twitch, I will probably lose my mind and use a lot of
language too. That's very exciting.
And when a shark is coming at you, it's very spooky.
I've had to mute all the audio from when I snorkeled with whale
sharks and posted any of that because you can just hear me
yelling many words because it is just crazy to see a gentle giant
that close to you. But overall, I do feel that
Shark Week did their shark fest. Sorry, did very well once again
portraying sharks in their natural habitat, doing their
natural things, what to look out for and how to interact with
them safely. Which brings us over to Shark
week. So this one, the first one we're
looking at, it's called Black Mako of the Abyss, which is kind
of neat, but also a wild name. So I have no idea what it was
going to be about. I'm guessing a Mako in the deep
at this point. Now one thing that Shark Week
does that irritates me, and I've picked up on it more recently,
is they use a lot of negative words when describing sharks and
the things that they do. This one, in instance, gave
violent, horrific, and terrifying right off the bat.
So it had to do a little bit of digging to get in my good
graces. Now essentially they found a
there's a video of a very dark Mako.
So calling it black Mako is rather accurate, but also saying
violent, terrifying, and horrific.
Loki felt incredibly racist. Like, do they say that about
great whites? Yeah, they do.
They say that about many sharks. But you know, still, it begs the
question. Now, I have a lot of love for
Paul de Gelder, so this program does give brownie points for
having him. For those of you unaware, he was
the Navy SEAL or not the Navy. I think it was Australian Navy
SEAL training or something like that.
I forget what they call him, but he was in a training accident
where he got bit by a bull shark and they claimed his arm and
leg. But he now is a shark researcher
and goes on shark week all the time.
He's on like every shark week program.
It's really cool and he's really funny so I like him a lot.
They are trying to identify what caused the shark's behavior and
coloration because this Mako didn't act like normal Makos and
didn't act like short or long fin Makos normally do.
So it was a bit different. Now I will say, first Shark Week
being in California feels very weird because me used to
thinking, oh, great whites are thousands of miles away, but now
they're just over there. And it somehow feels different
than seeing places I recognize in Florida on Shark Week or
Shark Fest, which is just a side note I wanted to share.
It was kind of odd to be like they're pretty much just a
stone's throw away. OK, So what they started by
doing was putting thousands of gallons of chum in the water by
utilizing a helicopter that they used to put out fires.
Felt like a little bit of overkill, but it did look rather
cool. But that is kind of what Shark
Week does sometimes. Like they will go overkill to
make something look really neat, but that felt highly unneeded.
It was neat to see though. They did a great job explaining
Mako hunting tendencies and I do love seeing Mako shark.
So that was pretty great. They did a stupid little
cliffhanger where you make they make you think Paul got bit by a
shark, which is messed up because like I just said, he
lost an arm and leg to a shark during a Navy exercise.
You cannot get him bit by a second shark.
That's not great. But in reality, the shark did
not look very close to him at all.
So it felt rather artificial. Once they got back from that
commercial break, which also I had to watch the commercial
break because I was watching this late anyway and watched it
on Discovery Plus and I was not paying for AD free.
So I actually had to sit through an ad, which was frustrating as
all get out as well. Now I do have to give props
though as they discuss the genealogy of Makos and great
whites and how they are related and how it is possible that the
two could be the two could be mating, which would make the
black Mako possible. They also talked about a couple
different options. A lot of it was kind of
interbreeding and that was a lot of the, I guess theories they
came up with, but it wasn't. I mean that out there anyway.
And I'll also add that the Romeo shark decoy to potentially catch
mating behaviors gave me a solid chuckle.
That was a rather hilarious bit that I thought was in the middle
of this. And it was also really funny
when they showed the video of the decoy just getting bit by a
Mako, like really just attacked by it.
And Kendall, the other researcher there yells it just
bumped Romeo like we're a little bit past bumped.
He is getting bit to crap right now.
It was so funny. I do have to give a shout out to
Captain Keith as he does reveal his way that he catches Makos
and gets them to breach and do all the same things they would
when they're on a hook. But he doesn't have to utilize a
hook. He would utilize the bait and
put the string on it or the line on it in a certain way so that
way it wouldn't come off, but also it wouldn't harm the shark.
