HalcyonDaze
Contributor
Okay, let's go with the lightning example. Would you walk out in a flat field during a thunder storm with plenty of lightning, to get a closer look and some photos?
Getting in the ocean at all entails taking some chances. Knowingly getting into the immediate vicinity of a large great white shark, well, that's another kettle of fish...
Richard.
I dove and snorkeled in SoCal for a number of years, including a few biological survey trips to San Nicolas Island where I was off by myself running fish surveys while the other 4 divers were out of sight cataloging kelp and macroinvertebrates. Also had a couple of times when I went in freediving alone off Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands not long after having seen a recently mutilated sealion in the area. Compared to that, hopping in with a smallish great white in clear water, after having gotten a sense of its disposition, with a boat and help nearby sounds a lot safer. I'm more worried about the things I don't see while I'm down there - like the time on Governor's Riverwalk when I completely missed spotting several bulls and a tiger, all while the spearos were shooting cobia.
As far as riding the shark - uh-uh, fuhgeddaboutit. To go with the lightning example, that's like being the guy from Caddyshack waving his golf club in the air.