Shark Time

 At Surfers Corner this morning, I was greeted by tiny 1–2 ft surf, even clean lines and crystal clear blue water. A gentle offshore wind breezed across the bay and even though the surf was small, after not surfing for a while I was desperate to get in.

Then I was told that the beach was closed again for the 2nd day in a row. The white shark flag was up and no-one was out in the water. No wonder. According to the guys at the boerie roll caravan in the parking lot there is a dead whale on St. James beach that the sharks are feeding off.

Just yesterday they saw five sharks scurrying about not 100 meters from the shoreline in front of the Muizenberg parking lot.

At that point I already had one leg in my wetsuit and was contemplating whether or not to take a chance when I saw someone else paddling out. My first thoughts were, stupid guy, if the shark spotters say don’t go in the water, it means there are sharks and you mustn’t go in the water. Needless to say I packed up and got to work on time. Not sure what happened to that guy.

But what is cool is that it seems humans are finally learning the tricks of harmonious co-habitation with the apex predator of the oceans.