There's a small reef about a 1/4 mile out and since the tide was low and the waves weren't that bad, we decided we should take advantage and check out the reef. The visibility was OK, not the greatest, but since it was still early, not many boats were out, which means there was better visibility.
I held Nelson's hand the majority of the time and we both had noodles to stay afloat. We've done this before, so we were pretty comfortable (well Nelson more comfortable than me).
We saw pretty fish and followed a couple around:
They were pretty large and very nice to look at. Nelson said he saw these guys the other day when he went out to the reef earlier that week. So we followed and followed and commented how pretty they were through our snorkels. I would say "here fishy, fishy" in my mask, a little muffled but Nelson understood me.
So after about 20 minutes of swimming around, I saw a shark swim right past us, maybe about 10 feet away. All I saw was the last half of Mr. Sharkie's body. I froze and squeezed Nelson's hand REALLY hard and I don't remember if I pointed, but he knew what I was talking about. We came above water and I immediately said, "Let's go, Let's go"
We stayed calm (surprising myself, guess that was the fight or flight response kicking in) and we swam away. We got back to shore and I said "that was not a nurse shark." We've seen nurse sharks before. They are bottom feeders and are always on the bottom of the ocean. They are hardly EVER swimming up towards the top.
We looked up what type of shark it could be:
After a few sites and some research, we came to the conclusion that it was a Caribbean Reef shark. They are not that dangerous but of course if they feel threatened, they will defend themselves. Regardless, I was scared, very scared, but of course we were fine and lesson learned, know more about sharks in the ocean. On the swim back, all I could think about was that I didn't just need to save myself and Nelson, I also needed to save little Roo inside me! :)
When we got back to our chairs, I started to reach my Holistic Pregnancy book again and pretty ironic that I was reading this:
"When a pregnant mother is anxious, stressed, or in a fearful state, the stress hormones released into her bloodstream cross the placenta to the baby. The unborn baby responds to her mother's stress in a similar way."
Guess who will NOT be snorkeling in dangerous marine animals infested waters? Yep, not me!
I will stick with swimming in the pool and meditating to prevent our baby from stressing! :) WOOOOSAAAAAAAAAA
wow
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