Kayaking Shark Encounter!

OK, so I know it wasn’t really funny … but days after David’s chance shark encounter, I’m still chuckling.  We were kayaking (yes, we really do use those kayaks on the side rails of sv Winterlude).   I wanted to go explore a really shallow sandbar behind where we were anchored because the dolphins frequented it during their feeding frenzies regularly.  Who knows, maybe there were dolphins and we could kayak with them in no more than a couple feet of water.

As we approached the sandbar, I was in front and a dolphin caught my eye… at least I thought it was a dolphin – shiny gray with a dorsel fin.  I must have startled it because all of a sudden the shallow water was churning and BANG, something banged into David’s kayak … hard.

It all happened so quick, neither of us is quite sure, but we do know it was BIG.  And the tip of it’s fin had a distinct black end.   The water churned and splashed, but David got a good look at its tail … and he’s sticking to his story that it was NOT a dolphin tail.  Sharks have distinctive tails and David swears it was a shark that almost jumped into his kayak.

Luckily — or maybe no so much — the kayaks are sit on tops so the shark wouldn’t have been trapped inside the kayak, but David’s pretty sure if the thing came any closer, he was exiting the kayak … which would have left him standing in a couple feet of water on a sandbar with a shark.

Good thing it decided to swim on … very rapidly … away from the sandbar.  And we never did see its fin again – usually dolphins don’t just disappear.  So who knows, maybe it really was a shark.  I know it was enough excitement for that day because shortly afterward, David decided we were done kayaking.

Anyone else have more excitement than they wanted today?  Please leave a comment and share!  Cheers!  Jan