I was out on Saturday morning for rolling practice and a short paddle. I usually go to the local inlet (Boynton Beach) which connects Lake Worth and the Intracoastal Waterway to the Ocean. The inlet was originally dug in the 20s as a drainage canal and is not considered officially navigable. It's extremely narrow, with seawalls on both sides and there can be a 5 or 6 knot current during tide changes. Boats always run the inlet at full speed so it's not an option in a kayak. However, adjacent to the inlet is a little marina and a small park with a beach. On an incoming tide crystal clear water floods the whole area and rolling is a more aesthetic exercise. The water is brown on the outflow, as it drains from the Everglades and is both tannic and I assume, dirty. I was rolling in an area about 30 yards from the inlet in 15 feet of water. It was a clear patch about the size of a football field surrounded by brown water. I had just rolled up when I saw something big and dark cruise past the paddle blade still in the water. I thought it might be a dolphin and I gave chase. Just then the dorsal fin broke the surface and realized this was no dolphin! It turned out to be a 6 or 8 foot shark, probably a bull shark. It did a 180 and came right back at me just a few feet under the surface. The shark cruised the area for 10 minutes, disappearing into the brown water and then back towards the boat and then gone for good. I paddle over to the tourists from Pittsburgh and calmly suggested that they take their kids out of the water for a few minutes. They asked why, and I mentioned that the shark that has been cruising over there (about 30 feet from shore), might still be hungry. Their eyes opened like saucers and they grabbed the kids and almost ripped their arms off getting them out of the water. They were still thanking me when I was putting my boat on the roof..heh heh. Went back on Sunday and Tuesday evening and haven't blown a roll since! Bulls are pretty aggressive, and there have been a couple of bull shark attacks in the Gulf recently. One swimmer lost an arm. Some friends who were out on a Hobie just off the inlet at the same time I was rolling saw 4 bulls, fairly unusual. Bob Denton Aqua-Gulf Transport bdenton_at_aquagulf.com www.aquagulf.com <http://www.aquagulf.com> *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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