Shark

The sky was a really dark blue today, so I decided to take a drive to the harbor and the spit.  Initially, I walked to the right, found some chunks of beach glass and pet a friendly stray dog.  It's crazy how easy it is to forget why having a dog is so great.  It was a lab too, a chocolate one.

On my trip back to the vehicle I was drawn to a bunch of eagles.  I took a few pictures and then almost got back into the car when I saw it.  The eagles' fixation was on a good sized shark.  I've seen river catfish back home and sturgeon, but this thing was big.  It also confirmed why swimming in the ocean is scary to me.  To think, I used to cliff dive in the balmy waters in Okinawa.  The adrenaline was a for a good cause.

Enjoy the pictures.  Click on the pictures to see them undistorted.

America munching on a fish.  It is difficult to determine the size of the fish since eagles are such large birds.  Walking up to this dead creature gave me a bit of anxiety.  I couldn't help but think, are eagles are like wolves with their prey?  The large birds continued to circle overhead  while I took a few closeups.  I felt somewhat in the clear in the absence of their battle cry.  When they start shrieking, back off.  Not that one really could back off, they can go at speeds of 30 mph.  Ask the guy that was on the roof a few summers ago that got too close to a nest.  He had his ear ripped off.  I wonder if he heard the shrieking.  I've been close enough to nests to remember the chill inducing cry.

Dead shark with me next to it to show scale.  The first time I was at the beach alone.  Nate humored me by taking this picture on the return trip.

I am 62" long.  Granted I am short, but this was a big fish.

Close up of the shark's face.  Look at the scars on him.  See the gills on the far left?  If the eye seems funny, the eagles must have ate it, I looked inside and there was a cave where the eye was supposed to be.  When I was on the ground next to him, I took a sniff, he had a light fishy smell (I was already there, I was curious).  His skin had a neat texture to it.  It looked bumpy like chicken skin, but had a leathery quality too.  I would have loved to carve out the jaw but the knife I had on me was a tad small for this gigantic thing, plus the bitter wind off the water would have rendered my hands useless.