Swim With Sharks Oahu
Here is my personal shark tour experience in Haleiwa, HI
Swimming With Shark Oahu, HI - Right now, we are in a northern coastal town by the name of Haleiwa, and Haleiwa is one of the most stereotypical Hawaiian towns. You have got the surf scene, you've got all of the acai bowls that you could ever want, and this also where we're going to be taking off from today to begin our shark expedition! We're meeting with one of the North Shore Shark Tours, and he gave us a bit of a warning to get some Dramamine because the waves today are apparently going to be pretty strong. It is a little bit windy, and for somebody like me, motion sickness is real…
All right, we've just signed our liability forms, and we've given permission for whatever's going to happen to happen. As we now embark on our journey- He's nice. This is our boat, and this is The North Shore, HI ocean, and today they're going to be taking us out to sea. Sharks that are up to 6 feet, unless we are extra lucky and see the big ones - those guys can get up to 16 foot in length. This tour is a free diving tour, and our operators are free divers, professionals, and, first and foremost, marine conservationists.
For years, they've been spreading the message that we can coexist with these apex predators, and they are not what we have seen in "Jaws." From my talk with them, I could see their main goal in life was to correct this misunderstanding that most of us have. While many people think of sharks as the predators of the ocean, the reality is the predators are us. Nearly 70 to 100 million sharks are killed every single year!!! And at that rate the shark population is soon to be depleted. From commercial fishing to trophy hunting, these practices are hurting the population, but the biggest culprit is the Chinese delicacy known as shark fin soup. A barbaric culinary practice that will soon kill the shark if this message doesn't spread quick. Our Shark Tour Guide explained that sharks are fundamental parts of the ocean. Basically, think of them as the ocean's immune system, keeping the other fish populations in check and making sure things stay healthy and balanced. I could go on forever about their work, but the truth is we're here to see what it's like to swim with these predators! So let's get back to that…
The rain's pelting my face so it's hard to see right now. allergic to water, right? Three miles off of Haleiwa and we have now arrived in the middle of the ocean here. We're on a little shelf where typically you'll find lots of sharks patrolling, looking for their food for the day. You can see two silhouettes right under us. Already our Oahu Shark Tour Guide has gone down and seen about eight sharks, so we're going to put on our fins- cause unfortunately the sharks do see him as a snack. We're making our bucket list happen here today. I'm so excited! Well, it's my bucket list. I don't know if this is on yours… The waves are a little bit big, but it's time to go in. How do you feel right now? I’m comfortable as soon as you get in. Oh my God. wish me luck. So we have about 40 minutes here to basically hang out with all sorts of different kinds of sharks, and Katy's already seeing them immediately after getting in, so it's my turn to go and experience them first hand and check this off my bucket list. Wow! They are really close. However, what were the shark diving safety rules that we covered?
The first most important one is what? They come too close, what do you do? You slowly back paddle away. Hopefully today we can brush up against one. Guys, the sharks, yeah, like- I'm excited to see it. And our Shark Tour Guide is in there every single day with these things. I asked our tour guide if he has had any close encounters?
“Shockingly, as far as a negative interaction, not really. It's been like 20 years! I maybe had like two where a shark's actually bit my camera but other than that though, they're very peaceful, mellow, amazing animals. They don’t care about us and I never felt in danger in there… mellow for the most part. Curious, it was my first time seeing a shark and I was in their territory, so... Oh my gosh, I was like… that was actually exceptional right there to have that many come up at that exact moment was really cool – shark conservation education. At about an average of 5-10 fatalities a year, worldwide… That's a really low number when you think about how many people are in the water every single day, right? Dogs kill more people.”
Okay time to jump in. We ended up jumping in with about 10 different shark, all shapes and sizes. Once I hit the pristine Haleiwa Shark infested waters I was in a trans, it was so surreal! You definitely need to experience this for yourself. It's nothing like you've ever done before – I can promise you that. You need to get in the water with sharks on the North Shore of Oahu!
All right, we've just signed our liability forms, and we've given permission for whatever's going to happen to happen. As we now embark on our journey- He's nice. This is our boat, and this is The North Shore, HI ocean, and today they're going to be taking us out to sea. Sharks that are up to 6 feet, unless we are extra lucky and see the big ones - those guys can get up to 16 foot in length. This tour is a free diving tour, and our operators are free divers, professionals, and, first and foremost, marine conservationists.
For years, they've been spreading the message that we can coexist with these apex predators, and they are not what we have seen in "Jaws." From my talk with them, I could see their main goal in life was to correct this misunderstanding that most of us have. While many people think of sharks as the predators of the ocean, the reality is the predators are us. Nearly 70 to 100 million sharks are killed every single year!!! And at that rate the shark population is soon to be depleted. From commercial fishing to trophy hunting, these practices are hurting the population, but the biggest culprit is the Chinese delicacy known as shark fin soup. A barbaric culinary practice that will soon kill the shark if this message doesn't spread quick. Our Shark Tour Guide explained that sharks are fundamental parts of the ocean. Basically, think of them as the ocean's immune system, keeping the other fish populations in check and making sure things stay healthy and balanced. I could go on forever about their work, but the truth is we're here to see what it's like to swim with these predators! So let's get back to that…
The rain's pelting my face so it's hard to see right now. allergic to water, right? Three miles off of Haleiwa and we have now arrived in the middle of the ocean here. We're on a little shelf where typically you'll find lots of sharks patrolling, looking for their food for the day. You can see two silhouettes right under us. Already our Oahu Shark Tour Guide has gone down and seen about eight sharks, so we're going to put on our fins- cause unfortunately the sharks do see him as a snack. We're making our bucket list happen here today. I'm so excited! Well, it's my bucket list. I don't know if this is on yours… The waves are a little bit big, but it's time to go in. How do you feel right now? I’m comfortable as soon as you get in. Oh my God. wish me luck. So we have about 40 minutes here to basically hang out with all sorts of different kinds of sharks, and Katy's already seeing them immediately after getting in, so it's my turn to go and experience them first hand and check this off my bucket list. Wow! They are really close. However, what were the shark diving safety rules that we covered?
The first most important one is what? They come too close, what do you do? You slowly back paddle away. Hopefully today we can brush up against one. Guys, the sharks, yeah, like- I'm excited to see it. And our Shark Tour Guide is in there every single day with these things. I asked our tour guide if he has had any close encounters?
“Shockingly, as far as a negative interaction, not really. It's been like 20 years! I maybe had like two where a shark's actually bit my camera but other than that though, they're very peaceful, mellow, amazing animals. They don’t care about us and I never felt in danger in there… mellow for the most part. Curious, it was my first time seeing a shark and I was in their territory, so... Oh my gosh, I was like… that was actually exceptional right there to have that many come up at that exact moment was really cool – shark conservation education. At about an average of 5-10 fatalities a year, worldwide… That's a really low number when you think about how many people are in the water every single day, right? Dogs kill more people.”
Okay time to jump in. We ended up jumping in with about 10 different shark, all shapes and sizes. Once I hit the pristine Haleiwa Shark infested waters I was in a trans, it was so surreal! You definitely need to experience this for yourself. It's nothing like you've ever done before – I can promise you that. You need to get in the water with sharks on the North Shore of Oahu!