Just wondering what kind of wildlife you all have encountered. My group swims at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, IN (Indianapolis) Our running list is attack swans (you have to roll over on your back and kick them in the chest to get them off of you) other assorted waterfowl, a crotch carp (one of the group members was standing in water thigh deep when a fish jumped into the air and hit him in the crotch, then bounced off and hit another group member in the chest) and this morning I swam past my new friend the lake snake. What could be next?
When I was a kid, I spent lots of time swimming in open water off the coast of southern California. We had a boat and would often head to Catalina Island for a day trip. Usually, about halfway there, we would stop and my dad would let me and my sister swim before having our lunch.
We would often see dolphin and flying fish. I remember having my toes nibbled on a couple of occasions and thought it was cool -- but, I couldn't see the fish who were tasting-testing me. Mind you, this was years before Jaws was released. :afraid: I had no fear of being in the water when I was young, but Jaws really freaked me out as a young adult. I'm over it now.
Now that I'm getting started in swimming open water events as a much older adult, so far all I've seen are lake trout.
I'll be swimming in the ocean near San Diego in June just for fun, so maybe I'll get lucky and see something a bit bigger or more interesting (so long as it isn't a Great White shark!).
-Fire coral in Bonaire, Caribbean; day before my 1st OW race I bumped my hand on a bouy line encrusted with it. (That stuff stings a wee bit.)
-Either a juvenile Great White or very large Bronze Whaler; Henley Beach, Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, Feb. 14th, 2010. We were outta the water and back on the beach in about 60 secs... (Won't forget that swim anytime soon...)
-HUGE Southern bull rays everyday off Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Oz. You can see these giant rays on every OW swim thru the summer. en.wikipedia.org/.../Australian_bull_ray
-A dolphin came right up underneath me and scared me senseless for about 2 seconds also off Glenelg this past Jan. It circled played with us for a few mins and threw us a large live fish it has stunned somehow.
-Some type of GIGANTIC jellyfish, I never properly ID'd it, but it was 18" across, trailing long tentacles, flashing blue electricity inside and surrounded by incredibly tiny fish. We gave it a very wide berth.
-Stung by a blue bottle stinger on a 14.5k OW swim from Whitsunday Island to Hamilton Island, QLD, Oz. Saw so many stingers of all sorts on this swim I was spooked silly. It was mid-summer high season for the deadly Irukandji stingers and I was freaked. There was also a shark attack there the week prior to our swim. Awesome swim but wrong time of year to do it/bad planning all around. I won't swim off QLD in the summer months ever again.
-A dolphin came right up underneath me and scared me senseless for about 2 seconds also off Glenelg this past Jan. It circled played with us for a few mins and threw us a large live fish it has stunned somehow.
Maybe it thought you were cute and throwing a fish is a dolphin's way of flirting? :D
The closest I've been to a dolphin is when my sister and I would sit on the deck of the bow of our parent's boat and hold onto the railing bar and dangle our feet over the edge. If the ocean was choppy enough, we would get splashed, which felt great on a hot summer day. The dolphin would swim just below our feet, and would swim with us for what seemed like miles.
Some years ago I was trout fishing on the South Platte River in Colorado and I was just standing very still, watching, about mid-thigh deep in the stream when a beaver swam between my legs.
Cute :D That must feel very funny, just imagine! Beavers are such amazing animals--have you all seen the news about the largest beaver dam discovered in Canada about two days ago?
Once I was surfing, sitting on my board waiting for a wave when a dolphin swam under me at top speed. All I could think was if he had run into me he would have snapped my legs off. They are fast.
In the Atlantic Ocean, I've encountered dolphins, striped bass, bluefish and skates, plus thousands of little bait fish and crabs.
Jellyfish - stinging or non-stinging - are also present, especially in August.
However, the scariest things I've ever run into out in the open water were drunken boaters and a freighter in the Hudson River.
my wife completed the 'gentle giants swim' with whale sharks this evening at the Georgia Aquarium... just multi-tasking while at the short course USMS
a ridiculous number of shark species in the tank too!
I swam La Jolla Cove for the first time last weekend and encountered the following:
A beautiful orange Garibaldi, a small California Barracuda, and some wicked kelp that plays tricks with your mind making you think it might be one of the numerous sea lions that frequent the area as you're putting your face back into the water after sighting! :afraid:
I got freaked out a couple of times thinking I was going to run into a sea lion, only to realize it was a large strand of kelp. :blush:
how about gellys so thick I fely like my head was a snow plow , off rockaway beach N.Y. also upon ocassion soom tropical fish brought up by the gulf steam. They usually swim right below you in your shadow unless something scares them away.horseshoe crabs, lots of people drown off Rockaway in the summer and they don,t allways find them right away, sometimes I,m out there before they find them but I,m never alone and I,m not looking verry hard either!
