Jean-Michel Cousteau rides a great white

[waheke14]

Amazing...wouldn't try it myself...

http://broadbandsports.com/node/2412

 

[Marwan]

who is jean-michel? is he a brother of jacques cousteau?

 

[MKDVR]

who is jean-michel? is he a brother of jacques cousteau?

Son. Met him a few times and have an autographed poster. "From Sea to Shining Sea"

 

[Huw]

What an amazing piece of footage! Great commentary, and a truely amazing feat. It does the shark speicies wonders in the public eye, when we see clips like this that for once show sharks in a non-aggressive manner, and about time too.

Thanks very much Waheke14 for sharing it with us.

Huw

 

[matrixed82]

Can't watch the video from work
Anyways, the show is being aired on PBS, too bad I don't get PBS. Heres the site for the listings http://www.pbs.org/kqed/oceanadventures/episodes/sharks/#

 

[OceanMan]

A-m-a-z-i-n-g !
:inlove :inlove

 

[Amphibious]

Another stupid stunt. looks great on video, but I think Darwin would have a lot to say about grabing a large predator.

althougth I respect what JMC does for Global awareness and reef conservation, his terrible PBS "Team Zizzou" show and flakey attitude really makes me embarressed every time someone asks me "if I'm like those guys on TV"

 

[pelagicbeing]

WOW...it reinforces for me the case for sharks being very intelligent creatures...more than we give them credit for.

There must be a curiosity there on the sharks behalf, to not shrug cousteau off and tollerate him catching a ride on its dorsal fin....

Anyone know of official studies into the intelligence of GW's in this kind of area?

it asks the question if there is no blood in the water and the GW could identify us as human / non pinaped would it ever attack unprovoked?

Thanks for sharing the clip waheke14.

pelagicbeing

 

[Soul Deep]

They are indeed very intelligent creatures. There are a number of responsible studies being made that are looking at the GWS social behaviours and language and they are digging up some very deep stuff. For example, did you know that GWS communicate by subtle body movements? When you start to understand these you can actually communicate with the GWS underwater! Example, a turtle and a GWS have been observed communicating to each other. It appears there may be some sort of universal language of the sea! But before I go to far hypothesising I will wait for more results of different studies before jumping to any far fetched conclusions (which I may have already done rofl ).

I haven’t had the pleasure of freediving with a GWS yet, although I've been lucky enough to freedive with other species such as [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Sharks"]Tiger Sharks[/ame] and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_whitetip_shark"]Oceanic Whitetip Sharks[/ame]. But it is clear that if you are going to try such ventures there are some very key factors worth observing.

1 Understand the animals behaviours and the environment you are about to enter.
2 Only approach in a neutral situation (i.e. DO NOT encourage the shark to you with any sort of food source)
3 Boat support. Whenever the shark starts to behave erratically or repeatedly bumping; get on that boat!
4 However comfortable you begin to feel with them don't overstep the mark. They are still wild creatures after all!

Disclaimer: None of the above makes the experience safe, just safer!

All pretty obvious stuff, but I can't stress number 1 enough, and it is with the current research being done that the likes of you and me can go and enjoy the amazing experience of diving with a GWS.

For your info, and in the aim of keeping this post alive, some more GWS freediving movies:

http://www.bwhi.com.au/gwhite_1.htm

 

[pelagicbeing]

Thanks souldeep what an amazing and interesting site! awesome footage!

Funnily enough i am in the middle of transferring all my UW / Freediving videos to DVD, and i came across the documentary that mentions GW's and their communication methods with each other, subtle posturing etc. It was by David Attenborough and called 'sharks of the deep' i reocrded it of the TV quite a while ago. Very interesting!

I would love to hear more about the turtle - GW interaction (i wonder what they where discussing :chatup ), do you have any sources of further info?

I would love to give freediving with GW's a try, under supervision ( i would be tremblin' in me wetsuit, but what an experience!) a bit like night freediving,once you get over the psychological part its amazing!!!

Thanks again for the link!

pelagicbeing

 

[trux]

I have couple of other freediving videos with GWS and other sharks in my Freediving Video Collection. There are five of them in the Diverse section (I added the ones posted here already too), one in the Google section, one in the Ocean Footage section (that is actually 20 short preview videos combined and available at Ocean Footage webste), one at Sebastian Näslund, and one in Movie Promo Tracks. It looks like I'll have to add a new section just for sharks

The most amazing is the one at Ocean Footage - I merged all the 20 previews together. It is an incredible footage.