SHARK!

i wake up today and wander on down the trail. as i get to the sand i see my buddy tom. it's still pretty early in the morning. he is changing back into his clothes. it made no sense. i asked him why he wasn't still surfing. he simply said "shark." i must have still been asleep, because i asked him to repeat himself. "shark." so i am just standing there with 2680 on my head looking at these beautiful glassy pig perfect peelers peeling by. i inquired further.

he was siting on his board looking at this bird that was floating VERY close to him. just as he was looking at the bird a 5 to 6 foot shark lumbered its way up and bit at the bird. the bird didn't fly away at first. the shark circled the bird then came back for another try. the bird flew away. my buddy paddled in. THE END

now my entire session was filled with that nervous eye looking for movement in the water. i caught some beautiful waves. i had a nice set that bowled so clean. i pulled in and scored a clean barrel. i wasn't even thinking about the shark. ...but you know this bing ...2680... is still new to me. i am figuring out what i can get away with...figuring out where she is sticky, where her acceleration pedal is. well, on this barrel...it is going to pinch me. i was trying to encourage the board to climb the face, but instead she washed out. i lost my board. and as luck would have it...the fucking thing washes all the way in. i have to swim through the lagoon. it's a high tide. all of a sudden that shark story comes to mind. i am swimming as fast as i can. my heart rate is increasing. i was sure to scream like a baby if i would have accidently bumped a piece of kelp. CLASSIC!
here is a shark experience i had while in fiji: when we were filming for INVASION! we had a stretch in fiji. while in fiji, i was snorkeling and surfing all the time. this one morning i was the only one out at this reef. it was a fair paddle out. nearly a football field length. over about chest deep ultra clear water, until you hit the barrier reef. then it drops to who knows...suffice it to say it gets deep...quickly. as i was surfing i was shocked by the islands beauty. the shear tranquility of everything. it was a perfectly glassy day. not a breath of wind anywhere. it was perfect for this spot. not a huge swell, and plenty of tide. the night before was a fairly busy one for party-ing. i was up early , because there was only a 3 day window for the next 8 or 9 days where the tide was going to be right for the wind pattern. i had been out for about an hour. in that time, the sets would come about every 10 minutes. it was fairly inconsistent. when they came in they were head high or slightly bigger. this spot was hollow. you could back door the right and it would dump you into the cut of the reef..the channel so to speak. i had caught about 6 or so waves. epic barrels. i only wish casanova hadn't had that tropical boil. invasion would have a completely different feel, if some of these fiji sessions could have been filmed. some feeling comes over me, i decide to paddle in and get my snorkel. it was so calm and the water was so clear, it was perfect for snorkeling to. as i was rummaging around for my snorkel gear, i saw a buddy of mine. i told him to get his gear and we'd go for a snorkel. as we were going out... there was this Austrian pole vaulter that caught up with us. he was staying at the same bed and breakfast thing we were at. he joined us as we went for this snorkel. before we got going i laid out a strategy to get to the cut. i didn't want to approach the reef pass straight on. i figured we'd scare any big fish away if they saw us coming straight on. i was hoping to see a turtle or one of these huge grooper type fish. we swim up to the reef cut and peek over the side. it was crazy to see the entire floor moving. there were thousands of fish swimming from the lagoon out to sea. as my eyes were focusing on the thousands of fish, (mind you these fish were probably 20 to 25 feet below us)...i started to see them part. as if they were swimming to avoid something. i knew where all the coral heads were, and there wasn't a coral head where these fish were parting. i am floating out over the reef cut ...the shallow part of the reef was about 10 feet behind me. my buddy and the austrian are strewed about near me. i have no idea if they are seeing what i am seeing. we are floating. it is perfectly silent. the temperature of the water is so mild..it felt as if you were just being in emptiness. i am focusing on what is making the fish part. all of a sudden it is clear to me there is a large shark directly underneath me. just as i see it is clearly a shark, the thing rockets toward us. i broke down and straight PANICKED. i turned my back and swam like a mother fucker. we had that foot ball length to get back to the sand. all of us saw this thing. when we got back we looked at some fishing charts. it was determined that it was a tiger. all three of us had this strange bond after that experience.