Great white, where?

I was floating around in the ocean yesterday when my mate Damo asked me if I'd seen the Gold Coast Bulletin this weekend. I hadn't of course, because I don't live on the Goldie. He smirked, out of the side of his mouth, and then asked why I thought there were so many jet skis driving up and down the beach, outside of the lineup? I thought that this was reasonably normal, though there were more skis than you get on your average day at the beach.

By now my appetite for information on what was behind these questions had been whet. Ususally when you're out having a surf with your mates, the talk centres on football or cricket results, what happened during the week, and other such subjects. Finally, Damo says, "They caught a great white, right here, at lunch time on Friday. And they caught another one last week down at Rainbow".

I burst out laughing.

I spent most of my youth in Western Australia going surfing every weekend, and I spent heaps of time swimming and snorkelling along most of the coast from Warroorra Station north of Carnarvon down to Esperance in the Bight. WA is renowned for it's sharks, and particularly its Whites thanks to the rich waters full of aquatic life that the Leeuwin current brings down from Indonesia. As a person who likes to spend time in the ocean, I've come to an understanding that there are fast fish with big teeth that may want to nibble on your extremities from time to time, if for no other reason than to check you out. Sometimes they want to eat you, but not often. So I'm resiled to the possibility, the potential, of a shark encounter every time I go into the water. I've seen a few out there too, but not many. You can mitigate the risk significantly by staying out of the water at night, at dusk and at dawn, and I do this as a matter of policy. But that is a mitigation only. The risk is never fully diminished.

Sharks draw a primal fear in almost everyone. Their appearance and skill in the water puts we humans many rungs below them in the food chain and there is nothing that can be done should they choose to bite you. Motor cars and aeroplanes provide far more compelling statistics for people to meet an early death, however these machines are so workaday that we barely give them much of a thought. Cars and planes don't look like this either:



So I burst out laughing. And then I caught another wave and it didn't enter my mind again until this morning. If your time's up, well what can you do but accept it and enjoy the waves?

The story from the Bulletin is here: http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/10/18/17657_gold-coast-lead-story.html