The Tuamotus Diaries #49, Day 95 – August 31st 2016
I had seen it on television, and knew it might happen one day.
And the day was today.
I happened to be on deck at the right time in the morning.
I happened to be staring randomly at the water around us, and looking at the right spot.
And it happened.
A shark exploded out of the water, full body, just a few feet away from me.
It wasn’t exactly as I had seen on TV, or my mind had pictured it: a large Great White, bursting out on a vertical jump, its prey being crushed in between its jaws while it fell back on the same place, with a big splash a blood-tainted water. Rather, it was a medium reef shark – about the same size as Raquel. It didn’t jump straight up, but at an acute angle with the surface instead, travelling a good 2 meters above it. It made at least two complete twists around its axis in the process and penetrated the water with little fuss. There was no signal of a prey – either whole or in pieces – and no blood either. In fact, I couldn’t see its mouth. Just the quick, sharp movement, and it was gone. Quite elegant.
I had already seen dolphins jumping out of the water. I had seen whales, manta rays, and different kinds of fish, even tuna. But I had not seen a shark doing it yet.
Now I do.