Sharks-R-US—Part II

(The warnings continue)

I hate to keep beating this subject to death, but it is rare that I have so much personal knowledge—as opposed to pure opinion (biased or otherwise)—to offer about a current news story in my blogging.

Further, not to sound like a complete liar or know-it-all, but from September 12, 2001 until April 2002 I lived in a little rental house less than fifty yards from the beach in Mexico Beach, Florida, looking the few miles south across St. Joseph Bay toward Cape San Blas where today’s shark attack occurred.

I was originally supposed to relocate myself and a truck load of my “stuff” on 9/11 from Vinings, Georgia, down to the Florida Panhandle to do some work developing some property that I owned in that area. After the terrorist attack that occurred in NY and DC, I decided to wait a day to see if the authorities were going to close the interstate highways and in an effort to understand what the effects of post 9/11 security would have on nearby Tyndall Air Force Base through which I had to drive to get to my new home in paradise.

I absolutely loved living in what is known as ”The Forgotten Coast” area of Florida. Unfortunately, things have changed, the world has discovered the area, and it is rapidly becoming a clone of Panama City Beach, Santa Rosa Island, and Destin.

Today’s Shark attack off of Cape San Blas—that little hooked shaped piece of land that looks like the “trigger” on a gun when you look at the map of Florida on the The Weather Channel on TV—is an unfortunate event, but in my opinion it is not entirely unexpected.

Cape San Blas and the Mexico Beach/St. Joe area are located in the part of the Florida panhandle where several big rivers including the “Amazon of the South”, the Chattahoochee/Flint/Apalachicola River system, dumps most of the rainwater falling on parts of Alabama, half of Georgia, and some of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico.

All of this fresh water is the nourishing source of the famous Apalachicola Bay Oysters. If you haven’t ever eaten any or never have heard of them (the oysters,) I don’t have the words to explain…

This large supply of fresh water flowing into the nearby shallow bays and inlets also produces great fishing for both HUMAN fisherman and MARINE Predators. Thus is the source of today’s tragedy. Rivers, canals, and other inlets represent similar hazards.

Fortunately, in my middle aged lethargy and sloth ness, I did not spend much time wading in the waters in that area in depths over knee deep. I did, however, love to jump in a boat with a load of bait (cigar minnows, shrimp, and squid), coolers full of ice, tanks full of gasoline, and a few beers, and run up and down the shoreline attempting to catch Red Snapper, Redfish, Kingfish, and anything else that would take my hook.

I made my first trip as the captain of a boat traveling out of sight of land--18 miles off shore—in October 2001 from the Mexico Beach Canal. My girlfriend Patricia, the lone other occupant on board for my adventure, was quite relieved when the water tower drew into sight on our return trip that afternoon. Thank God for my Garman GPS system.

Again, if you have never had the pleasure to fish in that area, my words fail me…

The water is rarely clear beyond the depth of three feet, and the risk of stepping on something painful of otherwise injuring oneself caused most of my antics in those days to be restricted to areas above water, floating on the water, or on shore eating, drinking, and singing in the local restaurants and bars.

The same water conditions are presented adjacent to my new home here on St. Simons Island Georgia. For this reason, I have to admit that Pat and I do not spend much time hanging out at the beach or in the ocean—we have a pool at our condo.

The 36 foot deep shipping channel running through St. Simons Sound and the Altamah and Frederica Rivers provide tons of nourishment to support good fishing, but the water clarity sucks and I love the crystal clear waters of places like Panama City, Destin, the Bahamas, and Jamaica over the soup we have here.

I don’t wish another attack on anyone, but lets face it ladies and gentlemen, it will happen again as long as humans survive the auto or plane trips to and from the beaches of the world.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH...Look out everybody....It's a Sunami.....

(does that put a bad beach vacation into perspective???)