Gomig-21
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- Oct 16, 2016
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I was deep water snorkeling south-east Egypt in the Red Sea (30 years ago) and the party I was with returned to the boat while I lingered a little longer. Dove down one last time then surfaced and looked over to the boat which was about 300 meters away and suddenly I felt something vigorously brush one of my fins. Before even looking down in the water I knew I was in trouble and sure enough I see a huge oceanic white-tip shark about 5 meters away. I started screaming and waiving to the boat I was in a state of fear and panic that frankly I've never had since that day. Slowly swam back to the boat while keeping an eye on the shark as it kept pace with me but never coming close again, thank God!
Had nightmares of being in the water from that day on for a very long time.
The other time was 3 years ago, took the boat out of the marina here in the northeast US and took the family out for a great day of boating and fishing and hanging out. Went out about 15 miles and anchored in about 100ft of water, fished, cooked and ate and listened to music and talked. Had 8 people on our 30 footer and after an hour of great fun, things turned from heaven to hell. A sudden storm (that wasn't in the marine forecast) suddenly moved in faster than I've ever seen. Barely had enough time to pull the anchor and start the boat before the 8ft waves started pounding the boat. I tried to navigate these high waves and in several instances found myself pushing the boat over the waves and ending up flying vertically with 8 members of my family (3 kids under 13) holding on for their dear lives. It was probably the worst experience I've ever had since my entire family on board had their lives in my hands. Having a 30ft boat go vertical in the air and then slam into the rough water only to happen again in a few seconds is one of the worst things ever. The alternative is to submerge the bow and that will definitely be the end of things since even in the summer time, you have barely 5 to 10 minutes of exposure to that water temperature before hypothermia sets in. Coming out of that was one of the greatest reliefs I've ever had.
Had nightmares of being in the water from that day on for a very long time.
The other time was 3 years ago, took the boat out of the marina here in the northeast US and took the family out for a great day of boating and fishing and hanging out. Went out about 15 miles and anchored in about 100ft of water, fished, cooked and ate and listened to music and talked. Had 8 people on our 30 footer and after an hour of great fun, things turned from heaven to hell. A sudden storm (that wasn't in the marine forecast) suddenly moved in faster than I've ever seen. Barely had enough time to pull the anchor and start the boat before the 8ft waves started pounding the boat. I tried to navigate these high waves and in several instances found myself pushing the boat over the waves and ending up flying vertically with 8 members of my family (3 kids under 13) holding on for their dear lives. It was probably the worst experience I've ever had since my entire family on board had their lives in my hands. Having a 30ft boat go vertical in the air and then slam into the rough water only to happen again in a few seconds is one of the worst things ever. The alternative is to submerge the bow and that will definitely be the end of things since even in the summer time, you have barely 5 to 10 minutes of exposure to that water temperature before hypothermia sets in. Coming out of that was one of the greatest reliefs I've ever had.