Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fins to the left, Fins to the right...


So there we were spending a hot summer day on Sanibel Island. No, we were not there expecting to find big shells in the so-called "shell capital" of the world. (PLEASE...I have yet to find any shell there worth picking up. I once got a coconut, though:-) We were simply there to float in the warm shallow waters for the day and stay cool. SO, float we did...for hours...in that blue bath water. We had our rafts, and leisurely paddled through the water, just us three girls, enjoying this day together. In places it got a little murky but hey, there were a ton of people in the water and it is so shallow, so why worry? I know, Tiger and Bull sharks can come in close...Taylor reminded me of that fact. But I reassured my daughter by saying they didn't come to this area (a little mom white lie) so we kept floating. Did I mention we dangled our fingers and toes over the edge of our rafts to keep cool, gently splashing water on ourselves from time to time? Yes, it was heavenly. Finally, I decided that there was no sunscreen high enough for us to stay a minute longer, so we packed up and left the beach.

As we walked down the trail to our car, I turned around one last time to look at the beautiful parasail in the sky and that's when I saw it...a sign similar to this except it wasn't on the beach but near a bush by the trail leading to the beach.

Now, don't you think the sign at our beach should have been ALL OVER THE PLACE? Maybe attached to a bright red flag with a shark fin on it or something?

No, it was a tiny sign, similar to this but not as clear, posted to one side of the trail on a stake. It read "WARNING SWIMMERS...Recent shark sightings in the area. Swim at your risk". Apparently they were spotted near shore as recently as that very morning. Hmmmm..... My girls were like "MOMMMMMM...you said sharks don't like this area of the Gulf." So what am I, a marine biologist????? I just told them that they had a choice...die of heat stroke on the beach or cool off in the water. I didn't point out that we had a third choice...stay home in our pool:-) Anyway, next time you go to the beach, look for signs like this...it just might save your pretty fingers and toes!:-)

On a happy note, don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY.

11 comments:

  1. Kind of scary, but oh how I love the beach...course I live many hundreds of miles from one! Darn!!

    Have a great weekedn!

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  2. Yikes!! A couple of years ago we spent three glorious weeks in New Symrna Beach Fla. Had my babies out on rafts splashing and giggling. When we came home to the frozen north I picked up an article in a magazine which had named New Symrna as one of the most dangerous places to swim that year. MOST shark attacks! I never saw a sign the entire time I was there. Next time I'll know to look for a wee sign beside the path:)

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  3. Oh, that's scary...I have gotten to where I don't even like to wade in the ocean anymore, I'm afraid of stepping on a jellyfish!

    It does look beautiful though! I can't believe they didn't have more signs around either!

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  4. Scary!! Lucky for us, there are rarely any sharks around the beaches we go to.

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  5. the fish in our lake only poke us, not a real threat. But... last weekend with the snakes, that was scary! Even though they wouldn't eat us for breakfast, they are not something I want to be swimming with just the same.
    But yes, your pool sounds good.

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  6. Well I'm so glad you didn't get to see any of the scary tourists swimming at the beach - it looks like a beautiful place to visit! Thank you so much for visiting my blog - have a wonderful week!

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  7. OH WOW!! How scary! Your too funny. I do love Sanibel though. I used to go there every January with my sister and mother-in-law for a girls week. Very beautiful. When did you go?
    XOXO

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  8. Yikes! I love Sanibel Island one of our fav vacation spots have been several times and plan to take the kiddo there some day. A Arnold Palmer is half lemonade half ice tea and in lower Mi some call it swamp water!

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  9. That is just freaky to think sharks can be that close to shore!! That's the reason my husband will never ever get in the water at the beach. I always say, "what do you think's gonna happen...a shark is gonna swim up to the edge of the water and bite your feet off?". Well, after reading this...apparently they do come that close to shore. Yikes!

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  10. Oh my Goodness that is crazy! When I was at Sanibel Island there was an alligator in the ocean!!! Yes he was there I saw his two eyes staring back at me! We asked the locals about it and they said the only time they get in the ocean is when they are sick. Don't know if that is true or not but you can believe I wasn't getting in that water the rest of the week:)

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  11. H-O-L-Y CRAPOLA!!!

    When I used to teach swimming lessons we had one day of lessons at the beach. The kids were afraid of sharks and I told them that the sharks didn't come in this close to the shore (and they never did!) Not two seconds later some fisherman caught a baby black tip reef shark. GREEEEEAT.

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So, what do ya think? Do tell...I'd love to hear it:) Be Happy...

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