In the Swim

“JAG” star David James Elliott is an experienced diver who has had his fair share of shark encounters while exploring the Atlantic Ocean off his home in the Bahamas. So when the Discovery Channel approached him with the opportunity to swim with great white sharks as part of its 15th annual “Shark Week” programming, he dove in--so to speak--headfirst.

“It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” he says. “I still sit around and go ‘wow.’ It was so incredible.”

Last winter, Elliott and zoologist Nigel Marven, the “Celebrity Shark Week” host, swam with great whites off the coast of South Africa. Their experience helps kick off the week of programming Sunday.

Elliott says he originally thought his close encounter of the shark kind would be in the relative safety of a cage. But then Marven asked the actor if he would mind swimming free. “I thought he was kidding, and then he said, ‘I am not going to be in the cage.’ ” Elliott agreed rather nervously.

“The night before, I lay awake in bed saying, ‘What have I done?’ Because from the first day we were there, we spent the whole day observing them from the boat and feeding them. They were just mind-boggling--how large they are, and with a flick of the tail they are at top speed. They can turn on a dime.”

The water was crystal clear when the two made their dive. “Nigel said, ‘You will be scared, but the moment you see them, you are struck by their beauty,’ ” says Elliott. “It was true. We got in the water and the first one showed up and I was just in awe of its majesty.”

A shark expert who was with them on the dive gave both men a 3-inch pipe to hold and a lot of advice. “He said, ‘Don’t stab them. You’ll get them angry and then they’ll just kill you. Just hold it out and when they swim into it and it feels hard, it will put him off and then gently push him away.’ It is like pushing away a truck,” Elliott says. “He told us, ‘Don’t let him touch you. If he feels you are soft, you’re done for.’ They smell fear. They see you long before you see them. They know what your heart rate is. They can hear it.”

Discovery Channel’s popular “Shark Week” franchise features six new documentaries examining various species and characteristics of the misunderstood ocean creature. Among the highlights are “Great White Attack: A True Story,” which chronicles the story of a series of shark attacks off the East Coast over a 12-day period in 1916, and “Air Jaws II: Even Higher,” a sequel to last year’s “Air Jaws,” which showcases the “flying” great white sharks off the coast of South Africa.

Gabrielle Reece, Estella Warren, Brian McKnight, Julie Bowen, Mark McGrath and Adrian Pasdar are the other celebrities participating in the festivities.

Dan Salerno, vice president of programming for Discovery, says the network decided to add celebrities to the mix because “after 15 years you are always looking for something new and fresh. It was a neat opportunity to have a little bit of fun and incorporate them with what we are doing for ‘Shark Week.’ ”

Marven had a fun time taking the celebrities to South Africa and the Bahamas and watching their reactions to the sharks. “They generally were scared before they went down,” he says. “When you see [sharks] in the water, you can’t help but hear the signature tune from ‘Jaws,’ but once you are in the water with them, you realize they are not out to get us. They’re interested in feeding on fish--not on people.”

Like Elliott, Bowen (“Ed”) went with Marven to South Africa, but she stayed in the cage to witness the great white sharks. In the Bahamas, Marven and the celebrities swam with Caribbean reef sharks and nurse sharks. Pasdar (“Mysterious Ways”) helped Marven with a shark taste test on an evening outing.

“Everyone thinks that sharks are the garbage cans of the sea,” Marven says. “But we offered them fish and chicken, and it’s remarkable: They take the chicken and then they spit it out--so they’re not interested in feeding on bird flesh.”

McGrath, the lead singer of Sugar Ray, wouldn’t dive. “He doesn’t even like going into elevators,” says Marven. “So his adventure was a boat. We met some iguanas and waded in shallow waters with stingrays.” And the two captured a baby nurse shark, which McGrath got up enough nerve to touch.

For Warren (“Planet of the Apes”), Marven hypnotized a shark.

“They have these electrical sensors around their mouth, and if you touch one with a metal glove, it sort of knocks out their sensor system and they flip over on their back,” says Marven. “You can tickle them like a dog. They just lay there for sometimes three minutes as you tickle their tummies.”

If sharks can ever be thought of as cute, he says, this is the behavior that would qualify.

“Celebrity Shark Week” kicks off Sunday at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel with “Great White Attack: A True Story” and the celebrity adventure with David James Elliott, followed at 10 p.m. by “Air Jaws II: Even Higher” and the celebrity adventure with Gabrielle Reece. Shark Week continues Monday through Friday at 9 p.m., and concludes Sunday with an all-day marathon beginning at 11 a.m.