Sharks

Cruisingdad · #1 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

Had an interesting observation over the weekend. We were doing a race down Ft Myers to Naples, maybe 5 miles out, and the water was beautiful (AND HORRIBLY CALM!!!). Anyways, really clear. SO while standing on the side of the boat we saw a shark go by. He wasn't big... maybe 7 feet or so. I think it wa sa bull, but not sure because he was hauling butt! I have seen sharks many times before, including a tiger that swam right under us while diving off the boat in the Tortugas. But they always seem to swim nice and slow. I have never seen and never knew a shark could swim so fast. I would estimate this shzark swimming (my guess) 20 kts. You guys ever see them swim that fast!???

Another observatio nfrom a couple of weeks ago: sting rays are like candy for sharks. The old thought about sharks only being scavengers or eating the sickly fish is NOT true with sting rays. They love them!! We watched as a shark chased a school of sting rays all around our boat. They knew it too because they were hauling around it. Quite a sight.

Anyways, just some interesting observations.

Brian

Boasun · #2 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

As long as Sharks can't climb boarding ladders, I'm not to worried about them.
An again I don't run with the Bulls or swim with the sharks...

sailingdog · #3 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

Second what Boasun said...

remetau · #4 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

I dive and have occasionally seen a bull shark or two outside of the normal nurses. I always see it as a blessing to see such marvelous creatures. Last year at Looe Key, my wife and I came face to face with a good size bull. It slowly swam towards us head on very slow sizing us up, and then it must have decide how uninteresting we were and swam away.

I've never see a shark move at high speeds unless it was going for something.

Noworries87 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

A good friend of mine got bit in the calf not once, but twice! In New Smyrna Inlet.. haha sharks are awesome though. Everytime I see them in the water when im surfing I want to get close to them and check them out

Cruisingdad · #6 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by remetau

I dive and have occasionally seen a bull shark or two outside of the normal nurses. I always see it as a blessing to see such marvelous creatures. Last year at Looe Key, my wife and I came face to face with a good size bull. It slowly swam towards us head on very slow sizing us up, and then it must have decide how uninteresting we were and swam away.

I've never see a shark move at high speeds unless it was going for something.

Hey Don! How you guys doing?

Well, this one was obviously late for something!! We saw the other shark that was eating rays going failry fast, but he was after some rays (which are suprisingly fast themselves... guess I would be too under the circumstances).

I was just amazed at how fast the buggers are! And as far as sharks in the water, I agree with you. I had a marine biologist tell me that sharks are a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

I know there are stories of sharks biting people, but short of chumming and swimming in the water, I highly doubt there is anything to worry about. We will drop the anchor and swim behind the boat all the time (kids too). We have large parties in the water with lots of kids. They don't bother you. You don't taste good and are too much trouble. Sharks bite people in my opinion because they mistake you for something else. THis is often the case with bulls. Bulls will often swim in shallow and murky water where other sharks prefer clear or somewhat deeper water. So they easily mistake people for food. And Bulls LOVE rays, which are typically in shallow water. That is why we generally do not swim at sun set or sun up, though we spend a lot of time wading chest deep in the gulf at sun down. But I have never seen a shark that close to shore.

Brian

remetau · #7 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruisingdad

Hey Don! How you guys doing?

Doing great. I hope your family is all doing well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruisingdad

. But I have never seen a shark that close to shore.

Brian

I've seen a huge tiger wash up on shore once while it was feeding in the shallows.

I've been towed behind a power boat before while searching for lobsters. I always have to peer behind me every once in a while to make sure that I'm not being targeted. There have been times when I felt that I might as well be holding a huge hook because I felt like bait.

smackdaddy · #8 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

In reading two lost at sea books recently (Calahan and Butler) - I was impressed by the behavior of the sharks in each case...over a 76 day span and a 66 day span respectively.

Though they seem to always be around, and in the case of Butler were very aggressive in terms of smacking the raft and actually marking it with a secretion, they weren't that interested in the raft/people. They seemed to just be hunting the fish beneath the rafts.

In both cases, the people went from very aggressively "fighting off" the sharks and being paralyzed with fear each night, to not worrying about them that much toward the end of the journey.

Cool stories.

bradentonbeachboy · #9 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

I have only ever seen one shark.. 3 or 4 miles off of Anna Marie Isl, and it was HAULIN BUTT, by the time I screamed at my kids not to jump the shark crossed under the boat (port bow to starboard stern) and no one saw him but me. I didnt jump in again for a couple of weeks.

IslanderGuy · #10 (**permalink**) 10-18-2010

I am no shark expert, but if I remember correctly form something I read or saw, sharks can move very fast, but it uses LOTS of energy to do so, so they typically move nice and slow, saving energy, and only putting the speed on when they can get prey big enough to replace the energy they need to expend to catch it.

So why was this guy going so fast? Either he was after something with lots of feeding potential, or he had just eaten a poor guy like me that drinks way to much coffee, and needed to burn off the caffeine!