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Re: Open water swim encounters [Impulse-Warp] [ In reply to ]
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Not nearly as big as a swan, but I got attached and nipped by a sea bird while OWS in the Hudson River.

Early am, nobody and nothing else around, and all of a sudden my extended hand is being bitten by something, and it HURT.
I pull it back quickly and look up to see an explosion of wings flapping in my face as said bird realizes it tried to bite off more than it could chew.
It was pretty terrifying for a few seconds there.

Also, I found out that while birds don’t have teeth (duh), they do have some fairly sharp ridges inside their beaks, which I guess helps them hold onto the fish they catch.
Those suckers hurt, I had some scratches on my fingers from that brief nip.


float , hammer , and jog

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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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I was fortunate to not encounter this one, but found it when looking for my photo. It pays to be a fast swimmer.





Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/
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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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Alligators in Indian river off of Merritt island. They stayed away and did their own thing.

Dolphins in Kailua bay. :)

Jellyfish in the Adriatic during... not sure which race that was Venice or Pula or maybe Pescara?

Best was bumping heads dead-on with other swimmers in Kailua bay 1/2 mile off shore --- on two different occasions.
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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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"I swim in the Chesapeake Bay for the most part, so I (thankfully) don’t have to contend with sharks."

Are you sure about that?



https://www.chesapeakebay.net/...n_the_chesapeake_bay

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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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I've seen a seal. My worst encounter was when someone was OWS with her dog and the dog came after me.

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: Open water swim encounters [Twinkie] [ In reply to ]
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Twinkie wrote:
Well if we are talking about actual encounters and not including open water swims - then heck ya. Surfing in Florida haha

- Ive gotten rammed by a 5 foot blacktip/bullshark - didnt see it well just a ton of splashing while it occured while in waist deep water walking out to surf. Knocked me over.

- I was sitting on a longboard on a clear water day which is unusual for central florida and it was maybe thigh high. small mellow day. Some old hawaiian guy goes " hey brah, you might wanna lift yah legs" and pointed to my left and here comes a 6 foot blacktip slowly cruising on the surface straight toward me. slipped underwater about 6 feet from me, swam inches below my board, surfaced on the other side and kept slowly swimming.

- I was in Hatteras and the water was crystal clear. We kept seeing a shark fin in the distance but didnt pay it any mind. A bit later I was turning to take off and my buddy points in the water next to me and is sheet white. Absolutely pale death white. I stopped and looked and about 3 feet away is a HUGE open mouth of a 8-10 tiger shark. I had a fair bit of time to go "well I can't get out of this and this is really going to suck" but it just turned sharply away at the last minute. I was Jesus and walked on water that day. I have yet to go back and surf that place. It was off Avon fishing pier.

- Anytime we release a fish in the Everglades after we catch one - we DO NOT put our hand in the water. A few times a nice 5 foot bullshark came up and snatched the fish as we are releasing it.

- Been chased countless times by water moccasin in the springs

- Fell off a wake board once in the river and a HUGE alligator popped up about 15 feet away and started swimmingly hastily toward me. I would estimate it being 13 feet or bigger. I lived on that river my entire life and seen hundreds but that sucker was the biggest. Buddies put the boat between me and it and snatched me out of the water. Pretty sure I sh*t myself.

-Stepped on stingray, box jelly sting, can't count the Man-O-Wars I have been stung by. Lionfish, Fire coral, Catfish. Snakes. Spiders. Urchins. Everything in Florida wants to hurt you.


I need to get my hundred time down below 20 seconds.
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Re: Open water swim encounters [LifeTri] [ In reply to ]
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Surfing in Vanuatu, had a manatee come close to me to investigate. Pod of dolphins swam right in front of me on an OWS, I kinda heard them before I saw them. That was pretty cool.

Have surfed a week later in a spot where there was a fatal great white attack the week before. Was thinking lightning doesn't strike twice in the same spot. If I saw one on an OWS, I'd shit myself.
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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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This wasn't an open water encounter but it's pretty close. I got bitten twice by a seven foot alligator that came out of a small lake the day after I did a long-ish open water swim in there. I was trying to catch the gator -- which I did, in spite of the bites -- after it came out in a homeowner's driveway. I talked about it in a thread here. There's also a photo of me with my arm in the gator's mouth:
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...g=alligator#p6644286
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Re: Open water swim encounters [Mizzouvet] [ In reply to ]
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Sea otters, seals, sea lions and bunch of fish of one kind or another
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