It was our last day on the beach but not that last day of our beach vacation. And it was probably the best day for us on the beach.
The surf was calmer than it had been.
The wind had died down to almost a whisper so that we didn’t have to worry about losing our beach umbrella.
We hadn’t spent more than three hours on the beach at a time to save our skin. Thursday last week, we were near the end of our stay. It was about 1 p.m. The girls had been out of the water for awhile and Susan and I wanted to take one last dip into the big, blue pool before we began packing up for the day. We chatted briefly about maybe extending the day on the beach about an hour but we weren’t committed to it.
After about 10 minutes in the water together, our decision was made for us. We both looked out toward the pier at Atlantic Beach. In a flash, we saw what looked like a 5- to 6-foot fish breach; light bottom, darker top.
A shark.
There was no mistake. As divers, we knew what sharks looked like. Close enough to touch. We just weren’t used to seeing them above the water. It appeared to be a sandbar shark.
We’d seen dolphins a couple days before. But this was different. Unmistakable.
We both quickly got out of the water and talked about telling the lifeguard on duty. While I walked back to help the kids start packing up, Susan walked over to the lifeguard and let him know what we’d seen.
While I was packing up, a woman who had been sitting near us with her family came over. “That was a shark, wasn’t it?” she asked. She was the only one of her group who had seen it. Yup I said, and I told her my wife was off to the lifeguard.
When Susan came back, she said the lifeguard kind of dismissed it; they saw sharks in the water periodically there. What was strange to us, though, was that it wasn’t the usual feeding time for sharks, but this looked to us like it was after something.
We were sadden to hear about shark attacks at Atlantic Beach and North Topsail [registration may be required to view link from the newsobserver.com].
The next time we see a shark, we hope we’re underwater. In the meantime, we’ll take our “pets” this way:
3 Comments
If I saw a shark i would have got out of the water in a flash!!!! Who’s dog is that????????? It’s so cute!!!!
Wow!! That is crazy that you saw that!! Yeah the “attacks” were all over the news here. I didn’t know you guys were down this way, you should have dropped me line so I could come say hello!!!
Melissa, that is the famous Lucky dog, the golden retriever that belongs to our friends Cindy & Rick. The kids ADORE him.
Aja, how far is it between Morehead City and Wilmington? I think of it as a long way because there’s no easy route, but I’ve never actually driven it.