Swimming with sharks is unlikely to be high priority for most breathing women, and visiting The Galapagos Islands for the average lady probably has everything to do with max relaxing and nothing to do with sharks.
However, former Miss Universe and nominee for 2012’s Pedestrian.TV Bachelorette of The Year, Jesinta Campbell and Billabong pro surfer Felicity Palmateer laugh in the face of your preconceived notions about females and shark bravado.
A couple of weeks back, care of Contiki, the pair visited The Galapagos and 100% went swimming with sharks through the infested Kicker Rock channel. So there. They did this, as well as mingling with other wildlife specimens, wholeheartedly submitting to nature immersion and being fully lessoned in conservatism by renowned environmental explorer, Céline Cousteau, Contiki’s sustainability partner for the past 2 years.
Moreover, (and to inject a little trivia here): Celine Cousteau actually comes from legendary travel pedigree. Any raging Wes Anderson fan might be familiar with the marked influence of one Jacques Costeau, Celine’s real life grandaddy, in his films. Call to mind Rushmore, in which Jason Schwartzman as Max opens a book and makes the ever-whimsical quote, “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself”. Jacques Cousteau said that. Anderson, too, paid homage and dedicated his film ‘The Life Aquatic’ to a heroic explorer- Jacques Cousteau again.
Check out this glimmering short documentary of the archipelago, featuring badass montages of turtles, your favourite preventative apeshit mantra; calm blue ocean and various other captivating flora and fauna-themed things.
