Swimming With Dangerous Animals Edit

For thrill-seekers everywhere, it is the sense of danger that heightens the sensation of the experience. Poor Steve Irwin paid a terrible price for his passion, but many others still venture where the stupid dare not go. Learn more about the dangerous trend of swimming beside dangerous sea creatures.

In northern Australia particularly, swimming face-to-face with massive saltwater crocodiles is fast becoming the number one tourist attraction. (It is not known if swimmers have wills or heirs or estates). These crocodiles, known locally as “salties,” are the largest of the species, with males growing as long as 18 feet and weighing more than a ton! Although they are found across Southeast Asia, northern Australia claims the highest numbers.

For those who dare, a clear acrylic cage known affectionately as “the cage of death” is available. Tourists climb in wearing just a pair of swimming goggles a swimsuit and a heart in the mouth.  The cage, which measures about 5 inches thick and nine feet high, has no bars unlike those used in shark dives. It is slid along runners over four crocodile pens, carrying a maximum of two divers at a time, and partly immersed in the water so swimmers can see the crocodiles under the water but also come up to the surface for air.

Thrill-seeker, Mark Clayton, from Darwin, Australia, after spending 20 minutes in with the crocodiles, had this to say:

“This is it! I dive with sharks, large rays, moray eels, but it’s not this close. It’s exhilarating to get that close to a crocodile of that size.”

Well, have a nice time, Mark, and make sure to write and tell me all about it…from a safe distance, that is.

Go figure.