Monday, February 9, 2009

Adventures in Swimming, pt.2

Before leaving Kuata at 10:30am, I head out to take another swim around the bend, this time dragging Peter and James with me, both from the UK. Both guys bring their snorkeling gear. It takes some coaxing to get Peter in, James couldn't be convinced. The tide is high, but the jump (maybe a foot or two) was too much for him.
"Then just climb down. Come on!"

I grab Peter's mask to see how deep the water was where we jumped in, to reassure James. Mask on, under I go. And there is a shark! Swimming exactly where I had jumped in minutes earlier. In a flash, I'm back at the rocks, clinging there like a monkey.
Annoyed that he missed the shark, Peter reclaims his mask and paddles around looking for it.
"So let me get this straight, jumping into water doesn't scare you, but reef sharks do? Even though you were just snorkeling with some yesterday?"
"I knew they would be there yesterday. I wasn't expecting any here."
"Uh-huh."

I borrow James's mask. We swim out further. Peter taps my arm: "Would you want to know if there were sharks around?"
I roll my eyes, "Um, that was subtle."
"There are two right under us." This time, I stay calm.

The boys have trouble walking back over the rocks, but I'm pretty quick, my feet conforming to the surfaces. I'm informed my pace is hurting their masculine pride.

We see three tiny sharks chasing easy other in the shallows.

I see Moses when we get back to the hostel. Tell him there are sharks where we went swimming the other night. Sharks!
Yes, he says, looking at me as though I told him the sky was blue.
Blue!

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