And eventually the shark would get for like get it far enough
eaten that their teeth would just cut the line and they'd be
able to go free. But you'd still get that that
shot, which I thought was incredible, I hope more people
utilize in the future. Now, I do think there were a lot
of really cool shots in the program and it showed off the
skill set of Makos very well. I do also have to yell at
Tristan a bit here as my man, he's another researcher there,
but my man missed two chances to get a bio sample and that's of
course all jokes as he did mention it was unsafe to leave
the cage for the 2nd and for the first it was just unfortunate
they were shuffling stuff around, he didn't have the pole
ready. Stuff happens and there will be
other chances in the future and that's kind of the main goal is
just getting it done eventually. The sooner is usually better
than later. But at the same time, as I
always tell you guys, do not put yourselves in danger to try to
save a shark or anything of that nature.
So in this case, trying to do shark research, don't put
yourself in danger either. That's just not necessary.
Now I will say the program and ended rather abruptly.
I thought there was going to be more program and all of a sudden
the credits are rolling. So we didn't really get an
answer as to what was going on with this shark.
But I guess it's kind of how they draw you in for next year
because I can almost guarantee we'll see some Shark week
program that says Black Mako of the Abyss answers or something
like that. If I'm correct.
Someone run me my money. That's incredible.
But it was a really fun watch. I had a few laughs and saw some
amazing shots of blue and Mako sharks.
They didn't show off a lot of blue sharks there, which was
really cool. So definitely recommend watching
that. But of course, do realize that
they will have, for some reason, a lot of negative talk about
sharks, which is just kind of crazy.
Now. The next show that we watched
was called Attack of the Devil Shark.
Now I started by saying this better be a species called the
devil shark and not just here's a great white that bit somebody
and we literally demonized it. I still stand by that it was not
it was a tiger shark. But anyway, in a bit two people.
So a little bit different, but we're starting with spooky
narration and images of a tiger shark.
So that was just kind of crazy. They then went into the
narration of some say she's possessed jumping into
fisherman's boats. First off, what?
Second off, they showed image of the shark biting bait next to
the boat. Like they kind of just were
doing all the things that they they typically lean into that I
hate. Like that spooky narration, just
stating things that aren't true. Like what are you doing now?
I was going to call them out for saying that it was the same
shark, but then they added that they had DNA from the bites on
both victims that proved it was the same individual.
So I'm going to give them a little bit of credit because
normally when people are like, oh, the same shark bit X amount
of people, I'm like, in a span of how many hours across how
short mile? Like, no, that was multiple
sharks. There's no reason a shark could
be just chill in there. But anyway, in this case, it was
actually the same individual and it was like months apart.
But yeah, so they, they were right there.
I can't yell at them. And as much as I will defend
sharks, I will also be realistic and warn that sharks are wild
animals and can have different personalities.
So it is Percival that this Percival possible that this
shark is just a complete jerk. It is very true that he could
have just seen people and gone. You know what?
I'm a bite him and that's what happened.
The same way that you've been waiting for a parking spot and
someone just takes it. They're a jerk.
There's not much you can do there.
Now. The plan in this show was to get
samples from large tigers in the area of where the bites occurred
to see if they can find the individual responsible and learn
more about it, which I don't hate.
The one thing I didn't really make clear was what was going to
happen after they they learn more about it.
Like were they going to like try to just keep track of them?
Were they going to do horrible things to it?
I didn't like that they didn't have kind of a backup for any of
that or, or the what happens after.
But anyway, didn't really matter.
Now there was a horrible idea that they mentioned they the
divers get in the water and find a huge tiger shark and it's
heading off of drop off. And one of the divers literally
says let's follow it. For those of you who have
listened to the safety portions of this podcast, one of the
things I've said numerous times, do not follow sharks.
That is seen as a hunting behavior.
And if you are following a shark and it does not like that and it
notices you following it, it could act defensively.
It's kind of the same way if you feel like you're being followed
at night, you're going to pull out the pepper spray.
It's creepy. So don't follow a shark if it's
going away from you, kind of just hang out and see if it
comes back or if another shark shows up.
Don't go chasing sharks. Just like TLC taught us not to
go chasing waterfalls. OK Stick to the rivers and
streams that you're used to. Gosh.
Anyway, I highly recommend watching at least the 1st 10
minutes as the shot of the underwater fissures was
beautiful. They are talking a lot about the
volcanoes in the area and it's just that shot there scratched
every itch in my brain, which was really cool.
And then keep watching a bit more because the focus on tiger
sharks and just how beautiful of a shark they are in general.
Even with a name like this program has, which I am not
going to lie, I already forgot Attack of the Devil shark.
