Browsing Posts tagged Adelaide
Since our arrival in Australia, we have been warned about the 3 S’s: Snakes, Spiders and Sharks. All are deadly and we should steer clear of all 3 S’s when/if we ever spot them. I think the shark is an obvious, but to someone who is used to seeing friendly garden snakes in the garden and only venomous ones in a museum, the other two were a surprise. They were even more of a surprise when we were told that the spiders and snakes are commonly seen around the house and garden. All snakes in the state of Victoria (where Melbourne is) are venomous and South Australia (where Adelaide is) has it’s fair share of poison too.
When told about the sharks off the coast of the beaches were swimming was to be had, I raised an eyebrow, but was told not to worry. So long as there was someone further out then me in the water, I would be fine. Seemed okay, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me think twice.
Two days later James and I are coming back from a run along the beach and he decides to swim back the last bit, while I run it. He heads off into the water, which was nice and warm, walking his way thru some kelp to cleaner waters, but had only reached about knee, maybe mid thigh height in the water. Just off to his left, in the water, I see a dark shape, perhaps just shy of 2 meters, moving stealthily towards him.
I of course, as anyone would do, scream his name and yell “shark”, pointing just off to his side. He comes out of the water and I gesture to this creature moving along the coast quickly. Not too far away from where James comes out of the water, it surfaces with a fin showing above the water line. We tip our heads to the side and look at one another, thinking that it might be a dolphin and not a shark. Or as I like to now say, a shark disguised as a dolphin. It surfaces some more and by the arcs that it creates as it dives thru the water, we are pretty sure it’s not a shark, but a friendly dolphin. I was amazed at how close to the shore it was swimming, not even 3 meters away from the land. It didn’t stay long, carrying along thru the kelp, but needless to say we didn’t go back into the water the rest of the day. Pretty sure it was a dolphin, but not 100%.
