jerry’s shark bite
meet jerry, he's great
The fear of sharks here at the beach is ridiculous. So many people say that they don’t swim in the water for fear of sharks. When statistically it is in fact more likely that you will be struck by lightening. And so, people come to the beach for the sun, sand, and shenanigans… not so much for the swimming.
While it may be statistically unlikely, I do actually have a personal experience with a shark bite. I will preface this short account by saying it was an entirely preventable situation.
So there we were at Cape Lookout National Seashore chasing the swell. It was a lovely November day with air temps in the 70’s Fahrenheit. When we crossed over from the sound to ocean side and the waves were in sight, we were stoked to get in the water and surf.
As we were walking out toward the water an older couple in your typical touristy get-up tell us “Be careful, there is a shark out there”. We both look at each other and smile, each of us thinking “of course there are sharks out there”, but politely telling the couple “Thank you for the information. Have a nice day”. The thing is. There are always sharks in the water. There is a funny saying that goes something like this
How to tell if there are sharks in the water… if there is salt in the water, there are sharks in the water.
So, we did not take their warning seriously, because of course there are sharks. When I am surfing I certainly would rather not see the sharks next to me or close by, but I do know that they are there.
The second warning we had was a more important warning that we should have listened to and considered not surfing that day.
There were birds diving into the water after bait fish, and the bait fish were everywhere. If the birds are feeding from above, the predators are also feeding from below. Shark attacks on humans are accidental. The shark mistakes the person as prey. We are not part of a sharks normal diet. Just like any animal in the wild they have a specific set of “rules” that they follow, and have followed for millions of years. A generally good practice to follow if you are swimming in salt water is to avoid wearing any shiny jewelry and, you know, maybe don’t paint your toe nails in fishy type colors.
At the time we thought the birds diving was so romantic and beautiful… but in hindsight it was a clear warning that the sharks were feeding from below.
The final preventable situation is a little more difficult to explain since it involves spacial awareness of the area where you are swimming and a bit of biological understanding of sharks and the way that they feed.
Many sharks are what is termed “ambush predators”. They stay still using their camouflage and wait for their prey to pass by unaware. This shark was waiting by the only outlet of a tidal pool. When Jerry jumped off of his board he was blocking the exit of the tidal pool, thus trapping the shark. The shark, in this instance bit Jerry’s foot out of fear of being trapped. I have spoken to marine scientists friends here and they explained that tidal pools are high density feeding areas and pose a risk for swimmers.
So there we were, totally oblivious to all the signs in place, loving life. Surfing mediocre waves, but having a great time. Jerry caught a wave in and then I noticed he hopped to the beach and did shout out “F###CK!”. I found it odd that he was stopping since he and I are usually surf-til-we-barf kind of people. As far as him yelling, I figured he probably stepped on a shell. Then I noticed he was really limping. I continued to surf and watched him on the beach. He sat down and examined his foot.
I caught a couple of waves, then started to get that gut feeling that something was not right out there.
Jerry is fine. The shark was about 5 feet in length and delivered a very conservative bite to his foot. Jerry is lucky.
I brought Jerry some beers and we partied it out that night while he soaked his foot.