Mistook Sharks For Dolphins

Inter-Coastal Waterway, South Carolina
May `77

For the past three days I’ve been doing about 90 miles per day. All
in all, things haven’t been overly good. The highway has been cracked
and potholed (and likewise with the maniac drivers). Nobody in their
right mind would plan to ride their bicycle here. I have seen the
ocean once since I began this trip, and I had to pedal twenty-five
miles out of my way to do it. Anyway, at my last store stop, the lady
told me about this free park, so I have been camped here, on the
inter-coastal waterway, since yesterday. The place is really
beautiful. Large South Carolina pines surround me, the bustling
waterway is in front of me, and best of all, there’s not a whole lot
of people camping here. It’s hard to believe that I’m in a state park,
and the camping is free.

Last night, I saw a pair of dolphins swimming down the waterway. Dave
and George (my closest neighbors) told me I probably mistook sharks
for dolphins. If they were sharks they had to be 12 to 16 feet
long–not a pleasant thought since earlier in the day I had been
swimming almost in the same spot. I shared some dinner and some good
smoke dope with Dave and George before going back to my own tent. It
was a very pleasant evening.

About bwinwnbwi

About me: Marvin Gaye’s song, "What’s Going On" was playing on the jukebox when I went up to the counter and bought another cup of coffee. When I got back, the painting on the wall next to where I was sitting jumped out at me, the same way it had done many times before. On it was written a diatribe on creativity. It was the quote at the bottom, though, that brought me back to this seat time after time. The quote had to do with infinity; it went something like this: Think of yourself as being in that place where infinity comes together in a point; where the infinite past and the infinite future meet, where you are at right now. The quote was attributed to Hermann Hesse, but I didn’t remember reading it in any of the books that I had read by him, so I went out and bought Hesse’s last novel, Magister Ludi. I haven’t found the quote yet, but I haven't tired of looking for it either.

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5 Responses to Mistook Sharks For Dolphins

hugmamma says:

July 13, 2011 at 10:32 pm

I’ll say one thing about bicyclists…you certainly see the country. And sights most of us in cars only catch glimpses of every so many years…if even.

happy trails…and tails…hugmamma. 🙂

frizztext says:

July 16, 2011 at 8:19 am

look at my shark video, learning not to mistake with dolphins 🙂

- bwinwnbwi says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 11:20 am
  
  Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m swimming in the ocean–the music was great too!
  
eof737 says:

July 18, 2011 at 12:21 am

Interesting photos… Good thing you didn’t check it out. 🙂

Jessica says:

July 21, 2011 at 7:49 pm

Creepy! We had a similar experience in Mexico about ten years ago. We were out on a snorkeling trip and our captain pointed out some sharks swimming offshore that the boat was passing. (They were quite a ways off from the boat.) But they were in an area where we had been swimming and snorkeling alone the day before. Eek! I love the ocean but sharks terrify me.