Log: Swim Pacific

[DAY 29] Another shark encounter

Another great day for swimming, little wind, waves were rolling in the right direction, and the water was warm.

Ty and Mark were in the RHIB pacing me, it was an uneventful morning until I heard Ty scream “Ben, Ben shark!” I swam toward the RHIB, Ty was pointing in the direction toward my right saying “it is there about 20 meters away!” I looked but couldn’t see anything. Mark was trying to capture it on camera. We were all looking for it. And then in the waves, I saw the fin for a split second. I stayed in the water and looked under the water for a few more seconds and then I put a shark repellent bracelet on my ankle and resume swimming. This was our only encounter of the day.

I took advantage of the conditions to push over my hours a day.
Since the water was warm, at the end of the day I decided to remove my wetsuit, rinsed it and rinsed myself at the same time.

Ben

3 thoughts on “[DAY 29] Another shark encounter

  1. Hi Ben, What goes through your mind when you hear there are sharks near by you? Are you afraid? And how does a shark repellant bracelet work? Has it got a certain smell that sharks do not like?

    Nice to hear you are swimming through some warmer waters. Enjoy!

    Blessed be your journey!

    1. Hello, the sharks don’t bother me. I remain calm and everyone I have encountered has left me alone. When we see one, we use an electromagnetic device which exploits the sensitivity of the Ampullae of Lorenzini in sharks and rays. Ben

  2. It must take a lot of mental strength to keep swimming for the whole day knowing there is a shark about in the waters. I do a little bit of open water swimming in our sheltered bay and in one event, we swim 2,5km out to a buoy anchored on a reef, and then 2,5km back to the shore. The reef is a popular diving site and is a nursery for juvenile sharks. In all the years this event has been held, there has not been one encounter with a shark. But the unknown factor of fear is always there. Some folks also wear a shark band, which is a device that has some sort of electromagnetic current field that radiates out. If I’m correct, sharks have some receptor organ near their snout that pick up electromagnetic current and the shark band helps to repel them.

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