Once in the early 80's I was surfing Duck pier solo when a bunch of plate sized rays jumped out of the water around me. I topped at the wee winks on the way home and there was a truck with 3 hammerheads and a couple tiger sharks hanging out the bed. He told me he caught them right off the beach. I think that was the last surf where I dangled my feet. [video=youtube;74mdJUaRNaA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74mdJUaRNaA[/video]
Man, rays so amazing. Last week in OC there was a ray swimmin around in the waves. I was about 2 feet away from it. really cool, man... really cool. but don't forget about how that gator dude died... he took a stinger right to the chest.
Interesting vid. They don't know why they gather in such numbers. You'd think it be for breeding or following a food source. Why do they jump out of the water? Help rid themselves of parasites? Don't know. Saw a large once while diving off Catalina Is.
Nice video. I don't go for big boys off the beach, but it is AMAZING what you can catch with a normal rig right off the beach. Went to the usual spot again on Sunday at low tide. First cast, hooked a 4 foot shark in about 25 seconds. My friend had one on his line about 1 minute later. When the tide came in, we went down to the beach that I surf. We caught two more in about 20 minutes. The look on peoples faces when you pull a 4-5 foot shark up on the sand is priceless. I have heard insane stories of what people have caught up in OBX. That damn shelf is so close, they have everything you can think of accidentally popping up over there. Crazy man.
this is so awesome! We had a lot of skates at Chinco this weekend. riding the waves with the surfers.
Stingrays are EVERYWHERE down here, especially this time of year, they jump out of the water right next to me all the time, catches me off guard every now and then, but usually it's a cool sight. Some big, some small, all different kinds.
I was surfing Avalon pier when a manatee came up beside me. It happened fast. I saw the back, no dorsel fin, then a spoon shaped tail.
Nice. My wife works down in Sea Pines at the marina on the south end of the island. She said that yesterday, a Manatee swam into the marina and came right up to the dock. She said that one of the boat crew guys had a water hose running off the side of the pier. She said the Manatee came up to the pier, rolled on its back, started drinking the water right out of the stream of the hose. She said it started looking up at all the people on the pier and waving it's fin/arm at the people watching. She said it was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen and that the manatee was interacting with the people in a surreal way. I was bummed that I wasn't down there when it happened. I have seen a lot of things in the ocean, but I have never seen a manatee in the wild... It was a pretty amazing story when she told me.
Surfing some barely knee highs yesterday (first surf in two weeks) when a dark 6-8 foot object came sliding by me. Gave me a start at first considering how much bait has been in the water lately. A second look confirmed no dorsal, just one of them big vegetarians out for a cruise.