There we go. I had to go scroll to look at
it. But even with a name like that,
they do show tiger sharks very beautifully.
And I mean, you get some wonderful, wonderful views.
It was, it was a great watch. Now please do not do what these
divers were doing. Once again, they were hanging
out right on top of the bait, staying in the water with sharks
showing aggressive behaviors and even calling out that they don't
like how the sharks are acting and then put their head back
down and dove into the water. Just get out of the water.
If the sharks are in a frenzy and there is no controlling
their behaviors, which nine times out of 10, it's kind of a
mutual respect until what, like they get triggered by the food
or something like that. And then like the guy it felt
like was trying to protect the bait box.
At this point, it's over. Like just let them do what
they're going to do. You get out of the water, get
yourself safe. Like they're the, your bait's
gone that you need to go get more anyway.
So just get out the water. Now shortly after this, they
decide they want to see if it's volcanic activity that is
causing sharks around the area to be more aggressive.
I don't know, I mean that's just kind of their their method and
I, I feel like that's possible, but I also feel like that's a
little bit far fetched. But anyway, I don't know enough
about volcanoes. I need to talk to a volcano
expert. If anyone knows a volcano expert
let me know. I really do not love the shaky
Cam when they activated the sphere to emulate volcanic
activity as other shots were perfectly still.
So it was clearly added in post and I felt added a whole lot of
nothing. Now, the sphere brought in a lot
of sharks, but I feel like sharks are often drawn to
electronics due to their electric output and you know,
the ambulate of Lorenzini. So I feel like that was kind of
a moot point there. But you put a lot, a lot of
electric equipment on the bottom of the ocean in a sphere and
we're surprised it brought many things that sense electric
pulses. I don't I don't see where the
disconnect was. They're like, look at this, they
like the volcano. Do they or do they like the
electric? We don't know.
Now they feel that was enough to approve that they're more
aggressive around volcanoes. And I feel like we have the same
sample size and are using this correlation as causation.
But you know, I disagree. But they're on Shark Week and I
paid to go to Shark Con last year.
So we're not the same. I'm better.
No, I'm kidding. I'm not.
But yeah, no. So it's it's very just that was
just a point that made no sense to me because it just you threw
electric in the water safely, not just shocking the sharks,
but normally sharks can sense their prey through the ambulate
of Lorenzini with their electronic pulses.
So the fact that you have this fear that's emulating heat and
like shaking. Well, yeah, it's it's pulsing.
They're going to come look at it.
So I feel like it's more that once again, I'm not a shark
researcher, I guess like kind of am not really.
But still it's it's I don't get it now.
They then decided to do a night dive and the music they chose
for the night dive and cracked me up because they chose kind of
like a Call of Duty style which felt like a choice because why
does it feel like I'm about to drop into war Zone when I'm
watching Shark week? Like I feel like I should be
relaxing on the couch not watching my 6.
What is going on here? I do got to give another shout
out to someone. Connor the shark Wrangler that
was AI. Didn't know that was a title.
It was really neat. Do not try anything he did by
yourself because it was incredibly dangerous.
But clearly the man does it on the regular.
But he lassoed a shark and because the the shark, they
caught a tiger shark, they were going to try to do a bio sample
and see if it could be one of the ones that was connected or
the one that was connected in the bites.
And they got the tail tied up, but then it like spit the hook
out. So it was kind of just like the
head was of course, the part that's moving, which is not
great when the head is also where the teeth are.
And tiger sharp, Tiger sharp tiger sharks have some of the
sharpest teeth, or at least the best to, like, get through
turtle shells. So for me, I was like, this man
is putting a lasso around a shark's head that can turn and
bite him on a dime. That's crazy.
And he did so successfully without getting bit or getting
any blood or anything. Like there was not a whole lot
of trouble involved. Now, one thing that kept
reiterating is that these sharks are aggressive, but I've really
only seen a few aggressive behaviors, but nothing too
crazy. My like, maybe I'm just not
paying full attention at that point because I was also taking
notes, but I, I thought it was really wild to hear all these
sharks are wild. They're so aggressive and like,
it's just a shark swimming. I'm like OK, rather crazy that
they got a real jaw scene though as one of the sharks they hooked
literally dragged A buoy underwater and bent the hook to
free itself. So that either had to have been
a massive shark or now thinking back on it, it could have also
been fake options. I don't think they faked that
because that's a lot of work for like a shot, but if they did it,
that's pretty sick. Now they got me really stressed
on this night swim as well. And they did first thing they
did was put a darkening filter over the night swim.
