Shark onboard!!!

Well I’m back in Isla Linton. I sailed (motored) about 55 miles yesterday from the San Blas.

My visa, and cruising permit expire in a few days, and I just found out that I need to go to Panama City for an extension.

As most of you know I love line fishing as Namaste is under way, yesterday was unsuccessful and frustrating (tuff day at the office). Early in the morning I caught a “Mystery Fish” that took my favorite lure. I never knew what it was, but it just bent my rod, gave a good tug, and snapped my very heavy line, it was defiantly “the big one that got away”. A few hours later I caught a Spanish mackerel which I lost just feet away from the boat “ARRRG”. At the end of the day I did something silly. I caught a 3+ foot shark and hauled him into Namaste’s cockpit. Fish are pretty dumb, and very scared when you pull them out of the water, killing them quickly and putting them out of their misery seems like the thing to do. This was not the case with this shark, he was truly pissed off and wanted to take a chunk out of me before I killed him. I swim with sharks all the time. They are really beautiful creatures, which demand a bit of respect, they’re also good eating. I didn’t have the heart to cut this guy open as he was just a teenager. I did however have to figure out how to get my lure back and set him free. “Sharkie” was really tearing up the cockpit. I almost lost my binoculars over the side, he broke a pair of my sunglasses, and managed to Rev-up the motor as he was knocking about. I finally grabbed some pliers, pinned him down, and started at the hook. I had him pinned pretty well, and even though he (possibly She) was trying to bite, I felt comfortable enough to work the hook out of its mouth. I grabbed it by the tale and flung Sharkie back into the sea. The funny thing is he came back and swam along side Namaste for about ten seconds. Why would it do this? I took it as a “Thank You”.

A few days ago I was spear fishing with some friends (Gemini), and a black tip reef shark made a pretty close pass to me (about eight feet). When I was in the Bahamas a Bull Shark, got pretty aggressive, quickly swam at me a few times, and kicked me out of his turf and onto the reef. The only problem was that I cut myself up pretty good on the reef. The blood in the water didn’t help matters much; however I managed my way back to my dingie.

The only time I’ve seen sharks aggressive is after a fish has been speared. Their job is to keep the reef clean of weak and injured fish, and you can’t blame them for doing their job right?

All in all yesterday was a good day. I only got hit with one quick squall which was refreshing; it was time for a shower anyway. I will have more video on the site shortly, I’ve been wrapped up in another project which is over, and I’ll have a lot more time now.

Hope everyone is well, keep the instant messages coming.

Peace, Love & Coconuts.

– alex