Me, my shark, and I

I would have soiled myself if I knew that any shark was that close to me. Unfortunately I don't think that human poop works as a shark repellent

 

This might be what his next day out turns into. great white breaching - Google Search

 

Yeah!I'd be getting the hell out of there,swimming as fast as i could,repeatedly sayin"please don't eat me!please don't eat me!";D

 

Holy mother of pearl...sharks are very cool and all...but that's a little too close for comfort, even for me. I know sharks are misunderstood and are not as bad as people make them out to be, I've been diving with them and I work at the Tennessee Aquarium. But one fact remains the same, they are still PREDATORS. There is nothing cute or fun or playful about a shark. When they are being "curious" and checking something out, they're trying to find out if it is food or not, or trying to find out if it is a threat or not. Once a shark is satisfied that something or someone is not food, and is not a threat, and not in its territory, it will leave.

I would love to kayak (he may have been on his board, couldn't really tell) with sharks like that. But that was a freakin great white in some very dirty icky water. That's pressing your luck, IMO.

 

You couldn't even really see the shark until it was what looked like about 12 mabey 14 feet away in that murky water,I wonder how many close calls like that happen where people/surfers never even see it?

 

I'm sure for newer/younger sharks it actually happens alot. As sharks age, they typically avoid areas with lots of people. But of course that doesn't stop some of them, I'm sure there are tons of close calls of people swimming at the beach with sharks just a few tens of feet away.

I love to go snorkeling when I got to Destin and other Gulf beaches, and I normally kick out to 8-15 feet of water. Well past the swimmers. I know some people who would never swim in the ocean ever again if they had seen what I've seen only 50 feet or so from swimmers. Large stingrays, crabs, schools of mackerel and other speedy fishies. Large jellies, and I even saw a remora once, which was really weird. A good sized one too. I have yet to see a shark on my snorkeling adventures, but I'm sure they're out there. I remember back when I was a kid where that young boy was critically injured by a bull shark in only knee deep water near Destin, where I go snorkeling. Crazy stuff.

My dream snorkeling excursion however would be to swim with a pod of wild dolphins That would be the experience of a lifetime.

 

In the aspect of hauling butt out of there...I believe that would be a case of screwed if you do, screwed if you don't. sit and wait, "i'll bite it and see what happens". paddle away quickly "it's in distress I'll try to eat it".

Honestly, I would have enjoyed the experience if it was a dumb luck thing, but to go out again on purpose when they are obviously hunting is stupid. Like WhiskyTango mentions, predators are quick to recognize patterns.

I get a kick out of the tourists claiming that they don't go out past their waste because sharks hang out past that point. If only they knew the things I've caught off the Jersey Shore (South Jersey, Cape May to be exact).

 

From 1999-2003 I was a kayak guide and we did a Mangrove/Grass Flat ecology trip to area west of Key West known as the "Lakes". The Lakes average depth is 3 feet. We saw sharks EVERY trip. High tide with good sunshine and polarized sunglasses is perfect for spotting 5-9 foot Lemon Sharks, Bulls, Nurses and Southern StingRays.

Sharks are few and far between on the reef compared to the flats and mangroves.

Best day ever was late in the evening right before sunset on the south side of Man Key approaching low tide. I had a 10 yr old boy in the front my kayak and his parents were in the other one. It was just the four of us. As we were making our way back to go boat, I spotted a sharks dorsal fin out of the water slowly cruising along the hard bottom in about 2 foot of water. As we got closer I realized it was about a 9 foot female Bull with about a 7 foot male swimming right next to her. It was spring and her back and pectoral fins were bitten up pretty good from mating. We just kept about 20 feet from them, paddling along real slow for about 10 mins until they went off into deeper water. It was the coolest trip I've ever done. That little kid was speechless.

Two big ass burly sharks in tigh-high water...

 

I was kidding in my post about swimming as fast as i could,knowing that's not the thing to do,because i wouldn't have been out there to begin with.As much as i love the ocean(we lived in Honalulu for 4 years when my father was in the navy,and in San Diego for 2 years) I remember two seperate occations fishing off a pier at Pearl Harbor,my dad catching a baby hammerhead and a very large eel of some sort,that and with the water being pea green with almost no visablity down into the water has put a fear in me of the things you can't see,but they can see you.About the only way i would enter any ocean would be in crystal clear water with full dive gear(to protect from jellies) and in a shark cage! ;D But now when i hit the lottery,i will take a trip to south Africa to see the breeching great whites,but that would happen on a big boat,a Very big boat.

 

That beach is NOT far from where I live. My husband would take our boat and fish at that very spot! We watched the video a couple days ago and couldn't believe it!