By: Kristen LePak
Chicago Roar
Have you ever thought about how scary it is to encounter a shark or even just to be close to one in the ocean? Well I have! When I was in Florida for vacation at my grandpas house we would go out on the boat everyday, it was so much fun! we would go snorkeling and seashell collecting. On this particular day my grandpa, uncle, sister and i went out, it was a nice sunny day, perfect for going out on the boat. When we left from the dock the plan was the same as it always is, cruise for a little all around Tampa bay then go out far and find a little island we could swim to after anchoring the boat to go eat our sandwiches on. well after we cruised around Tampa then we were on our way to go eat on the island and all of the sudden the motor shuts off, I thought “did we run out of gas?” BUT WE DIDN’T!
We were stuck in seaweed, so much of it! when I looked down into the water all I could see looked like an ocean forest, seaweed so deep to the bottom, it looked never ending. The next thing I hear my grandpa say was “this is were the sharks live, in these deep waters” and my uncle said “we need to get out of here fast.” so as they were working on cleaning the propeller from all of the seaweed stuck in it I was terrified looking around every inch of the boat waiting to see a shark.I never did, as the propeller turned on the boat was higher in the water and I was so relieved to be driving away from there. We were all so relieved. As we were on our way to the island I felt the warm ocean breeze on my face and had my hand in the water, it was so refreshing. My uncle and sister had their hands in the water too we couldn’t wait to get in. The next thing I know my grandpa says TIBURON! which means SHARK! in Spanish.
I thought my grandpa was joking, we all did. None of us saw the shark, we kept out hands in the water as we looked all around. If you’ve ever been out cruising on the ocean waves you know they can be very choppy making them look like thousands of fins in the water, especially when you’re going fast. When we finally saw the shark which was right next to our boat the whole time, we screamed and pulled our hands out of the water so fast. My heart stopped, It was one of the scariest moments of my life. My grandpa saved all of our arms! If he wouldn’t have seen that shark I’m almost positive that none of us would have.