Since arriving home after my recent Florida vacation, I’ve talked a lot about sharks. That’s because I was surprised I encountered any! —Never in a million years would I have thought it would be a possibility…for me to snorkel over one AND, on a separate occasion, have my children see, not one, but, TWO in the surf! So I had to do some research and find out more about the creatures, and whether or not we should have been fearful during our unexpected meetings with them.

It’s commonly reported that Grey nurse sharks (seen above; like the one I saw while snorkeling) are harmless. So should I have been nervous when I encountered one?

Well, I learned the International Shark Attack File (housed in Florida) has recorded 76 nurse shark attacks on humans, of which 29 have been classified as unprovoked…and two of those unprovoked attacks resulted in fatalities.

It seems the nurse sharks are sluggish during the day and become more active at night. Even though my sighting was during the late afternoon, I’d say it was good thing I’d had an initial fear, and a cautious approach and respect for the unknown at the time.

(I do recognize that curiosity often leads me into dangerous situations…but to date I’ve never been seriously harmed…unless you count the time I had a severe reaction a few months ago after the SAR exercise, when I unknowingly contracted a combination of poison oak, poison ivy and stinging nettle.)

As for my children, I don’t know what kind of sharks they saw. All I can say is that I’m thankful nothing happened to them and I hope we never see sharks again in the surf! I know I’ll always be scanning the ocean water wherever we go—I just don’t want to take the chance of anything deadly happening to any of us!

This whole topic of encountering unpredictable creatures reminds me of the time my sister Marlene and I wandered into the midst of a troop of at least 50 wild baboons foraging in the African bush for food (because of my persuasion, we had been foolishly tracking an elephant that visited our camp the day before)…or the time I encountered a baby bear during my morning walk in the Yukon (and we all know that “where there’s a baby there’s a protective mama nearby”)…but those are topics for other Blog posts.

Hang with me and you’ll certainly find adventure! And remember, we only live once…or do we?

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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