Shark!! (I think)

One of my favorite things when I'm out surfing is those special moments when the Dolphins cruise by, or better yet come in and surf the waves with us, show us clumsy landlubbers how it's supposed to be done.

But there's always that tiniest split second when you first see a fin where your brain goes "Aaaagh! Dolphin?! Okay, Dolphin. Cool."

Given my love for Dolphins and the fact that I've now officially been surfing for 50 years, I've gotten pretty good at identifying them.

The way they move through the water, the shape of the dorsal fin, the almost rubbery looking texture of their skin, etc.
If they're just commuting or cruising by and they surface and go under, you'll usually see them surface again up the beach a ways.

Out surfing some really bad, small waves Saturday up in Encinitas and I saw a dorsal fin swimming north just outside the lineup (not very far given how small the waves were) and it just.. looked... different.

Pointy on the tip of the fin, not rounded like my usual cetaceous friends.
Moving a little differently, knifing horizontally just under the surface, rather than the normal up and down mini-arcs of a Dolphin's horizontal tail flukes. Textured a little different.

The thing that surprised me most was that my reaction was just sort of "Hunh... I don't think that's a Dolphin... OK, Cool"
I remember thinking "Dude, that's kind of an odd reaction to seeing a Shark in the lineup."

I promise you that this reaction (or lack thereof) is not 'cuz I'm super brave or tough, I think it's just becoming comfortable with my place in the natural order of things. Who knows, if I see one tomorrow, I might pee my wetsuit.

I've always known Sharks were there, especially nowadays with all the drone footage.
A sure test to see if there's Sharks in the water is to take a teaspoon of the water and taste it. If it's salty, there's Sharks.

So I've always known they were there but in my half century of splashing around in their world, I've only ever seen a few.
(Not counting Leopard Sharks, they're cute)

I've seen them when fishing, further out, even fairly close to shore in terms of ocean fishing, but I personally have only seen a few in the surf zone.

I've gotten out of the water before when I didn't see anything or even know why, but got a spooky feeling.
This time I'm pretty dang sure I saw a juvenile Great White do a drive-by, and didn't give it much of a second thought... it was actually kinda' cool.

It took me 50 years, but I think I might finally be getting comfortable in the ocean!

FYI, I've always had an unspoken agreement with Sharks, I don't order Shark at restaurants, and well... So far nobody has ordered me at the saltwater buffet.

The Landlord. Man in the Gray Suit. Taxman

 

I went skydiving in the north side of Oahu years ago. As we were climbing to altitude, my instructor pointed out two large sharks swimming horizontal to the shore, not far out. You could also see lots of people not far away. I asked him if we should radio the coast guard or life guards and he said they see it like that quite often.

It has made me more weary on surf days. Also saw a large tiger shark that followed our kayak off of Kaiula/Lanikai on a different trip. We found out after that there had been warnings of it in the area, but we missed it. Lots of very shallow coral areas we could navigate to and quickly did and it veered away. It was really cool tbh, but definitely had our adreneline pumping that day.

 

Everyone dies, but not everyone lives! Enjoy your passion! That said, I got way out there once on a wet bike and flipped it over. Trying to flip it upright was very close to impossible since I would just push myself under everytime. I had to wait for a very long time and catch a big wave at just the right time to finally get out of that pickle. A little frightening, but man the sea is truly amazing!

 

Really great write-up!! Good for you being comfortable with sharks. I wouldn't be but then again, I don't surf so....there's that. Lol
I have swam in the ocean. And once shortly after swimming a large bull shark was sighted in the same area I was swimming. It is what it is and I've swam in the ocean since. Just like when I go camping, I know there are bears. Just one of those things.

 

Cool, can't say I've ever seen anything but a leopard shark here. Have you ever seen any Mola Mola (sunfish)? Saw one a few years back off the coast of Oceanside.

Obligatory dolphin and sea lions

 

Deer kill more people than sharks (car accidents).

I've been close to many moose, once encountering three to the left of my porch when stepping out to walk my kid to the bus.

I've encountered many bears, moose, and even had a wolf on my driveway last fall. Thankfully all with reasonable distance I'm more scared of the mountain lion I don't see, or startling a grizzly.

I think the shark fear (at least mine) is often compounded with the knowledge you may not see them, and the vulnerability of being a land dweller in the ocean. I am more cautious in the montana wilderness than I am surfing or swimming off the coast.

