M
mrhtbd
Guest
It's true. Was 18 years old, working as a Palm Beach County Life Guard stationed at Carlin Park Beach between Juno and Jupiter Beach in Florida. This was 23 miles North of West Palm where I lived.
I was riding waves for over an hour and had the water all to myself.
My fellow Life Guard was the only one on the beach, he was in the chair.
The waves were pristine, 5 to 7 foot swells rolling perfectly onto the beach. I saw a school of Bluefish all jump about 20 yards out from me. In my youthful naivety, I remember thinking, ..."Wow, what a pristine day, the sky is crystal clear, the water is clean and from the NE, the waves are perfect, and the Blue's are jumping."
Then I thought, "Wait a minute, the Blue's are jumping?"
(The Bluefish in the school were between 15 and 25 inches long). I thought..."if they're jumping then something bigger must be chasing them. I better get the hell out of here!"
The waves came in sets of seven, then a lull before another set of seven. I consistently caught the 4th wave as it was always the biggest and rolled the best, but this time, in haste, I tried to get the 3rd one. I was catching it but was a bit late and at the last second decided to stop, go out a little, and catch the 4th wave.
I was on the third wave and to stop I did a quick reversal. When I did, I chopped a shark in the side with the bottom of my hand.
I looked and saw about 3 feet of greyish Bull shark quickly turn away and take off. He was chasing the Blue's, smelled me in the water, and circled around.
"Holy crap, I was scared as hell!" Damn, I caught the forth wave and never went so fast in my life. After I slowed I took five strokes and caught the inside breaker right onto the beach. As I was trying to get up I kept falling. Finally, I realized I was safe, and looked at my Life Guard co-worker and he was laughing so hard he almost fell off the chair. He saw the whole thing and I was a rookie, so for him, the experience was pure fun.
We were only a 1/2 mile south of the Jupiter inlet. Sharks were around all the time. What the hell was I thinking?
Here's to youthful exuberance!
I was riding waves for over an hour and had the water all to myself.
My fellow Life Guard was the only one on the beach, he was in the chair.
The waves were pristine, 5 to 7 foot swells rolling perfectly onto the beach. I saw a school of Bluefish all jump about 20 yards out from me. In my youthful naivety, I remember thinking, ..."Wow, what a pristine day, the sky is crystal clear, the water is clean and from the NE, the waves are perfect, and the Blue's are jumping."
Then I thought, "Wait a minute, the Blue's are jumping?"
(The Bluefish in the school were between 15 and 25 inches long). I thought..."if they're jumping then something bigger must be chasing them. I better get the hell out of here!"
The waves came in sets of seven, then a lull before another set of seven. I consistently caught the 4th wave as it was always the biggest and rolled the best, but this time, in haste, I tried to get the 3rd one. I was catching it but was a bit late and at the last second decided to stop, go out a little, and catch the 4th wave.
I was on the third wave and to stop I did a quick reversal. When I did, I chopped a shark in the side with the bottom of my hand.
I looked and saw about 3 feet of greyish Bull shark quickly turn away and take off. He was chasing the Blue's, smelled me in the water, and circled around.
"Holy crap, I was scared as hell!" Damn, I caught the forth wave and never went so fast in my life. After I slowed I took five strokes and caught the inside breaker right onto the beach. As I was trying to get up I kept falling. Finally, I realized I was safe, and looked at my Life Guard co-worker and he was laughing so hard he almost fell off the chair. He saw the whole thing and I was a rookie, so for him, the experience was pure fun.
We were only a 1/2 mile south of the Jupiter inlet. Sharks were around all the time. What the hell was I thinking?
Here's to youthful exuberance!
