OK, here is the story. In Nov of 2013 Elaine and I decided to go snorkeling at Bahia Honda State Park. It's Nov so the water is pretty cool and a weekday so virtually nobody on the beach. We both had on our heavy wetsuits and about an hour in, after swimming against the current (in coming tide washing along the beach and around the end of the island) Elaine tells me she is getting chilly and tired so we are going to just drift back to our spot on the beach.
We are in water that is about 3 feet deep and 150 feet off the beach. While drifting along we have become separated by 50 feet or so and I hear my name being called. Not a scream, or a call for help, just trying to get my attention. I stand up and Elaine, in waist deep water points between her and the beach and says, "Ron, there's a shark over there." Again, no panic, no real urgency, just information being delivered. I start to swim to her and think to myself, by the time I get there it will probably be gone and I won't get to see anything.
So I get to Elaine and she points out about 20 to 30 feet away, between us and the beach, there is a sandy hole that is bright compared to the dark rocks. And in that sandy circle of sand is a dark, backwards letter 'C'. She says it's a 4' nurse shark sleeping in the sand. Her camera battery is dead and she asks me to stay and watch the shark while she gets to shore and gets new batteries. I say OK.
Elaine leaves and I move in closer to get a better look at the shark. From the original spot where we were standing, I couldn't even see it while underwater. I got close enough to get a good look and then moved back away so as not to disturb it. As Elaine was on her way back out to me, the shark woke up and swam off away from Elaine into the current.
When Elaine got out to me I asked her how in the world she could see the shark from so far away (she is great at seeing things underwater that I can totally miss). She tells me, "Oh, I didn't see it from here. I was drifting along looking straight down at the bottom looking for anything interesting. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something dark and as I looked over, there was this nurse shark and in less than 3 feet of water I drifted right over it. I could have reached out and pet it." No fear or anxiety in her voice at all.
I told her I was proud of her and she asked why? I told her 95% of swimmers at this beach would have totally freaked out if they saw the shark. And 99% of all women (not meaning to be sexist) in this country would have gotten up out of the water and walked... no, run on top of it to the beach and would never get back in. But you get so close you could have touched it and you calmly swim out to deeper water and call me over to see it too. Her response was, "Ron, it was just a 4' nurse shark."
That's it.
Back in 2000 when I moved to Florida, seeing a shark in the water would have seriously unnerved me. But every year I get more and more accustom to sharing the water with them. Two years ago a little 3' nurse shark got caught between me and a rocky wall. I was 2' out from the wall and the shark came up from behind and swam past me, between me and the wall. For half a second I was spooked because it caught me totally off guard. But then I realized how small it was and I was fine.
This winter I caught a small sharpnose shark with my bare hands in the surf washing up on the beach of Sanibel Island in SW Florida. We took a couple of pics and then I carried it out into deeper water and released it. It just swam away like it was no big deal. However, if somebody had told me that morning I would catch and rescue a 18" to 2' shark in the water with my bare hands... I'd have told them they were crazy. A) I probably wouldn't even try. B) What are the chances of a small shark being washed up toward the beach by big waves and having trouble swimming back out... 1,000,000 to 1? I'm just glad my wife took a photo! :fun4:
