There are plenty of things to fear in the water, but
fortunately I’ve never seen them. The closest
I’ve come is a large tiger shark I saw from the deck of my father’s boat when I
was younger. My memory could be
flawed, but I remember it being about 10 feet.
It was certainly a big one. That
was on the Gulf side in the Florida Keys, which is relatively shallow water, so
it was strange to see such a big shark there.
It just goes to show that sharks are everywhere.
Different species have different dispositions. Understanding those can help you interpret
the creature’s behavior and determine if it has dangerous intentions. Bull sharks are just mean and will attack for
no reason. Tiger sharks are perpetually
hungry and not so choosy about what they eat.
Great Whites have a bad reputation because of the Jaws movie, but probably
only bite humans in cases of mistaken identity.
That pretty much covers the man-eaters.
We would clear the water immediately if we saw any of those.
Other sharks we take on a case-by-case basis. Nurse sharks are generally harmless if you
leave them alone. Most sharks I’ve seen
in the water are small and afraid of me.
I’m sure the bigger ones are out there, but have no interest in us and
stay clear. If we happen to spear a fish,
however, that definitely interests them and we’ll move to a new spot.
I teach my kids that barracuda are harmless. They are so common that it would be silly to
fear them; you’d never go in the water. I
tell the kids barracuda are dumb, don’t see very well, and are just curious
about what you’re doing. They seem to
just hang in the water a short distance away and watch. They look aggressive, like a torpedo with
teeth, but I had not heard of any barracuda attacking people the way sharks
sometimes do. Conventional wisdom to
avoid trouble with barracuda is to not wear jewelry or anything shiny or
sparkly.
So it was a little disconcerting when a 4-foot cuda charged
me yesterday. I didn’t see it, but our
friend Ken did. I was at the back of the
boat handing up my gear and about to get out, when I heard Ken call for
everybody to get out. I assumed that he
had seen a shark, was being cautious, and that there was no immediate danger. Since we had kids in the water, my first
thought was to round them up and bring them in first. But then Ken reiterated more urgently that I
should get out immediately. That was all
I needed and hopped straight out.
When we had everyone back aboard, he explained that he had
seen a large barracuda charge at my fins and it only veered away within inches
of striking. Neither of us had seen that
kind of behavior before and that’s what led him to get everyone out. Upon examining my fins to see what could be
so interesting, I realized that the logo painted on them is somewhat iridescent
and shiny. It seems I unknowingly broke
Rule #1 for barracuda. Needless to say,
I scratched that paint right off.
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