You’ve Been Warned!

Recently my sister and brother-in-law took a trip back to Boston and found themselves at Cape Cod enjoying the beach with their daughter and son-in-law. It was a stormy day making her photos look more like winter than the middle of summer. Both of them were sporting light rain jackets rather than swimsuits. In fact, I didn’t see anybody in the water. There could be two reasons for that. For one Susan said the water was cold, but secondly they passed this sign on their way to the beach. That would do it!

That’s a fairly serious sign and large enough to make sure you can’t miss it, with “WARNING” in all caps and highlighted in a RED banner, a color significance not lost on me! It would have been enough to give me second thoughts about heading to the beach at all, except for perhaps the chance of seeing a great white up close, but not too close. The picture of “JAWS” wrapped the whole warning up in a nice tidy package. If that wasn’t enough for you the words, “People have been seriously injured and killed by white sharks along this coastline” punctuated the warning with unseen exclamation points. The Chamber of Commerce might give some serious thought about reorganizing their tourist division, or hiring a new promotional team. I don’t think this one is working in their favor. If they are trying to say “Welcome to Cape Cod”, they missed the mark by a mile, but then again if you end up as lunch you can’t say you weren’t warned.

Welcome to Shark Week! It is my understanding that there are roughly 126 different shark species. I wonder how many sharks in total that adds up to? Just thinking out loud. I don’t want the answer. Shark week spends an entire week teaching us all about sharks and telling us how we have an excessive and unwarranted fear of them. How they are really misunderstood and they are afraid of us more than we are of them. I’m pretty sure that’s a lie! Then once they have you believing that maybe you need to give sharks the benefit of the doubt they end their week by spotlighting people who have survived an attack! It’s like they don’t even believe what they are peddling! Of course when you take into consideration how many people are in the oceans around the world shark attacks are few indeed. But if you draw the short straw, get mistaken for a seal and end up on the menu you don’t care too much about statistics now, do you?

I am always amazed by people who have suffered a shark bite and then say how they plan to get back into the water. Hmmm? Not sure I could let bygones be bygones. I did see a 8-9 ft hammerhead shark a couple of months ago. A fisherman fishing from the shore on Siesta Key reeled it in. He was specifically fishing for sharks. He had a partner who took his heavy line and large piece of bait out to deeper waters with a kayak, while he tended the line from shore. He wasn’t far from me, maybe 15-20 yards. I wasn’t unaware of what was happening until he pulled it in close enough that the thrashing caught my attention. I saw the dorsal fin first and thought he had accidentally caught a dolphin, but then I saw the tail whipping about! The tail tells the tale. Wrong shape and moving the wrong direction. Dolphins move up and down, sharks side to side. This was a shark and practically on the beach! For more than several minutes both fish and man battled each other. In the end both were exhausted, and once the line was removed they let him go. I was impressed by the shark’s incredible strength and raw power, but what I noticed most was how quickly he disappeared. He was only feet from shore and yet in a flash he was gone!

What followed surprised even me. I got back in the water!!! It wasn’t like I didn’t think about what I now knew was lurking out there, yet I didn’t hesitate. Why? Beats me. I’m always scanning the water when I’m in it, even though I know it’s an exercise in futility. If a shark is tempted to find out if I’m tasty I will never see it coming. Even if I do, I can’t out swim it. I just witnessed that, but somehow my delusions make me feel better.

You always hear people say, “We’re entering their home.” Well yes we are, but if we’re being honest that doesn’t gate-crash into our decision making. No one waltzes into the water, or steps onto a trail expecting, let alone accepting that they might become a snack for the predators that live there. Well, except for throwing the dice in gator country. You always expect an alligator will eat you given the chance. What’s up with that?

We are apex predators ourselves and we expect professional courtesy among other apex predators. For the most part we recognize the risk, even a small one. It’s up to us to choose whether to take it or not. Now, back to that huge Great White warning. I’ve seen “Jaws”. I think I’ll pass on the water. Cape Cod is known for fried clams. An ironic twist on whom is getting eaten, but I choose that way over the other.