Saturday, July 30, 2005


Knuckleheads on the flats. The keys in the background are ours. You and I own them together. They are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Tyler has the fishing pole (as usual) and Junior is soaking....Water temp about 85+ degrees. When Junior stood up, a small shark (3-4') was about 20 feet away. Frightened, it turned on a dime and zipped away. Posted by Picasa

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As you know, we don't have too many grass flats like that on the east coast. They make for some neat snorkling and sight fishing. It looks alot like the Gulf side of the Keys. Funny how that works.

R.Powers said...

Kevin,
Years ago, before they filled in the hurricane cut at Rattlesnake Island, there were some pretty flats just inside Matanzas Inlet. Nothing like these though, these just go on and on and on...

Karen Schmautz said...

Shark! I must have missed this earlier. You let your kids swim with sharks? Seems like we heard a lot about shark attacks in Florida last summer. What's the scoop on that?

Ever since I saw Jaws, I am uncomfortable swimming in the ocean. (And I went to college in San Diego.) My eyes are always scanning the water for those scary fins (and my ears listen for the scary shark music.)

I learned to swim in crystal clear salt-free lake water where you could see if there were any creepy or weird animals swimming along with you (there never were...but I had a very vivid imagination.) Never got used to swimming in water where I couldn't see the bottom.

R.Powers said...

Hick,
Put your toe in any body of saltwater and you are "swimming with sharks". Yes, I let my children swim with sharks.The choice would be to not experience surfing, snorkeling, diving, swimming, fishing in that wonderful ocean because sharks share it. We try not to do shark stupid things, but we see sharks constantly on these shallow clear flats. Usually they are just cruising by looking for fish or crabs and they are as startled as we are when we meet.
Florida usually does lead the country in shark attacks...usually happens in murky East Coast beaches. Murky water + lots of sharks + lots of swimmers = some cases of mistaken identity bites. My big brother has surfed for about 40 years constantly and has only been nipped once. Curiously, he did not hear the shark music before the bite.

By the way, you should stay out of those mountains...there are bears and mountain lions afoot.
Take care.