Jaws Part 2

This post is for Level 2 readers. To become a Level 2 reader, you must simply read the blog "Jaws?" from January ,2014. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

About a week ago, Jack and I were snorkeling around the boat in the Bahamas. I was trying to build a sand castle twelve feet underwater. I don't suggest that position for building sandcastles; it's impossible. I spun around and saw a nurse shark five feet away. I shot for the surface, kicking my pitiful sandcastle over. After recovering from my surprise, I peered after the shark as it searched for sand dollars and crabs to eat. I noticed it had three remoras hanging on to its stomach.

Only afterwards did I realize how much I've changed.  The day "Jaws?" happened I got out of the water when I saw a foot-long nurse shark. Things are different now. The shark in the Bahamas was easily as big as either of my parents, six feet long. If you are nervous about tropical swimming, I have a few facts for you. There were 23 shark attacks in Florida in 2013. None were fatal. All of them were either at dawn or at dusk. In every case, somebody was dangling feet in the water while fishing and putting blood in the water. There have been three man-eating  sharks recorded in history. All of them were bull sharks. Sharks simply do not attack humans unless they think the people are fish. The least likely of all sharks to attack people is the nurse shark with its blunt teeth designed to crush shell fish. There is no record of a nurse shark harming a person. I got all of this information from a magazine called Florida Sportsman and from talking to fishermen in the Bahamas and Florida.

For years in Leadville, I thought of fearsome sharks and fretted about swimming in the tropics. Sailing through the Caribbean and Bahamas has taught me not to fear sharks if you are not doing something stupid. I have heard of a place where hundreds of nurse sharks gather and come to nudge snorkelers, who either freak out or calmly pet the prehistoric creature. I do not know if I am ready to swim there, but the time that I will be comfortable in that harbor is definitely getting closer. – Porter 

This is Jack, Mama and me on Conception Island, which is the Bahamian island where I saw the nurse shark

Here is Sila in the same anchorage. Unfortunately, we did not have the camera accessible when the shark passed by. The water was absolutely incredible and the bottom was covered with perfect white sand and sand dollars.