I enjoyed it, but not as much as the Demonio Rojo DVD. It seemed like it was all about "dude, I'm so extreme" (and it seems like Scott's pretty easy to get into that kind of enthusiasm, so the producers must have loved the interplay...) There was clearly a lot of editing for maximum melodrama... which seemed like it got more than a little silly... I kept thinking "if you didn't want to get bitten on the head, why didn't you wear an armored hood?" Considering how much this guy was pushing the aggression talk, I actually thought the squids went pretty easy on him compared to some of the footage in Demonio Rojo, too... but it does seem like armor and a tether would be a good idea... the blown eardrum problem seems kind of worrisome.
If they were as prone to biting his head as he was complaining about, I would think that there would be a serious danger of the squid taking out a 2" chunk of his neck, which would be a bummer if it got his jugular... It seemed, in general, that they were going for the "this is so dangerous, I must be he-man and/or a complete idiot" image for the host, but they did that for the GPO, too, which was, well, probably less dangerous than the average wreck dive.
All in all, though, I think I'd rather dive with non-frenzied squids and GPOs. It seems pretty wasteful to toss the heads and fins overboard, too... are they not good eating? I've heard that South American Humboldt fisheries are selling the arm crowns to asia as a cheap substitute for octopus sushi... I thought the squidcam squid was far too pleasant to want him/her to be eaten, so it was more disturbing (and seemed more unsportsmanlike) to see the fishermen going after them with the big knife...
Anyway, it seems like humans must not seem worth the effort to the squids, since when they tasted the Dave's head they didn't grab on and keep biting... After seeing the video of the Seattle GPO taking down a big shark, I have no doubts that a large ceph making an effort can either bite or twist the neck of a vertebrate about its size, so I'd think that if the squid got a chunk of face-flesh and decided to go for broke that it would either go for that approach or just try to take as many beakfulls as it could. It seems like they're pretty tentative around divers compared to what their capacity is to cause major damage.
One thing I've noticed in most of the SeaWolves footage is that they don't seem to use their tentacles for most feeding operations. Have you guys ever dived with them among large fish? I'd expect that they would do the usual squid approach of grabbing with tentacles when their prey is 1-3 feet long, but they seem to prefer just grabbing with arms when they're getting chum, krill, or divers...
edit: in my rambling, I forgot to mention that, as always, the underwater footage is amazing, and I am still saving my pennies in the hope of booking a trip with you guys. I think I'm particularly reacting to the "over the top" aspect because I don't want all my friends and family to say "you're going to go dive with those squids? I saw a thing on Discovery that says if you're not a macho nature-show host they'll tear you limb from limb!" I'd prefer to skip the dog attack, too...
