Swimming with Sharks!

Friday 23rd April, 2010
I was woken by the most glorious sunrise, up on deck the water in the bay was as still and clear as glass, and I could see straight to the bottom, I got a little bread to feed the Remora’s under the boat, there were 8 this morning. The mega yacht that had been so noisy last evening pulled out early this morning, they didn’t even bother to snorkel.
After breakfast Bob and I went snorkeling, I covered his ear as best I could with waterproof bandages, and in we went. We swam over to the shore where we saw the beautiful Angel fish again, a Trigger fish, Cow fish and many other fabulous, colorful species, then we swam back out over the grass beds to watch the turtles, and rays, we were enjoying our swim so much we must have been in the water over an hour, when I told Bob that I needed to go back to the boat as I was getting tired. As we approached the boat we spotted a couple of large shadows lurking on the sea bed directly under Daisy, on closer inspection the shadows turned out to be two 6’ -7’ Nurse sharks. We swam quietly above them for a few minutes while Bob took photographs.

Nurse sharks are usually sluggish during the day, keeping most of their activity between the hours of dusk till dawn, when they are actively feeding. Common in tropical waters over inshore coral reefs, nurse sharks are the most frequently spotted sharks by divers and snorkelers in the Caribbean. They are usually harmless unless provoked, this statement confuses me, as I’m interested to know exactly how do you define “provoked,” obviously I’m not going to swim up and poke it in the ribs with a sharp stick, but could swimming around it while its sleeping be considered provoking? I think it best to simply keep a safe distance.

Two people from another Oyster in the bay came over to introduce themselves, and we invited them on board for a chat. As soon as they left I was back in the water again to watch the sharks. I swam quietly above them, fascinated, and amazed that I wasn’t nervous being this close to them. I was quietly floating there watching them and taking more photographs when Bob called me to swim back closer to the boat, as I started to swim both sharks moved off the bottom and began to swim in my direction, its funny how fast one can get out of the water when motivated, even while wearing flippers… It turns out they only moved about 10 feet before settling down for another rest, but I had watched them for long enough, this was a good time not to exercise provoking!
After lunch I was back in the water again, this time the sharks had gone, and there were two beautiful stingrays, and the Remora’s under Daisy had grown in numbers to 10. I swam for about 30 minutes, watching the turtles and the rays, one of the turtles swam very close to me, stopping to peer at my mask, I could have reached out and touched him, but I’ve seen how sharp their teeth are so I kept my arms close by my side, the turtle only took a quick look then circled around me before surfacing for air and descending again to the grassy beds below.
The afternoon was spent with me relaxing and Bob completing unfinished jobs on board, like the broken nav light, and bumpy TV lift. It’s very, very hot today, and I think I may have burnt my back again with all the snorkeling…
Bob and I waited until 5pm when it was a little cooler to take the dinghy ashore and walk and swim off the beautiful beach before returning to Daisy for the ritual sunset cocktail.
Turns out I did get a little carried away with all my snorkeling today, because tonight I have a bum like a baboon! With all the heat that goes along with it, this brings a whole new meaning to “hot seat!”
It’s Tuna for dinner tonight and maybe another movie (hopefully better than the crappy one last night! )
The tuna turned out not to be good, so I fed the remoras and made an omelet instead, too tired to watch a movie I fell asleep immediately after dinner. I really must be getting old!