So it was already hard to see because it's night.
But then like when you look at the lights, you're like, even
these look dim and I don't think they'd be that dim.
And then it really had me stressed because like they had
this like suspenseful music going.
They put all these sharks in the same area and they kind of made
it feel like it was just, I mean, it, it felt so much more
high stakes. And then they're all shouting
and screaming. I'm like, Oh my God.
So it had me stressed until a shark showed up.
And the narrator gives a description of a girthy 16 foot
tiger shark. And I had to pause because the
immaturity in my brain just started firing.
And that was that was pretty funny too.
Now, thankfully, unlike the previous episode, they did get a
sample of the monster tiger shark.
So we did at least get that nice satisfying ending of this night
dive as well. And they also ended the program
saying there's dozens of devil sharks around the area, which is
stupid and dumb and stupid. And I hate it because they did
things to rile up the sharks, then went, whoa, they're
violent. It's probably the volcanoes.
Like, no, you just jabbed a shark and then like wiggled food
in its face. And then when it was like, oh,
food, you're like, oh, Jesus, it's so violent.
Like, no, it's not. It's being a shark.
It's what it's doing. Like you wouldn't throw a just
piece of meat out in the Sahara cover with A1 steak sauce and
then watch a lion eat it and go look at how violent it's like
you enticed it to do that. It was taking a nap before then.
Come on. But I did like the shooting of
this episode. I thought there were some of the
most beautiful images I've seen from both events.
And there's great shots of sharks.
The information I felt was a little bit shoddy here and
there, but not terrible. So I gave that one a good, good
review as well. And now the last one I watched.
This one is so goofy and I I loved it so much, but it's
called Franken Shark and I first wasn't going to watch it because
it sounded dumb, but I gave it a shot and they showed the video
of someone getting bit by an Angel shark, which how the hell
did you manage that? So I'm hooked like dude, Angel
sharks like you really got to mess with them to get bit.
So it kind of cracked me up. But their goal was to combine
different sharks attributes to create a shark that can take
down one of the sharks biggest predators.
And orca. They're always on the back of my
mind. See they're what I'm always
looking out for orcas. They're spooky now.
They showcase so many sharks in the show and I love that because
they started with the Greenland and this blunt nose 6 gill
sharks, which who starts with those?
That's just so exciting. Like of course, of the sharks
I've talked about so far on this episode, we've mentioned great
whites, tigers, and I believe I've mentioned hammerheads.
At this point, I might not have. This might be the longest I've
gone into an episode of Shark Week versus Shark Fest and not
mentioned Hammerheads. But they talk about these like
lesser known sharks, which I thought was really cool because
usually the only time we get those is in the Alien Shark
program, which is when you're looking for them.
So to kind of have them in this, like, hey, we want to showcase
these different sharks attributes.
Here's 2 that you don't really hear of a lot.
I thought that was sick. That was really cool.
Now they have amazing shots of whale sharks while talking about
the fact that they have the thickest skin and regenerative
properties which I was not aware of and I had to Google and found
out it was correct which is really neat.
Now, one thing that I did not like that Shark Week did a lot
this year was show a lot of sea turtle murder.
And it was like, usually it comes with a territory and you
usually get one, maybe 2 clips, but I feel like I've seen about
8, like just in watching these three episodes.
And I'm not quite sure why they're doing that, but there
was just a lot. So just just be aware.
Now they go piece by piece, starting with the body and
moving into the teeth and the head shape and things like that.
So they're quite literally like 3D animating this shark that
they're building to take down orcas.
Now, one thing that I did notice that Shark B does that Shark
fest does not is play these orchestral notes as a shark is
taking a bite, making it seem very spooky and frightening,
despite the divers not really showing any panic and or just
pushing them away. And then when someone does get
bit by a shark, they didn't play anything.
So like dude, pick a lane. Now I will say I'm writing this
during a commercial because I don't pay for AD free as
mentioned earlier. But I felt like the diver who
got bit was folding that fish a little too long which leaves
more room for getting bit. So as mentioned previously if
you are ever hand feeding a shark a do so with
professionals. And also you shouldn't just in
general, but still it is one of those.
That you have to be careful. Don't do that thing where you
keep moving your arm across because eventually your arm is
going to run out of distance to like go left to right.
And eventually you're going to think you're still going left to
right, but all you're doing is moving your arm backwards.
