Saturday, July 17, 2010
Shark Encounter//
Spearfishing in Fiji has been pretty mediocre considering I had expectation of massive fish everywhere when in reality it is like an aquarium full of fish up to about a foot and a half. You are surrounded by 20 different types of parrot fish, puffer fish, rainbow colored wrasses, goatfish, squid, clown fish, a wide variety of triggerfish and many others. So one afternoon on low tide I took out the Stand Up paddle and paddled a kilometer over to the channel and beached the board on a small sand island. I geared up with my snorkel mask, churchill fins, and 8 ft JBL metal pull spear with a single headed break away spear tip. Jumped in the water and ventured out to the channel where I would begin my hunt. After chasing a few snapper that would quickly lose me in the coral reef I came across a dark shadow off in the deep. I began to turn my focus on this shape to soon discover a 7ft white tip reef shark lurking in the distance observing my movements. I placed the reef shelf behind me as I slowly swam in the other direction with my sling ready to shoot in the case of a charge. Luckily I had not speared any fish yet for he would have taken a great deal of interest in me with the blood sparking the hunger in a shark. After I made it back to my little island I decided it best to leave the fish to the shark today. When I began my paddle back to the resort it was almost dead low so I had to paddle far enough in front of the board to keep the fins out of the water because they would hit the reef and jolt me into the water below. Stand up paddling around this part of Fiji is similar to looking into a aquarium from above because you are able to see all the life flourishing on the reef. I soon took notice to a unique pair of eyes looking at me from a hole in the reef below and right away knew what it was, an octopus. Since I still had my spear on my board I harpooned it directly into the creatures hiding spot. After being inked on multiple times and having this octopus crawling all over my board I managed to get him back to the resort to be used for an evening snack.