Actually this should have been my April fool’s day joke, but got busy fixing a water pump. It still is an inside joke after a fashion. . .
We’ve got shark puppies swimming all over the place here in Raroia. Little buggers less than a meter long. We see them swimming in water so shallow their dorsal fin is completely out of the water simply because their bellies are rubbing against the sand. See them swimming alone, see them swimming with their brothers or sisters or friends. They seem quite curious and follow us around whether swimming or paddling SUPs or even wading in shallow water.
They’re like “shark puppies”, or perhaps more correctly “shark cubs”. Bear cubs are cute little buggers too, all cuddly and such, but they sort of grow out of that phase. I grew up in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina in the US. There be bears in them thar hills. Occasionally one might see a bear cub or two and feel the urge to play with them. Not a good idea, as even if mama is out of sight she’ll be along shortly and will take a very dim view of human interaction with her kids.
No telling if shark parents feel the same way about their young’uns. Little black tip reef sharks are no threat. Bigger ones generally aren’t either, but we’ve friends who have noted some slightly aggressive behavior at times. All in all, we’re not part of their food chain. Tiger and hammer head sharks are a different deal, and one is well advised to watch them carefully and be willing to exit stage left if they start acting too interested.
Recently I was out paddling the SUP which provides a superb view of the sea floor in good visibility conditions. Suddenly I saw a large jumble of boulders and coral, with 3 very large white tip reef sharks (probably somebody’s parents) sort of just hanging out, perhaps having a nap. White tips aren’t supposed to be a threat to us either, but I didn’t stick around to find out. It’s an inflatable SUP. We have friends who got a pretty big chunk bitten out of their inflatable dinghy. Admittedly they were hauling in a fish at the time and Mr. Shark was going after their catch. Makes one think.
If it were safe to spear fish and eat them here the next problem is Mr. Shark. Put a hole in a fish and one better move quickly to get the fish out of the water and into the dinghy or whatever, because Mr. Shark can smell blood from a zillion miles away and make warp speed to investigate. We’ve got a friend who punched a shark in the nose because it wanted the fish she just shot. That woman’s got some big ovaries.
I think I’ll name our shark puppy Bill. Black tip Bill. Bob Sobey’s evil twin as John used to say.
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