National Geographic ADVENTURE

The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro Swimming with Sharks

Text and photos by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

The first time you swim with sharks should be dramatic. There should be storm-tossed seas, fang-like Farallon Islands jutting from the water, hungry great whites thrashing as the first mate chums stinky fish guts overboard. You’re shivering into your cold chain mail shark suit as the grizzled sea dog captain growls, “Arr! Don’t be a-worryin’, lad! I’ve only lost three customers to the sharks—this week, harhar!”

Yes, that would be a great shark story.

But it’s not my shark story. For me, there was no “arrr”. Just three six-foot grey reef sharks--and me in my underwear.

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Deep Survival By Laurence Gonzales#4 The Dangers of the Vacation Mindset

The unconscious conclusion we draw is that our little corner of the world is safe. Our culture of plenty keeps us permanently in a vacation state of mind.

Text by Contributing Editor Laurence Gonzales, author of the book Deep Survival
Illustration by Dan Page

Last summer I traveled to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The house I rented was on the dunes above the beach, and I could sit and write and listen to the surf thundering beneath my window as the constant wind blew the tops off the waves. Out on the deck I’d watch the pelicans, big and prehistoric-looking, wheel around their circuit from south to north and back again. In the angled light of afternoon, pods of dolphins leapt and dove, and children played in the waves while I fretted about rip currents carrying them out to sea.

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The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro The Best Product Names of 2008

Text and photo by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

Pity outdoor industry product managers. Every spring and fall, they're required to name 20 new things. Or 30. Or if they work for the North Face or Columbia, 6,482. That’s 20 or 30 or 6,482 clever, creative, and unique names that so perfectly embody the pants, packs, and parkas that they sell themselves. Yeah, right. I’ve actually given a dictionary of topographical terms as a lifeline to a few desperate cases.

Which might explain sudden popularity of products named “fen” that next spring. Sorry, everyone.

In any event, let us give props to the companies with enough cojones to let their goofiest, silliest, and most creative names off the leash and out of the conference room. These fun little aberrations are a blessed relief. And, who knows, maybe they even help sell:

“It’s just another messenger bag.”
“No, it isn’t, it’s the Tony Blair Squirrel.”
“Ohhh, cool! I want one.”

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Field Reports: ADVENTURE Contributors at Large

Photographer Aaron Huey's Sufi Survival Guide: 11 Essential Dance Moves

Text and video filed by photographer Aaron Huey from Cairo, Egypt

I knew I was in pretty good with the Sufis when they started putting their snakes on my head (see it for yourself in the video posted above). They don't just give their snakes to anyone you know. It was Imam Hussein's birthday, I was in Cairo, Egypt, at the place his head is supposed to be buried. I was ten hours into my second night of dancing.

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The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro Gear: Twice is Nice for Carriers of Rice

Text and photos by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

Skip the attempts at creative writing, let’s get right to the point: This super-rad Keen messenger bag is made of recycled rice sacks, which were discarded, discovered in a corner of Keen’s shoe factory in Panyu, China, and repurposed as this one of a kind carryall. Giant recycled rice sacks, how cool is that?

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The Best New Surf Movie Not About Surfing

Text by Assistant Editor Ryan Bradley
Photograph courtesy Magnolia Pictures

Surfwise is not a documentary film about surfing. For this reason, it’s the best movie about surfing to come out in a good long while. Confused? Fair enough. Let me try to explain.

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The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro The Five Biggest Lies Cyclists Tell Each Other

Starting with: "I'm happy to share my best trails...."

Text and photos by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

Oh, how my brothers and sisters of the saddle bend reality in the name of glory, desire, and vanity. Is there a sport more filled with half-truths, untruths, and never were truths? Besides climbing, skiing, paddling, and surfing, that is?

Beneath every elaborate dissembling, of course, there’s that nugget of honesty that tells us much about ourselves. It’s like the pearl buried in the oyster. The thing about this little analogy, though, is that some people like oysters more than pearls….

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Team ADVENTURE: 2008 Drambuie Pursuit Recap

Text by Associate Editor Andrea Minarcek

After a whirlwind four days in the Scottish Highlands, the 2008 Drambuie Pursuit has drawn to a close. And while Team ADVENTURE may not have taken home the top prize, we fought hard, made a strong showing—and had an unbeatably good time.

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The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro Not Nau? Idealistic New Brand Goes Under

Text and photos by West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

It was a valiant effort to reinvent the business of outdoor clothing, but Nau has shut down operations and closed its five retail stories, the most recent of which opened less then two weeks ago. After burning through $35 million in financing, the Portland apparel maker was unable to convince additional investors that its unconventional take on business, sustainability, and charity could be profitable.

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The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro Adventure Photography: Tie the Knot, Already

Now competing for the title of world’s smallest photography tip…if you have a wrist strap on your point and shoot camera (and you should), tie a simple overhead knot in it, leaving just enough space in the strap to slip your hand through. (Check out the incredible action photos.) You’ll be much less likely drop the camera and more likely to keep it on your wrist, ready to shoot anything cool that pops up. It also adds another level of security when you're stretching to shoot from funky angles. You are shooting from funky angles, right?

Before: Lame!

After: Amazing!