Went to Port Lincoln To See Great Whites And Got Bit By A Tuna.

Let's just get this out of the way. I paid (a lot), I went, and I saw zero sharks. You have a 99% chance of seeing sharks... 99!... 99!! What are the chances!??? About one percent, I can tell you. A very large 1%. Anyways, starting from the beginning...

Last Thursday, I caught a flight from Adelaide to Port Lincoln. This was actually the first time I had really been on my own since my first days in Melbourne.

The plane was tiny- I've never been on a plane that small. There were eleven rows, 33 seats... I sat watching the propellers spin through the window.

We were flying so low, underneath the clouds. The clouds had swirled into delicate shapes that were reminiscent of a scene from a Disney movie, It was actually quite peaceful until we hit a bit of a storm. It reminded me of the intro to Tailspin :)

Look how small this airport is! That's the door for departures on the left and arrivals on the right...

Port Lincoln overlooks Boston Bay, which is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. According to my guidebook, Port Lincoln boasts both the largest fishing fleet in the Southern Hemisphere and more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in Australia. There's not much to it, although there are some beautiful homes lining the water...

and DRIVE-THRU BOTTLE SHOPS! This boggled my mind. While I was taking this picture, my Id and Superego had a quick but tumultuous quarrel- Thank God we don't have these back home!

Friday morning broke with clear skies and calm seas, the only ripples due to a crisp breeze... it was the perfect day to NOT see sharks.

Below is the steel cage, which acted to protect this first-time diver from all the water swimming around me. It's actually pretty freaky at first. In the beginning I periodically tried (unsuccessfully) to breathe through my nose and had to focus on not panicking. Probably would have stopped breathing altogether if there had actually been a shark snapping at the cage.

My consolation photo...

That aside, I did see a massive stingray; the guys had been fishing off the side of the boat and caught it. It was HUGE with this great white belly and took forever to haul up from the depths (and was immediately released). I'm still doing the research, but I think it may have been a small manta ray.

Although we didn't see any sharks, I did have an amazing Titanic moment. I guess that's the wrong title, because I neither sunk nor rendezvoused with Leonardo DiCaprio beneath the clock. But we DID have a school of dolphins grace us with their presence.

They are SO graceful and really magical to watch. I was mesmerized and couldn't do anything but grin happily as they cut fluidly through the waves, matching the boat's pace with ease. Note the appropriate music, which is a far superior audio choice compared to my lighthearted yet uninspiring commentary :)

The next day I went snorkeling with sealions! They are so playful in the water- they'll chase you and the more you play with them the more they interact with you. They kind of look like labradors without ears... the dogs of the ocean. Ignore the weird water noises and the fact that I fail as a videographer.

And last but not least... actually, that's a lie. It is the least, but still- I went swimming with... *drumroll please*... TUNA. Southern Bluefin Tuna, to be exact.

Before you laugh, they are actually kind of scary. First off, they are HUGE. They can weigh over 400 lbs (I heard up to 800), live up to 40 years, and are known as the porsche of the sea because they can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h faster than a porsche.

While I was swimming, I got to feed them whole sardines by hand, which is how I got bit! Tuna have SHARP TEETH! It really is just like big paper cuts, but it has been a week and it still hasn't healed!

Tuna farming is a huge indsustry in Port Lincoln.

FUN FACT: Almost all of the Australia Southern Bluefin Tuna (considered to be the best by sashimi connoisseurs) are exported to Japan, where they yield the highest price for tuna in the sashimi market. The average rate that a single bluefin brings in is between $2,000 and $20,000, although last year, a sushi bar owner in Tokyo paid $100,000 for a single Bluefin Tuna. Real talk. Apparently it depends on size, season, and fat content- the fattier the better.

Yum :)