“We’re gonna need a bigger boat!”
Today is the perfect summer day, the one I’d fashion if Mother Nature suddenly bequeathed to me her wondrous powers. It is sunny and dry and cool. I sat out on the deck with my coffee and papers, and it took me a long while to finish. I kept stopping to take in the beauty of the morning.
The coolness had made the backyard denizens more active. Chickadees flew in and out over my head to the feeders and one was close enough to touch. I wanted to offer it my finger as a perch, but the little bird grabbed a sunflower seed and took off to another branch. The beasties too were active. They were chasing each other from branch to branch, and a couple were running through the backyard. I could hear the rustle of leaves.
Great white sharks have been sighted off the Cape coast just in time for the July 4th holiday. They must have seen Jaws and figured they’d audition for a part in a sequel: Jaws 5 or 6, I forget which. I stopped counting when one great white chased the Brody family to Florida.
Reports indicate the great whites are enjoying the ocean up and down the coast. Off the South Shore, not too far from here, a baby was spotted, a 200 pound bouncing baby white. I wondered where its siblings were. It seems great whites give birth to five to 10 pups at a time.
According to the state environmental affairs office, there is nothing to fear. Given my skepticism, I needed to find out for myself so I looked them up. It seems great white sharks will eat any other creature found in the ocean. That gave me pause. I kept seeing little Alex Kintner in Jaws who was having a fine old time swimming with his raft and kicking his feet. We all know what happened to little Alex Kintner. I kept reading. I’m now happy to report that more people are killed by dogs each year than have been killed by great whites in recorded history. I feel better now, but I’m keeping my eye on the neighbors’ dogs.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: beautiful day, cape cod, sharks, summer
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June 30, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Jaws (1975) was absolutely the perfect date movie. At the moment when the severed head (of Gardner) appears in the hull of the boat, my “date de jour” would dive in to my immediate proximity. Having seen the movie a few times I was ready to deal with, and be grateful for,the most shocking moment of the show.
June 30, 2010 at 11:25 pm
My Dear Hedley,
My friend Michael and I saw that movie. When that head appeared, he jumped so high all his popcorn flew into the air.
June 30, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Just don’t swim with the seals. 🙂
s
June 30, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Absolutely never swim with the seals!
June 30, 2010 at 1:45 pm
🙂 🙂 Yes beware of the dog 🙂
I wa sto young to see jaws back then and by the time as finally saw it, well lets say that there were worse movies 🙂 🙂
We never get the big white up here, Think it´s way to close to the arctic. But we do get orcas, greenland sharks and basking sharks here.When an orca comes in the the west coast people take their kayaks out to see them. I think that might be a bit stupid to be honest 🙂 🙂 They must have seen Free Willy one to many times 🙂 🙂
It has been windy and not so cool today. They said it would drop from 84 to 66. But it only dropped to 79. Tomorrow the heat will come back even strongerb they say.I love when it gets a bit warmer and I will not complain, but working beside a hughe owen makes it warm enough at work 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
June 30, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Christer,
I love Jaws and think it’s a great movie. It is my choice for the first movie night on my deck. It will be the 4th of July and we have great whites-perfect!
I love your Free Willy comment!
It was cool all day tonight and is chilly tonight. It is just perfect weather.
June 30, 2010 at 2:31 pm
June 30, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Wolf,
I love the look on Brody’s face when he says, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
Thanks!!
June 30, 2010 at 2:36 pm
OMG, Kat. Will it ever really be safe to “go back in the ocean?” I’m sticking with my lake!
Remember this joke? How did the scientists in Jaws know that the skinny-dipping woman had dandruff?
They found her “Head and Shoulders” on the beach! It was a favorite in elementary school.
June 30, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Erin,
Just don’t swim with the seals!
That’s funny! I never heard it before-reminds me of all those Helen Keller jokes.
June 30, 2010 at 4:45 pm
I love watching nature in my woods too Kat. I did take one of Zoey’s toys out for the wildie five this morning and sat having coffee by my home office window to see if they would play with it. The ball is clear on one side and makes noise and lights up when it is rolled. The five fighting for a place at the food bowl were too crowded and the mom cat, Porch Kitty, nudged one away from the dish. Well you can’t really imagine what the kit did when he/she pawed the ball. It was like setting off an alarm, all five jumping 10 feet in the air. The Mom’s expression of total aweness was amazing for a facial feature in a cat. I could not stop laughing. That was worth the morning watch. Now, of course, they are playing with the ball on the porch all times when coming onto the porch for food. Funny!
June 30, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Z&Me,
I’m imaging the whole scene and chuckling. I have seen my own cats jump straight up in the air when something scared them, and that always makes me chuckle. I wish I could have seen Porch Kitty’s face.
June 30, 2010 at 6:23 pm
They may just be shark groupies who use skin lightening compounds to improve their apparent ferocity. And because no one on the Cape notices the other sharks.
Cheers
June 30, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Minicapt,
The great whites were here last year. One of the tour boats went by just as a shark took a seal. The kids were traumatized.
You’re right about not noticing the other sharks.
July 1, 2010 at 6:18 am
Kat,
Great Whites seem to be the ones that attack here in Oz
more than other species. Lots of attacks here last summer & I for one, am convinced there is one out there with my name tattooed on its forehead. Hence my swimming
days (in the ocean) are over. Was a photo in the paper last week of a 5 meter Salt Water crocodile munching on a 3 meter Bull shark it had killed up in Northern Australia.
July 1, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Pete,
I will tell no one of those attacks. The papers here are reassuring us that attacks are so infrequent they barely rate mention. My friend hasn’t been in the ocean since she saw Jaws!
July 2, 2010 at 8:56 pm
OOPS!
BOSTON — As the summer tourist season ramps up, the Coast Guard told recreational boaters and paddlers Friday to keep an eye out for predatory sharks in the ocean waters off the Northeast, warning that the creatures could easily capsize a small boat or kayak.
The shark advisory, issued by the U.S. Coast Guard district that covers waters from Maine to New Jersey, came several days after the crew of a tuna boat caught and later released a 7-foot juvenile great white shark in the Stellwagen Bank fishing area, about 20 miles off Massachusetts.
Several great white sharks were spotted off Cape Cod last summer, and experts believe more will return this summer, attracted by the exploding local population of seals, a favorite shark food.
With a hot, sunny July Fourth weekend forecast, residents and tourists are expected to flock to beaches.
July 2, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Wolf,
My brother is a fly fishing guide off Monomoy Island where, last year, all the sharks lurked because of the seals. He was close enough to see them swimming.
July 3, 2010 at 12:17 am
k,
many years ago i fished the south shore from Hull to Plymouth, occasionally ventured to the Cape — the only big sharks i recall were a few hammerheads — great whites, tigers, etc., were unheard of — must be climate change, water temp changes — and i don’t remember seals back then either, although i imagine there were a few around
w