bull sharks at blue hill

[mocean]

for the first time in a long time there was some big bull sharks at bule hill.
jimmy and I where out teaching and we had to come back in .
there where alot of little leopard rays there as well.
as we where coming in the sharks got infront of us.
I told the student not to move or to piss in the water.
the sharks went for a dad and kid playing about 10 feet off shore.
we moved slowly and then the student started to get freak out and wanted to run .
jimmy warned the kid and dad to get out of the water just as the sharks started coming verry close, so with the kid and the dad it was just me and the student left in the water.
as the sharks started to come colse to us,(close enough to see what kind of shark it was)
I moved the kite a bit and the shadow of the kite must of freaked out the shark because he bailed prity quick.
we waited an hour and went back out this time jimmy armed himself with a billy club.
made for an interesting lesson.
aj

[PrayFaWind27]

I'm glad i wasn't there,cause i was going to be riding at the time and was going to shit my shorts, last week Monday(i think) me and Muncha saw a shark too but i don't know what kind it was, but it was a big one.Glad you was there AJ to clam the situation and keep the guest safe. Now, when i'm riding i'm going to keep a knife and another kiter near :twisted: :D

[mocean]

man if you could see jimmy with that billy club, looking over his shoulder every second.
if that bull shark came and bit us I dought that a billy club was going to do anything but it made jimmy and the student feel better.
tough way to make money.
aj

[ricki]

You have more sharks in parts of the Bahamas than in parts of Florida at present.* Do they show much curiosity when it comes to kiteboarders? The few times I have seen them, more often I assume they are there but not visible, they move in as if curious or just off blast away at high speed. Have you had aggressive encounters with them while riding? The only fairly intense attack I am familiar with in Florida involved a guy trying to train himself with bait running. Spent a lot of time in the water among all the chum. I have heard diver stories of shark encounters in the Bahamas for several decades. Most often no big deal, sometimes though it gets a bit intense.

Regarding a knife PFW, I wouldn't bother. Taking out a shark with a knife is akin to taking out a rhino with one. Tough hide and a lot of critter to subdue with a small instrument. When I was a teenager I carried a shark billy for a while. Just a cut off broom handle with a lanyard and some nail heads sticking out of one end for traction against the shark. If one came close enough (never happened by the way) I intended to bop it a good one or three near the nose. Shark billys can provide some comfort and maybe even make a difference. Figuring out where to safely carry one while kiting could be a challenge though. Hook knives can come in handy but for different reasons.

Hey AJ, interesting comment about the kite shadow and shark response. Bait sometimes jump when the shadow passes overhead. Must remind them of fishing seabirds. When was the last time an adult shark got picked up by a flying fisher? Racial memory does last.

http://angrypirate.com/photos/vernal/terradactyl1.jpg
From: http://angrypirate.com/

* Historical Note: I understand that around WWII Bahamian shark fishermen worked the waters off of Ft. Lauderdale/Port Everglades. Go figure!

[PrayFaWind27]

the knife isn't for the shark,Rick,it's going to be use to bleed the other kiteboarder :D :evil: :D.
as far as Blue hill it's the first i've ever heard bout any kind of shark other than sand sharks and i've been kiting at Blue hill for about 4years
, or should i seen at Blue hill. I've kiteboarded until the sun went down and haven't seen anything, but i guess since it's the sea there's always a chance for an encounter. AJ! other than Freeport has there ever been any shark attacks in Nassau? I had a couple of sharks encounters a few at
Blue hill(sand sharks) but the most aggressive one i've ever seen(out of the water looking in) was when i use to work at Radisson,there was a sting ray swimming and jumping out of the water very fast , on the third jump a reef shark jump after it, caught it in it's mouth and dissapeared, looked like a seen out of National GEO, didn't swim for about a month after that.

[mocean]

my father inlaw says that this time of the year there are alot of nurse sharks in the area of coral harbor to south beach mateing.
last year around july I saw some big nurse sharks at blue hill.
I was up close enough to see what kind of sharks they where yesterday and they where definetly bull sharks.
the shadow of the kite must of looked like a teradactor to the sharks.
but never had any trouble with them and don't intend to.
I used to get freaked out when I would come off my board when we used to ride at club med .
aj

[PrayFaWind27]

I thought i was the only one that freaked out when i use to wipe out at
club med. Looks like FL getting there share of bull sharks coming in close to the beach i watched the news this morning and people had to run out the water because of how close they was. I'm not going to be doing no kind of swimming and when( if ) the wind picks up from the NE, i'm going to be all crazy at Goodmans and go slow, it ain't no fun having this shark crape in your brain when you're ride that stops me from trying new tricks in fear of wiping out. Be safe everyone.

[BigR]

I pretty much rode over a 9 foot bull shark over here the other weekend. about 14 feet of water and I was 6 feet above him. By the time I saw him it was too late, I just had too keep going and jibe carefully then hope he didn't notice me. I saw sharks in my head everywhere after that!

[mocean]

everything looks like sharks there,it's right near the shelf (drop off)
you riding in nice water that is a visable bottom and then yoiur in cobolt coler water and you know that this is the spot you don't want to come off ya board.
well I hope that none of us ever gets bitten whylst riding that would freak me out.
anyways good luck don't think about them and they will not think about you.


::aj::

[ricki]

Good luck there AJ. I agree, I try not to think about sharks, take some basic precautions and get on with riding. So far, so good.

There seems to be some things that can really bump the risks up. I was just talking with a guy who spends a fair amount of time over on Andros. He was telling me some stories about spearfishing and how tricky things can be regarding unwanted company.

He was telling me it is so bad that he won't spearfish more than 150 ft. from the boat. If he shoots something, he gets it out of the water pronto. A minute or so too long and here comes trouble. He has had quite a few encounters over the last 25 years over there.

You guys do seem to have more attentive sharks than we do these days. Still, for whatever reason they don't seem to go after guys on boards that much. Good thing.