mtpalin
Well-Known Member
I was there and saw it then too. Here's my Jaws experience from the summer of 1975....
I was clamming in the bay in NJ with my best friend's family. Our method was to suspend a metal basket in an inner tube and tread the bottom with bare feet until you felt a clam, pull it loose, and throw it in the basket. Because of the method we basically stayed in waist deep water.
This particular day, the bay was crystal clear. You could see the bottom very clearly. There were sand sharks roaming about here and there. My basket was nearly full, and the water was so clear that I worked my way into deeper water. I was singing the Jaws theme to myself, DA DA DA DA (you know it).
By the time I got to about chest deep, I was well away from the rest of the group. About that time I looked out over the surface of the water and saw what I least expected. Two dorsal fins broke the surface of the water about 10 yards out and began to circle one another.
Now I was really into Jaws and knew the worst thing that I could do was to make a lot of noise and to thrash about. But actually being in the water with live sharks is a lot different from what I expected. I yelled out "SHARKS" and began literally running for the boat through chest deep water - about the worst thing I could possibly do. But visions of Jaws were running through my head and all I knew was that I had to get out of there!
I made the boat and clambered into it. By this point the fins had submerged and the rest of our party thought I was insane. I was still shaking when the sharks reappeared off the stern of the boat. I yelled, "SHARKS" again. This time everyone else caught site of them and everyone hurried into the boat.
While I was in the boat I caught a good look and I estimate that the sharks were in the 6 - 8 foot range. Not Jaws by a long shot, but large enough to scare the bejesus out of all of us.
I was clamming in the bay in NJ with my best friend's family. Our method was to suspend a metal basket in an inner tube and tread the bottom with bare feet until you felt a clam, pull it loose, and throw it in the basket. Because of the method we basically stayed in waist deep water.
This particular day, the bay was crystal clear. You could see the bottom very clearly. There were sand sharks roaming about here and there. My basket was nearly full, and the water was so clear that I worked my way into deeper water. I was singing the Jaws theme to myself, DA DA DA DA (you know it).
By the time I got to about chest deep, I was well away from the rest of the group. About that time I looked out over the surface of the water and saw what I least expected. Two dorsal fins broke the surface of the water about 10 yards out and began to circle one another.
Now I was really into Jaws and knew the worst thing that I could do was to make a lot of noise and to thrash about. But actually being in the water with live sharks is a lot different from what I expected. I yelled out "SHARKS" and began literally running for the boat through chest deep water - about the worst thing I could possibly do. But visions of Jaws were running through my head and all I knew was that I had to get out of there!
I made the boat and clambered into it. By this point the fins had submerged and the rest of our party thought I was insane. I was still shaking when the sharks reappeared off the stern of the boat. I yelled, "SHARKS" again. This time everyone else caught site of them and everyone hurried into the boat.
While I was in the boat I caught a good look and I estimate that the sharks were in the 6 - 8 foot range. Not Jaws by a long shot, but large enough to scare the bejesus out of all of us.