You may remember a film from a while back
called JAWS... all the real life shark bits were filmed at Port Lincoln where
the Tunarama is held each year in January, here too you can pay your money and go cage
diving with huge Great Whites, free diving in Seal colonies (where Great Whites
feed) or feed and touch them like this....
I have to ask...Why would you want to?
I've seen a few sharks up close and
personal, once in the water while we were spear fishing, once in my 'much too
small' kayak, (the shark was way larger than my 12 foot kayak) again in my 'much
too small' alloy boat while fishing...but I digress.
The other thing you can do to see sharks is
swim in the ocean at Port Lincoln...
To make it interesting lets lube ourselves
with oil so we slide down easier then make a lot of splashing about like a
wounded animal...better yet, let's do the Slippery Pole..
Each year at Tunarama one of the premier
events is the Slippery Pole, a 5 metre plastic pipe is hung off the side of the
town jetty (across and away from the Shark Proof Netting put there for swimmers)
The pole is then mopped down with cooking oil to make it slippery then each
potential meal, prey item, competitor, is wet down just to make
them even more slippery than you ever thought possible.
The stated aim of the event is for the
competitor it make it out to the end of the pipe and back in the least amount
of time...the real aim of the event is to watch as the hapless victims competitors
fall into the shark infested seas.
Of course this is heaps of fun and you end
up walking away with sides hurting from laughing.
In case you think this would be completely
impossible I have the sad duty to tell you that two young men made it all the
way out and back with only time separating winner from runner up...
Years ago this event was open to all comers
and since the town jetty is right across the road from the town pub (bar) there
were lots of inebriated contenders.. sadly this is no longer the case as all
contenders must be under 17. (drinking age is 18..and in anycase it's hard to swim without
spilling your beer)
You may notice that female tryers are few
and far between (none this year) I believe this is because sliding along the
pole causes numerous wardrobe malfunctions..... enough said!
.
