If anyone is wondering what I'll be doing next week after I arrive home from work, it will include a couch, an oscillating fan (we don't have AC), a cold beer and some diver swimming way too close to an enormous, man-eating sea beast. Bring on Shark Week!

Having grown up in Orange County, California, I spent nine months of the year swimming and body boarding in the surf between San Clemente and Huntington Beach. I lived in the water pretty much from the seventh grade through high school. I thankfully never had an encounter with a shark, but saw a fin break the surface a time or two.

Nowadays, with the increase of Great White sightings off the coast of California, there's no way in hell I'd swim out as far in those waters as I once did. Sharks have always amazed me, much like bear. Animals that possess such mass and power are to be respected, and given their space in my opinion.

Since moving to Idaho, I get asked a lot where I'm from by people I meet for the first time. When I tell them where, I get a lot of, "I've never been to California," or, "I've never seen the ocean," which floors me every time. I have to visit the ocean often to be truly happy, and will never live anywhere where I can't reach it in a few hours drive.

So, having received this type of feedback from people in southern Idaho who seem to not really have ever developed a connection with the ocean, it makes me wonder if shows like Shark Week even appeal to those who have spent the majority of their lives landlocked.

Are you a fan of Shark Week? If so, you can find the schedule by clicking here. Shark Week starts July 28.

 

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