The surf looked pretty small this AM, so TC and Paul skipped it. Paul went out fishing in the dinghy, while TC checked SailMail to see if John had sent a new surf forecast. While they did this, I slept. I awoke as Paul returned with his catch - an aku. I'm not sure if he had two or three lines out, but he had a double banger when his aku was on. He thinks the other might have been a yellowfin since it went straight done. However, he was pretty sure that it became some shark's breakfast.
While Paul cleaned his fish, I decided to head out for a paddle around the shallow edges of the pass before we picked up anchor to head north where the swell was likely to be bigger.
Right as I left the boat, a blacktip reef shark swam under me - it was quite deep (30 to 40 feet) and she was fairly small. I don't mind being on a stand up board over a shark, I just don't want my appendages dangling over the side of a board like a tantalizing appetizer. It was actually quite stress-free and enjoyable to watch her (or him) gracefully glide through the water gradually sliding into deeper waters.
When I am paddling around and there is not strong current to fight against, I move at a pretty slow pace. So I don't know if I can really count it as a workout, but moving at a slower pace, I can see so much more of what's going on in the water below me. Today, it was fun to watch a school of tiny fish being chased by a school of slightly larger fish (themselves only about 6 inches long), they passed right in front of my board. A few minutes later I was startled by the sound of big splashes, and a lot of them, right behind me. I turned around to look and it appeared that those same bigger fish were now being chased by even bigger fish.
Going slow also lets me really take in and appreciate the transitions of color in the water. I can't even describe all the different shades - kind of reminds me of how when Crayola used to come out with new colors, they'd have contests to name them. Perhaps if I purchased the jumbo box of 128 crayons, I'd find names to represent the myriad colors I've seen on the trip.
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