There's Critters Lurking

There’s critters lurking beneath the water… by Janice L. Green

The air was surprisingly warm, but the water was rather cool, as I shoved off Mother’s Beach, in the wee early hours, on a cloudy, overcast morning. The water was as smooth as glass, and the reflections were crystal clear. The silence was golden. Why anyone would want to paddle at another time of day is beyond me.

It was the first time I have been on the water in nearly two years. I thought my paddling days were over, after I tore my abdominal muscles in an automobile accident. I felt like I was coming home, after being gone for a really, long time. A flood of memories filled me.

I have paddled the bay so often, but I hadn’t in many years. Not much had changed. I recalled listening to the bands play in the summertime, and the spot where a close photographer friend of mine and I filmed in the bay, now dead and gone, but still very much alive in my heart. A smile appeared, the heavy burdens that weigh me down, seemed lighter. It was at that precise moment I knew why I enjoyed the pleasure of kayaking.

After paddling for a short distance, I stopped to put on gloves and booties, in order to get the feeling back in my numb hands and feet. While stopped, I heard a noise which I couldn’t recall ever hearing before. The closest thing to describing it would be a release of steam.

As I resumed paddling, my blade hit something a few inches underwater, which struck me as rather peculiar. My next reaction was sheer fear; when I felt the backend of my kayak rise and I saw a massive, grey shadow, twice the width of my kayak, slither through the water, underneath my kayak.

My heart started racing a mile a minute and a sick wrenching feeling gripped my stomach. What’s the matter are you a chicken you must be thinking? No, I am not a chicken of the sea, but I must admit I got a quick reality check, that there are creatures lurking beneath the water in the bays and harbors, that could make mince meat of me.

I picked up my pace a tad and decided to move to another location. Ok I lied. At that moment I was Chicken of the Sea and I began to paddle like I had a fire lit under my rear. A hundred yards further it happened once again, except this time the entire back end of my kayak was lifted out of the water.

I The good thing about paddling when not a ripple mars the water surface is sometimes you get a forewarning some thing’s coming. What exactly is coming may not be known. With that thought fresh in my mind, I didn’t know whether I should be grateful (or concerned), about gliding through the murky water in the bay. Grateful because ignorance is blitz if you don’t have a clue what’s swimming a few feet beneath you – concerned because I can’t see it coming.

I didn’t see any dorsal fin breaking the water surface, but my experience about being attacked by a shark was close to nil. Do sharks swim around you in a circle, and give you a heads up they are going to attack, or do they sneak up from behind out-of-sight underwater and bite you in the behind without any fore warning? Beats me baby. All I knew is, I wanted to get the heck out of there and not wait around to find out, so I made my way to the nearest shore like I was Speedy Gonzalous, (a cartoon character who was the fastest mouse in all of Mexico), which was exactly what I felt like at that moment: A scared mouse running for cover …except of course I was paddling instead of running….

All I know is a long time ago I learned to respect the laws of nature: wind, water, fire and critters that can eat you for breakfast. Hummmmm, speaking of breakfast, that sounded like a lot better plan than fishing at the moment…..I decided to call it a day and go have some breakfast…instead of being breakfast for some hungry critter looking for something to eat.