So now you're going more north to South, if that makes sense,
or like forward to back. So now you're pulling it closer
towards yourself without realizing it.
And that shark can sense the electric pulses that are in your
own body as well. And they'll like sense food and
be like, oh, it must be there because there's where the
electric is. And then you can get bit.
So I always recommend if you're going to do it when the shark is
coming, let it go. The shark will find it.
You don't need to put your hand in his mouth.
It's OK. But the guy that did get bit, he
took it like a champ. I'd be crying, screaming,
throwing up. And he literally just went, got
some holes in my hand. But I'm all right.
I got blood on the deck. That was his whole response.
That was it. I'd be like, I might be dying,
I'd be losing it, and he's just like, we're going to have to
clean the deck. That was his main concern.
It was wild. And I also do need to give props
once again, as it did not look like they used AI for the
footage, but actually used an animator for Frank and Shark,
which I did like. Now, they did make a statement
that said the bull shark is the Conor McGregor of the ocean.
And I prefer men's mental health advocate and universal BAMF
Patty the baddy pimlet. But go on.
That's just me being annoying. Now the the showcase, the bull
shark aggression, they're going to provoke it.
And when I heard this, my brain was like, what are you about to
do? Now?
The plan that they initially set out made it sound like they were
going to go ahead and like punch a shark or something like that
or like poke it and irritate it. And I'm like, this is such a
horrible idea. And then it stressed me out even
more because bulls work in packs.
And they were talking about how they're going to get one, but
now there's five around. And I'm like, are you still
going to, like, poke this guy? Like, what are you about to do?
And thankfully what they were about to do was just release
bait. So they made it sound like they
were going to smack a shark up, but instead they just released
bait. And it was like, ah, this is how
I eat. And ever like look at how
aggressive. Like what?
OK. But it was rather funny because
I literally let out a side because I thought they're about
to take like a beach umbrella post and like start poking at a
shark until it like lunged at them.
And I'm like, this is such a horrible idea.
But thankfully, they did not. Now, I didn't like that they
were kind of vilifying species of sharks by giving half
information. Like, bull sharks are
aggressive, yes, but there's ways to not provoke them.
And they highlighted how oceanic white tips have attacked
shipwreck survivors. Like, you could say something
nice about them right now, please.
But they kind of provoked this letter.
Not provoked, but they kind of pointed out like, oh, yeah, in
this plane crash and in this, like, ship sinking, oceanic
white tips bit people. And it's like, yeah, not their
finest moment. They also bit people around
Egypt. Like, are we going to talk about
all the horrible things Oceanic white Tips did?
Like there's much better things we can talk about with them,
like how beautiful they are and how curious they are and how to
not get bit by them. But we didn't do that.
Now they did suggest at one point to give this Franken shark
and epaulette sharks walking abilities and that got rejected
only for them to turn around and go hammerhead.
Give it a big old hammerhead which I feel is disrespectful to
the epaulette shark because why would you want this giant
hammerhead when instead you could have this orca try to like
go hide somewhere and then here comes the epaulette shark
walking around which would just be crazy.
So it is just a wild show all around.
Highly recommended. And they have the shark shield
that they introduce. Now for those of you who are
unaware, it essentially is like an underwater electric fence.
But what it does is it sends electric pulses into the water
that are designed to confuse and cause a shark to get I guess
like lost directionally essentially.
So it tells them to turn right instead of left.
But they can't really go over it.
They are trying to investigate it.
A lot of the nurse sharks are checking it out.
And then some of the I think the hammer heads wouldn't really
even go near it. And that kind of made me think,
I wonder if they'd try implementing this in, like,
certain beaches because, of course, shark Nets and things
like that tend to claim a lot of shark lives.
And my thought was, oh, well, this will work a little bit
better, right? Because it'll keep all the
sharks from, like, coming in. But then my brain remembered,
like, half the problem with the shark Nets is that they can't
keep the sharks from swimming in from the side and then getting
caught between the net and the beach.
So effectively just trapping them in with people.
And then secondly, I was like, what if we just move it up on
the beach? And I'm like, I feel like with
electric and water, you don't want to expose it to air at this
point too. I'm like, I feel like we're just
going to start shocking people. And then my thought was to bury
it, But I was like, you know, dudes just be digging holes at
the beach. So essentially it's like a neat
idea, but I feel like it would need to be implemented very
strategically. And I don't think it'd be
implemented on like large scale operations or anything to like
protect beaches because I feel like it'll just trap sharks and
then end up getting them hurt and getting people hurt.
