USVI-On-Line

I am sitting here, rocking back and forth a little bit, chanting to myself "it is just a dolphin, just a dolphin, just a dolphin......"

I have three irrational fears - snakes, rouge waves and sharks. I do not want to see a shark while snorkelling! Good thing I wasn't planning on going to Waterlemon next month.

see, now here is me going... "let me follow him, and I'll tell you what it is!"

Last year, I was out snorkeling around the Maho point by myself (my husband stayed on the beach that time) and I saw a nurse shark just sniffing around the bottom, so I just followed him, took pictures and video of him. When I was done and swimming back, I was talking to this young girl and told her what I saw. She was afraid to go over to the point by herself, so I told her to come with me and I'll take her. We found the nurse shark again, she freaked out and started swimming back to shore!

When I got back to the beach and was telling my husband about the shark and showing him my video, he actually got mad at me for not high-tailing it out of there... haha! I laughed at him and called him a big baby! lol! I just love to snorkel!

HOLEY MOLEY - Watch me walk on water......

I could control myself if I saw a nurse shark because I know their mouths are small, they couldn't "rationally" take a bite out of me. I would calmly and quickly leave the area, not drop dead in the water the way I think I would with a "real" shark.

liamsaunt wrote:Haha on the dolphin votes

Would you believe a manatee?

I did see dolphins at Waterlemon and Maho last time I was there.

I had a close encounter with a sharky kinda shark, in shallow water. I was outta that water in 10 seconds FLAT, squatting on the edge of the water cause my legs wouldn't hold me, literally peeing myself in shock and fear, right on the sand!

I enhanced the picture in Photo Shop and you can see that there is a second dorsal fin. That makes it a shark as dolphins do not have these. Reminder to self "learn to swim Faster".

Oh! SIS! Why would you post this before we newbies get there???? I will not be showing this to Mike! And my vote is that it was a dolphin. The other pictures that you have posted are fabulous. Can not wait to get there!

Hi Cindygad!

I saw a similar shark at Waterlemon last month when I vesited there. The shark I saw was in the shallows and was a lemon shark. This was the second time I had seen one at this bay.

I took several pictures and have them posted on my blog site.

http://sunshinelobster.com

~dan

That's a shark and I don't like seeing that at all.

Grew up with "Jaws" )

I saw a similar shark at Waterlemon last month when I vesited there. The shark I saw was in the shallows and was a lemon shark. This was the second time I had seen one at this bay.

I took several pictures and have them posted on my blog site.

http://sunshinelobster.com


Dan your pictures are amazing. You are alot braver than me. I was so scared I could hardly point and shoot. I think this is the type of shark I saw too.

That's a shark. Very cool. This is a a very good picture considering the
circumstances, a fast moving shark underwater...

I like the "dolphin votes". Totally knew what you were up to Xilandgirl, a sweet
gesture easing the fears.

My dog Phoebe was bit by a shark that she was chasing in
the grassy flats off the reef in Johnson's Bay. Shark got away unscathed but Phoebe
wound up with 13 stitches. Totally her own fault for chasing the shark, which was a
baby only about 3 feet long. And yes, Phoebe kept chasing it even after it bit her.
Leave the sharks down here alone and they'll leave you alone. Sharks are amazing
animals and seeing them in the wild is fantastic. I love sharks. But y'all already
know what an animal lover I am, all of them and insects too. Cheers -c

TouristTrapCheryl wrote:That's a shark. Very cool. My dog Phoebe was bit by a shark that she was chasing in
the grassy flats off the reef in Johnson's Bay. Shark got away unscathed but Phoebe
wound up with 13 stitches. Totally her own fault for chasing the shark, which was a
baby only about 3 feet long. And yes, Phoebe kept chasing it even after it bit her.

I DO NOT appreciate this information!

We know people that have similar problems with their dogs and rattlesnakes here in PA, the dogs just don't know when to give up the fight.

The coolest shark sighting I had on St. John was at Great Lameshur Bay. John and I were swimming back from Tektite when we encountered a huge group of fish swimming in a tight circular school. All around the edges of the school were large, very excited fish, including barracuda and some others...I can't remember now, maybe porgy? One of the barracuda lunged at us so we backed off but stuck around to see what was happening. It turned out that there was a blacktip reef shark under the school of fish, sort of herding the school into the tight circular school. We watched for a while but left before the shark's friends decided to show up for the impending dinner party

This was the best picture I could get of the shark--the water was deep and there was lots of sediment:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/3713808093/" title="Great Lameshur blacktip shark closeup by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2632/3713 ... 951340.jpg" width="500" height="227" alt="Great Lameshur blacktip shark closeup"></a>