US territory Pacific.. funny thing is no one surfed the wave... literally down the street from my house...in the few years I lived there I was the only regular taker never once saw anyone in the water that I didn't bring.
in regard to the blue fish, I have been surfing amongst a pretty incredible pack of blues, stripers, and probably some larger predators. Had a few fish brush my legs and feet, and the blues could definitely do some damage. The pack of birds above the line up, baitfish, and getting hit by the blues/bass was pretty wild. I have had seals pop up within 20' of me while surfing cape cod before too, in white shark feeding grounds which is a little sketchy. One time waiting for a set on the cape I saw a whale or two blow their spouts or w/e in the distance too. That sums up my encounters with sea creatures.
I've only been chased out of the water on the East Coast by a shark... in OBX and in Florid. But, if I saw something of significant size, I'd prob get out. In Florida, there was a Manatee that popped up really close to me... He popped out, looked at me, and then slumbered back underneath. He was huge, and that was just weird. In California, a seal stared me down for like a minute... He clearly owned that spot.
I would go back out after a while, but I won't get out unless I positively ID the animal or get the agro shark vibe. There are plenty of large creatures out there that aren't sharks. We are like skunk turds on a menu of filet mignon and lobster tails to a shark. I would choose the steak over the turd every day of the week, wouldn't you? With that being said, don't sweat it until it's biting your leg (not likely). I'm not trying to discount what sharks are capable of but don't let it F with your surfing. Most people will never be humbled by the ocean or the creatures in it. Surfers on the other hand.............
I had a bad-tempered, mean-spirited, unusually stubborn, perfectly proportioned five footer with massive teeth hang on my leash one day when I was trying to head out for a sesh. My quick, threatened backhand chop eliminated the threat from her. For that moment anyways.
awesome story and pic, stranded. I've had a couple rare occasions where i was spooked enough to paddle in, most of them in Florida. My buddy and I paddled out at Riviera beach one day and this gigantic, brown, thing that looked like it had scales on it's back popped out of the water about 20 feet away from us, we looked at each other with an "oh sh*t" face and paddled our asses back to shore. The only other time is when i was surfing up near Ft. Pierce and i got serious crazy vibes that there was a big shark in the water, i stayed out for a little bit, but the feeling just kept telling me to get my ass in, so i paddled in. I've had sh*t bump the bottom of my board, a 6' bullshark cruise 2 feet in front of me with his fin up out of the water, I got to be real spooked to cut a session short....fact is, 99.9% of time absolutely nothing is going to happen, but if you dwell on that .1% chance, you'll drive yourself crazy.
I don't know the name of this spot in Northern Cal, but let’s call it Menus. There was a two page spread of this spot in Surfing a couple years ago (un named). There was an Elephant seal colony on the beach (you had to walk through it) and the big rock island out the back was covered in Sea Lions. The lineup was in between the two. Never in my life have I felt more like a menu item, three of us just sitting and waiting........for those left shacks.
Thanks for the replys. I've been questioning my judgement. Also session was not as much fun while looking around nervously. Maintain situational awareness! Cheers.
Ive had encounters with rays, bait fish and blues. But recently with a shark. I was out early by my self and just got off the second wave of the day, its about 5:30 am. Im standing on the sandbar in thigh high water about to paddle back out when i see a dorsal fin about 10ft in front of me. It was pretty large, I kept my eye on it and slowly backed away. Then its tail fin surfaced.....and the distance between the two fins was longer then my board (5'8") Thats when i got really sketched out and retreated to ankle high water. It was just wading there, rolling with the tide. It must of just finished eating and was digesting lol. I dont know what kind of shark it was, the dorsal fin was not to "sharp" like a whitey but didnt look friendly. I stood in the shallows for 30mins until 2 other guys showed up, told them what happened and we all paddled back out, they were sketched but after being in the water for 10mins i felt comfortable again. Didnt report it to any authorities....
not sure if this is strengthening or hurting my motivation to go on a solo dawn patrol excursion to one of the "mysto spots" of the mid atlantic this weekend. anyone have any experience surfing these spots without giving away too much info? mainly are they sharky as hell or not too bad? especially around river mouths
I'm not really sure what I would've done in that situation. Definetely freaky though!. I can tell tell you about two situations that had me unhinged. Once while surfing near a popular fishing pier, I duckdived a wave and bumped something big...so big I almost came off my board. I basically speared the creature with the nose of my board only to have it sideswiped away, and the right side of my body brushed against it. All this happened underwater while duckdiving mind you, so I automatically had visions of being attacked by a shark. I completed the duckdive and was on all fours on my board, which must have been pretty funny looking. There to my right was the biggest and only manatee I had ever seen in the wild. It was looking right at me while munching on some seaweed. As soon as my heart rate recovered, I reached over and petted the thing. It wasn't scared in the least, and stayed in the same spot for about 20 minutes. This was in SC. The next was surfing Playa Hermosa,CR. I was sitting in the lineup with a friend of mine who is a local. I saw something that appeared to be about 4ft swimming towards us. I couldn't really tell what is was so I was very cautious....you know like making sure someone else was inbetween it and me. Come to find out my friend knew exactly what it was. He said it was Pico, a crocodile that he had seen grow up as a baby who was making his way to the beach, more than likely hunting for turtle eggs. I didn't take any chances and kept an eye on him. Sure enough that crocodile made his way through the heavy surf and landed himself on the beach. Freaky.