So that's my little take on it, but it was kind of neat.
So that was the thoughts I was having while watching that.
Now they did also add a thresher shark tail at the end, which
unnecessary but also incredibly wanted.
I this is probably the one that I recommend the most because
this show was hilarious and just a lot of fun just being goofy.
And the at the end, they were quite literally like patting
themselves on the back because they're like, you know, we set
out to design A shark that's going to go ahead and take down
an orca. And I think we succeeded.
And it's like you had unlimited conditions.
It just had to be a shark and use shark parts.
You gave it a whale shark body with a hammer head and tiger
shark teeth just to give away some of the things that they did
and the thrasher shark tale. You think you're going to lose
in what world? Like you should win if you don't
win. That's embarrassing, But it was
a lot of fun. I I had a lot of good laughs at
it. I think it was a lot of fun for
anyone to watch and also it I I do appreciate the fact they did
not just use AI to create this shark and they actually had like
a little battle at the end, which wasn't much of A battle as
much as just watching some made-up shark beat the crap out
of an orca, which further crimes that port and Starboard have
committed. I feel I'll watch a virtual orca
get attacked. Feels fair enough.
But to give the little compare section here, we're going to get
to the section where I talk about what I did and did not
like about these programs did overall.
And of course, I did take a small sample size and was rather
busy. So I did not get to watch these
events during their running on TV this year.
I had to watch them on Disney Plus and Discovery plus.
Once again, not sponsored. I was pleasantly surprised this
year though as I felt last year's Shark Week really hyped
up the violence and gore of what sharks can do, but I felt like
it was much more toned down, at least in the programs that I
watched. Overall, I think both programs
did a good job showing off different sharks abilities and
their physical features that allow them to have these
abilities. Where I feel that they differ
though, is that Shark Fest still portray sharks in a more
positive light and comes with the intention of educating folks
about how cool, yet also dangerous sharks can be.
I felt Shark Week covers a more entertaining narrative, though
possibly leaving out some information.
As for what I felt did the best job, well that simply depends on
what you are looking to get out of the experience.
If you're someone like me who loves sharks with every fiber of
my being and wants sharks to be viewed the same way we view
puppies and literally shed a few tears after finding out Toroko
the whale shark from the Georgia Aquarium past, you'll want them
portrayed in a nicer light and want to learn as much as you
can. And that's where Shark Fest is
fantastic. But if you want more excitement,
tense moments, storytelling, being able to see the force and
power of a shark and aren't really worried about getting
every detail exactly right, then Shark Week will definitely
scratch that itch. Of course, you do not have to
pick one or the other. I usually try to watch both but
as mentioned things got hectic so I watched after they aired
but it was still a great time. I don't want to say they did a
bad job. I will say that I feel like
Shark Week expects viewers to already have somewhat of a love
and respect for sharks before watching their programming and
expecting those who fear sharks to already not be watching.
But Shark Fest takes into a consideration that many coffee
cups say caution hot on them, and viewers may need a gentle
introduction into loving sharks before they can handle more
graphic content. So I highly recommend watching
both programs as I had a lot of fun watching them and believe
they taught me a lot I didn't already know, which I learned
every year. And I will say in the past, I
have given both Shark Week and Shark Fest their flowers as
beating the other one. And this year I kind of gave it
a tie because I feel like there are things that people are
looking for. There's a reason why there's a
horror movie genre. Some people like that spookiness
and that scariness, and that's where you'll get a lot of that
in Shark Week. Shark Fest does have some of
that as well, but it does come, I feel more still with an
education factor that does try to prove, well, here's why this
happened and here's how it has been prevented and here's what
we're doing to make sure it doesn't happen again in the
future. Meanwhile, I feel like Shark
Week will sometimes end things like they did with Attack the
Devil Shark. Well, they'll go, there's dozens
of devils in these waters and you're like, OK, come on.
So there's dozens of sharks everywhere, Let's be real.
But that is what I have for this year's Shark Week versus Shark
Fest. I apologize for not having a
shark con section, but I moved away from Tampa so it's kind of
harder to go there and flying back would be expensive.
So possibly next year we'll find out.
But I do appreciate you all listening.
Please give us a rating anywhere that you are allowed to tell
your friends about it. Come join us on the weekends for
a stream so that way we can talk more things sharky.
And of course, I will see you guys in the next one.
Take care.