Shark!

By now my dear reader has probably noticed I really like sharks. As a child I dreamed of working with Jacques Cousteau, in the field of marine biology. Dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and killer whales...I let life derail those dreams but now I have the opportunity to explore the water world from a kayak. I guess I am living the dream a bit every time I take my boat out.

Today we saw a shark working the shallows near West Key. We wanted to get a better look at him, but without scaring him. We slowly worked our way closer to him and eventually James declared him a hammerhead.

Well indeed, it was a Bonnethead. I was easily able to identify it this evening from web photos and the below description. It was rather a sweet-faced little shark, less than a meter long. It had charming eyes and looked up at me from beside my boat, before slowly turning to swim away from me.

Bonnethead-Shark-Sphyrna-Tiburo.htm

As with many things in life I failed to take close up photos. I have come to feel strongly that trying to catch images of my experiences will sometimes actually get in the way of the experience itself. So, I am sorry dear reader, no close ups of Mr Hammerhead.

As we worked around the key I scared a second Bonnethead up. This one rushed past me with truly a panicked look on its face. I was able to see a white tip on its dorsal fin. I was sad that I scared it as I would have rather enjoyed watching it work for its meal.

Speaking of meals, we stopped at Robbie's Hungry Tarpon on Wednesday. We paddled over there after paddling from the Kon Tiki to Indian Key, hiking there a bit.

Okay, yeah, I like it here. Everything except the tiny "no-see-ums" who expect a meal of blood with every visit.