Eat This Jaws

As I watch Jaws 4 on the action channel, I am thinking that either I'm really lucky or this movie really distorted the perception of sharks. I went to Busan this weekend knowing I was going to swim with sharks but clueless as to how it was going to go down. Busan, a Southern port town is the second biggest city in S. Korea and host to Bush and others for the APEC meetings this weekend. My friend Ryan, now teaching in Busan, told Darryl and I about a shark dive the aquarium was offering for 80$; a small price for a possible near-death experience. We arrived at the aquarium a couple hours early and laid on the beach, relaxed and occasionally reflected on whether we'd lived our lives to the fullest. Our dive instructor, Paul, was a buff Canadian with an endless supply of one liners. One of the female divers was quite nervous, but he assured us we were safe for multiple reasons: The sharks are fed twice daily and they're award of the hours and satisfied with the routine. They don't like using much effort in feeding and, seeing as we were nearly the same size, we offer too much challenge. There are thousands of little fish in the tank they would rather leisurely snack on. He fit us with wet-suits and air tanks on our backs that were so heavy, it was impossible to stand up straight. I walked bent over like a halmoni (Korean grandmother). We also wore weight belts to insure that we stay at the bottom. We quickly got into the water where Paul taught us how to use the equipment. More than the sharks, I was nervous about some failure in the breathing tanks that, as he told us could explode our lungs. I paid close attention to his instructions. The first time we sunk under the water and breathed, It as an incomparable feeling. Just seeing under water was insane, but the opportunity to just relax under there and check things out was insane. Paul showed us pictures and gave us entertaining life stories about the different sharks we'd be seeing. I was too out-of-my-mind to count, but there must have been over 10 in the tank. Pirate sharks, lemon sharks, and one called Uncle Paulie because of his resemblance to the character in "Goodfellows." The instruction lasted about an hour. The most difficult part, he explained would be getting our ears to adjust as we climbed deeper and deeper into the tank. I held the rope and slowly lowered myself in. I kept stopping to plug my nose and try to blow it, just as you would in an airplane. My ears popped over and over. When I reached the bottom, my ears were messed up. I wasn't sure how much pain was too much or whether they get better but when Paul gave me the OK? symbol (thumbs-up), I knew I wasn't coming up now so I returned it. Ryan, Darryl and myself turned around to see a school of fish (around 5o), swim right through us. One of the girls pointed for me to turn around and Uncle Paulie was zero-ing in on me, maybe an arms length away. It's difficult to move quickly with all the equipment, weights and the pressure of the water, so I just stared stupidly as he swam right up against my face, within an inch of touching me. Had I my normal senses, I would have been scared initially but it's another world down there and I was just trying to grasp the situation. You suckin through the mouth piece and take in gusts of air. That's the only sound I could hear. Think Darth Vadar. As I said, the limited mobility makes everything appear to be in slow motion. It's impossible to smile and we were warned against any quick movements like high-fives so, as I stared at Ryan and Darryl, it was impossible to judge if they were having the same mind-blowing experience I was. After slowly gazing around the tank, I turned around to see Koreans a foot away behind the glass, huddling around watching us and waving. Scared of moving too quickly, I put my hand up and saluted them like an Indian would. We walked slowly around the tank, occasionally all getting on our knees to just sit and watch the sharks swim around us seemingly oblivious to our presence. I quickly lost all fear and realized I never wanted to leave this new world. I had expensive gills and I was getting the most out of them. We mainly walked around the tank, so there were always children jumping around and Koreans taking pictures of us. I've lived here long enough to get used to this rockstar status. Otherwise, it would've added to the surreal atmosphere. We sifted through the rocks at the bottom looking for shark teeth. Awkwardly bouncing around, I felt just like an astronaut on a new planet. He told us we'd be in there for around 30 minutes but it was impossible to gauge time. It felt like a moment and a lifetime. It wasn't until near the end that I became aware of my physical being and looked down at my hands and feet. We were told not to touch anything, so I refrained from moving much. No amount of preparation get you ready to come to grips with being a fish. The sharks were all around and some looked terrifying with mean faces and and under-bite that exposed their entire set of razor teeth. Mostly though, I was jealous and in awe, not fear of them. We climbed up after exploring most of the tank and, after taking off the mask, finally could congratulate eachother and share our thrills and observations. All the divers went out with Paul to a nice Indian restaurant nearby. We ate, drank and listened to him tell amazing stories about his many dives around the world. I listened to his words and was overjoyed that I could actually picture and feel his experiences. And now I have one of my own to share for years to come.