Yeah yeah, you're thinking, Australia has sharks. However, down my way, there hasn't been a fatal shark attack in living memory, despite many places in Australia having many, particularly of late. Even recently, a young mother got taken and, whilst she survived, she woke to an amputated arm.

And what does the internet say?

'It's the shark's home, don't go in the water'.

Tell that to surfers. Tell that to me.

Recently, a large whale carcass washed up at a popular surf spot down here - the photos in this post are of that carcass, taken by a friend of mine and used with their permission. Needless to say, they shut the beach down, worried about sharks coming to feed off the blubber.

Did that stop surfers?

Nope.

For non ocean people, it's hard to explain just how addictive it is. Perhaps it's as important for humans as it is for sharks. The mammalian dive reflex, for example, harks back to an ancestral DNA that lowers our heart rate when we dive (or even put our face in a sink of cold water).

It was no suprise that someone surfing got nudged by a shark a few days later, captured on the surf cam - watch here. Everyone exited the water pretty fast when that happened. Still, many went back in that day. Perhaps they were hoping that sharks preferred blubber over rubber.

Did I go surfing? Yep. In fact, my first surf in three months. To be fair it was three headlands over, but still. The ocean is everything to me.

People are calling for a cull. It's a fraught subject, because sharks play an important role in the sea. Without them, humans suffer. But then we've not done our end of the bargain - we've overfished, and contributed toward shark behaviour. There's more sharks hungry, and we're the fish now, not just a curiousity.

There's a great doco just out on sharks and surfing in South Australia - it's short, but it details what it is like to surf in shark infested waters. It's a great little doco if you have twenty minutes.

Needless to say, I'd be far too scared to surf in most parts of Australia, and am hoping that sharks don't change their habits down here on the south west cost of Victoria.

This post was in response to the Ocean Lovers community question of the week, which asks if you've ever been scared of the ocean or if something has happened that has scared you.

To be fair, I often get scared out there - seals popping up (is it a shark??), seaweed drifting underneath (is it a shark?), shadows in the water (is it a shark??) - but that fear evens out with the buzz and comfort I get from being in the water.

If I get eaten, so be it.

With Love,