Shark Encounters

I had my first Close Encounter....

of the shark kind the other day. I was at the Sandpiper Beacon about 15 feet from the shoreline in waist deep water. I was working a trough that ran fairly wide at that point (maybe 20 yards) and was on the shoreline side of it. I noticed people getting out of the water ahead of me just like you see in those shark movies, sort of like they were doing a "wave". Folks on shore were going apepoop crazy waving their arms at me and jumping up and down pointing. I guess they thought I couldn't hear them since I had headphones on. I just kept watching ahead of me and finally saw him (about a 4 or 5 footer, light grey on top and his side fins looked black) slowly coming right my way. So I stood still and got my scoop (Stealth 720i) ready. When he got about 10 feet from me I slapped the scoop down in the water right in front of him and he turned faster than I could have imagined possible. He went on down the beach and (since I was the ONLY one still in the water) I got out of the water and tried to watch him. After a few minutes he swam back up the shoreline the direction he had come from. I wish I had had a go pro camera with me for that day's hunt!!! I would have liked to have gotten a better look at him to be able to tell what kind of shark he was.

After a half hour or so, everyone got back in the water, including me.

On a side note, since he tried to eat me, I just had to go to Sharky's restaurant here in PCB that night and get a basket of Shark Bites! MmmmmmMmmmm GOOD!

What worries me the most in the water is the stingrays...

Every single hunt there are at least 5 stingray moments... Either bumping something with my foot or coil while stingray shuffling around, and it disappears... or just detecting in a calm shallow trough and all of a sudden an explosion of splashing as a hidden string ray 2 feet in front of me bolts for deeper water... or just seeing a pack of them calmly swimming by in front of me.

They are like ghosts... or poltergeists.

Doesn't help that I only detect at night...

Years ago I took my prom date to the beach for a romantic walk on the sand. We strolled barefoot, hand in hand about a half mile or so with a full moon lighting up the beach. VERY ROMANTIC!
We ran out of sand as a thin strip of water blocked our way. My date insisted that we walk through the shallows to the other side rather than walk all the way back. As she took her first step I saw what happened because of the bright moonlight...she stepped down right on to the back of a 2-3 foot shark.
I don't know who was more scared, her or the shark. I do know she went one way and the shark went in another. I also don't know which was was faster in their efforts to escape the other.
In NE Florida sharks are extremely common and they populate the shallow water looking for crabs and small fish. I have seen them on a number of occasions in 2-3 feet of water but this was the shallowest I've ever seen one. Sadly it was very poor timing as I had to carry her piggyback through those shallows and the romance for that evening was gone, gone, gone!

I swam with 5 or so black tipped sharks while detecting in Florida. They were awesome and never bothered me. The largest one was about 4'. Maybe in my wetsuit I looked like one of them in their eyes? I must not have looked like a helpless seal cause they left me alone.

Cfmct said:

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That's funny, just watched the movie last night, they had an encore. Stupid movie but entertaining.