 

I'm pretty confident I won't see it coming if a shark decides I'm food. I've been salt-water scuba diving (recreational) for years, and most of the time we have some sharks hanging around. Often a few of the larger ones will swim large circles for the entire dive. A couple times I've had them follow me up at the end and swim uncomfortably close. They are so fast and agile, and in gear I'm like a noisy underwater dump truck by comparison. They're beautiful to see in their natural habitat, but I specifically don't hunt/fish while scuba diving because I don't want to interact with them (they steal fish from divers regularly).

I've seen dolphins often from the boat, but never close up while diving. I'd really like to though. I've seen many, many sea turtles. They're everywhere down here, and pretty fun to swim with and watch.

 

I've never worried about sharks when swimming at the beach, it's always been the sting rays for me.

 

They are here. I have been in the water and seen a couple White Sharks -adult sized ones down at Pt Loma (I got out), and Pendleton (DMJs), that one breached and looked smaller- stayed in the water. No telling how many times they have checked us out!

 

Ugh, don't get me started on those sadistic little bastards.

One of the 3 times I've been stung he was particularly generous and let me keep a souvenir to remember our time together.

*Fun Fact* The stinger has pockets of pockets of venom in all those serrations, so if the stinger is still in there it keeps delivering the hateful pain juice, hot water be damned.

I have a fairly high pain tolerance, and as the pain came in waves at the lifeguard station, there were moments I thought I might pass out. (Which might've been preferable)

I still have the barb somewhere, I was thinking about making a necklace out of it. You can see the bloodline on it, and the angle it went in must've gone right next to the bone, 'cuz he buried it 3/4" deep and my toe is only 1 1/2" thick.

Sorry, yes I know I have Fred Flintstone toes.

 

Yeah, now that everyone has a drone it's become obvious just how often I've probably been in pretty close proximity to them.

I've seen drone footage of lots of the places I've surfed for years, and from the air you plainly see Sharks (Usually juvenile Whites) very shallow, and very close to people.

Even the 5-6' higher perspective when I standup paddle, you can see into the water much better, but laying prone on a board unless you're someplace with amazingly gin-clear water you really can't see much at all.

I like that!!

Yeah, it wasn't always that way, but we didn't used to know just how much time we spend around them. Ignorance truly was bliss. lol

I've always figured for those few I've seen, I'd be a fool to think that a bunch haven't seen me.

Now that we know the truth about the frequency and proximity of interaction, on one hand it's a little unnerving, but I can also take comfort in the fact that nobody has eaten me yet.

Someone (maybe Scripps Institute, I can't remember) did a study a couple years ago, and they determined that pretty much every time you go in the ocean there's probably been a Shark of some kind within 100 yards of you.
Again, I can choose whether to be freaked the fuck out by this knowledge, or somewhat calmed by the fact that I still have all my blood on the inside where it belongs.

I think Tigers and Bulls are way sketchier and more unpredictable than whites, especially juveniles which is typically what we see near shore here in San Diego.

A juvenile GW can be 10' long, plenty big enough to be really sharky looking and scary, but until they hit maturity they're mostly bottom feeding on smaller prey, not even looking at seals and sea lions yet.

As for Bears...

Wifey and I were camping in Mammoth Lakes, CA some years ago and I realized I had never seen a bear in the wild. I was talking about how cool it would be.

"I hope we see a Bear!"

Hadn't seen any and on our last day we did a cool stable ride that went to some little lakes that you can't drive to... Horseback or hike in, so they're very pristine.

I guess when I kept saying "I hope we see a Bear!" I should have been more specific that I meant from a reasonable distance, or out the car window.

We came across a Mama and her cubs (SO freaking CUTE!) above our side-hill path. The guide stopped us while he decided our best course of action. With only a couple of people in our group having much horse experience, no way we were turning around so he decided we would just mosey on by.

At one point she rose up on her haunches, but I think we'd have to have done something pretty stupid for her to charge 10 people on Horseback.

A little scary, but VERY cool.

I asked the guide later at the stable, "You must see them a lot, yeah?" and he said they see them at the stables, raiding dumpsters and stuff but that he'd never seen one on the trail.

 

Yikes! . How did you get it out?