im more than prepared to use my leash as a tourniquet if i have to.... by that are you saying its sharky though?
shhhhhhh! It's a federal offense to touch a manatee, and there are a couple woowoos on this site that might get all bent out of shape. Personally, I have never stuck a water hose off a dock where I used to teach sailing lessons to attract the couple manatees that show up there every year, fed them heads of lettuce, swam with them, petted them or had any interaction with them in any way. They most definitely NEVER showed up in Seapath Marina while I was cleaning boat bottoms on SCUBA and literally lean against me with their heads positioned to snatch up all the algae and seaweed scrapings coming off my putty knife and water jet..... Speaking of cleaning boat bottoms..... There is a reason I stopped doing it. I and two others were cleaning the bottom of a shrimp boat docked at Motts Channel (google map it to see where it is in relation to the ICW, the inlets and the ocean. There is a seafood market right there and a marina with two cleaning tables on the docks. Luckily it's only deep enough to clean boats close to high tide and the water gets pretty clear in there. As always, tons of little fish show up when you start cleaning. Then the larger Sheepshead, Red Drum, Black Drum and Speckled Trout show up and usually some small sharks and more often a bunch of 2' Dogfish. I'm on the channel side of the boat in deep water and the two other guys were up the bank in about 10' of water. All of a sudden the Drum and the Trout freeze around me then split for the dock pilings. I was looking into deep water and didn't see anything, so I turned around..... Two approx. 6' long Bulls were circling at about the center of the boat right at the drop off into the channel, between me and the other two guys who weren't paying attention yet. I pulled out my knife and started banging on the bottom of the hull as one of the bulls started swimming toward me and the other just stayed where it was. The other two guys swam over to the dock pilings and I did the same, then we pointed our water jets in the general direction of the sharks in case they tried to pursue. Luckily they lost interest and kept heading their way.... INLAND! Also, I have swam many creeks just like this: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/12/south-carolina-bull-shark-leaps-from-water-steals-woman-catch/
Hoopla I'll be up in that ... neck of the woods... on sunday. PM if you want to get up for a session. Looks to be fun, like 4ft and clean. I usually just end up at one of the usual beaches but I am down to help you chum up some of the lesser known spots.
Hinmo - you really get used to the seals on the cape. They're everywhere and they seem curious more than anything. They pop up, check you out, go under, and then pop up again a little closer. They'll stick around the whole session. Sometimes you get a crew of 4 or 5 that cruise around you up and down the shore, but yea recently i cant help but feel a bit like a floating t bone surrounded by juicy filets. it never spooked me, but I'll admit with the recent media hype about the grey suits/constant reminders from the gf, my head's a little more on a swivel. Solo sessions in the fog can give me that vibe there. I've had the dolphin/harmless basking shark experiences and a whale, apparently a minke, surface 50 yards away - that one actually scared the sh*t out of me. Those f******s are big. But the obx just feels more alive. Anyone who spends time down there knows it and im sure the guys down at hatty and rodanthe, have some real stories. I've had some great times down there. On my recent trip i was scratching to get over a decent size face, slap over the back, and see, quickly, through the mist coming off the face (hard offshores) a decent size dorsal fin about 75 ft in front of me. Anywhere else, I convince myself it was all the mist and spray and some chop. in obx, im getting out. Came out later the same day, hop off after a decent right, and im surprised to feel a solid sandbar since im in the slough. Put my foot down again, same spot, and sandbar gone. That was enough to send me in for the day. Next day, waves are much smaller but some decent sets are coming through, beautiful sunny day, so i grab the longboard and im not thinking about anything other than the waves. once im out i hear a good deal of splashing off to my left. i didnt see anything but the vibe came back. i told myself i was being a kook so i took maybe two more waves, then i see what looks like a black stick cutting through the water a long distance away, but thats enough to get me out since it was headed towards the lineup. i went up on the dune in front of my campground to get a better perspective, and got the pictures below. the one called "visitor" is the fin headed that way, which i don't think looks like a dolphin. The second was a minute or so later - there was some splashing and shapeless figures so I got a picture of whatever it was. Probably harmless, but I figured I 'd share it.