 

Ugh... When I was at the lifeguard station there were some firemen there. (They come to this beach for their PT/Workouts)

One of them had a Leatherman on his belt so I asked if he could pull it out. He said "We're not allowed to but..." and he laid his Leatherman on the seawall.

I grabbed the barb and gave it a test tug, and it raised up all the skin with it.

The barbs have backward serrations designed for the specific purpose of creating a wound for better venom delivery, and I remembered hearing stories about them breaking off and then having to be surgically removed so I opted not to yank,

Went to the ER and when I walked in the nurse checking me in said "Hunh, we need to get that outta' there."

"Ummm yeah, that's kinda' why I'm here."

She folded a piece of gauze around it and went "BOINK!" and yanked it right out out. "That's IT?!"

She said "Well I was a lifeguard for 12 years before this, so I've seen a few of these."

"Cool, can I go?"

"No, we gotta' go through the protocols."

Turns out "the protocols" consisted of keeping me there for like 3 hours and giving me a shot of Dilaudid, which did nothing!
The only other time I'd had it was for a kidney stone and I went from unbelievable pain to loving everybody in like 40 seconds.

 

I think you have! Lots of footage to feed your fears. lol

 

I haven't taken up diving (yet)

I don't do moderation very well, and I'm kind of afraid of how much I might like it.

Margo and I really enjoy snorkeling though.

Especially anyplace with Turtles. I followed this big boy for 30-40 minutes till he disappeared into a cave. Came up and looked for the boat and it was probably 1/2 mile away.

 

Oh man, poor thing. That must suck bad. I always feel so sorry for those buddies of mine who paid a chunk of change to go deep sea fishing and spend the whole day hanging over the rail chumming the water.

Cozumel is interesting, we were snorkeling there after swimming with dolphins, just walked in off the beach. I surfaced and my wife was yelling at me to come to where she was.

She had just been cruising along looking at fish, and found this.







Apparently this is one of those dive spots where they sink easter egg sculptures for people to find.

Kind of spooky to be swimming along and see this if you don't know it's there.

 

Was snorkeling one day in Pensacola. Shallow water maybe 2-3’ deep. Was swimming along and all of a sudden two eyes popped open and off swam a stingray. That freaked me out.

Different trip to Pensacola. BIL wanted to do some night fishing and I said I’d hold the light for him. He’d swim out chest deep and cast. First cast caught a 12” shark. Second cast I turned the light off when he got chest deep and laughed when he screamed. Pulled in another baby shark. Third cast pulled in a third baby shark. Decided it was best to call it a night at that point.

Went red fishing in Galveston one year. Caught nothing but hammerheads.

Did some hiking in Greer, AZ this year and saw lots of mountain lion tracks and an elk carcass.

Spend enough time in nature and you’ll quickly realize your place on the food chain and it’s nowhere near the top.

 

It was pretty trippy, and I sorta' knew to expect something. The way the water plays tricks with light, you see... something. But the light kind of dances and refracts on it so you're like "what is that?" then you get closer and go "WTF?!" The look of torment on it's "face" just adds to the weirdness.

Yeah, we do some fun stuff together. I've expanded my horizons significantly since we got together.

The girl definitely don't monkey around... Oh, wait.





This little dude was so dang cute! I expected his hands & feet (Hands) to be kinda' calloused... they were soft as velvet.

Monkeys know stuff, if you can get 'em talking they've got some juicy secrets.

 

Holy Crap!!
What were you doing when it happened?
I've jumped several of them wade fishing and I'd see em frequently while flounder gigging.
Pro tip...
Dont gig the flounder that looks like a frying pan with a handle and is buried in the sand.
And always shuffle your feet when you move in water that you cant see bottom.

 

That's really cool buddy!! I've seen quite a few black bears where I go camping but they never disturb my campsite. It is very cool to see a momma with cubs. From a safe distance of course.

 

The Stingray Shuffle. Yeah, sometimes when the water starts warming up it takes me a little bit to remember to do it.

So there's a spot in La Jolla Shores (in front of the Marine Room restaurant) where we launch SUP's to go paddle La Jolla Cove.

In a radius of 50' or less, I've been stung twice and my friend Jimmy once... they're thick.

 

Damn!!
Fortunately the water you gig in is usually no more than a couple feet deep.
For the most part it's 12 inches or less.
If you start seeing Stingray tracks you really gotta pay attention where you step.
If they've been buried long enough they can be tough to spot.
I've never been hit,Knock on Wood.