Only Wants to Be Loved

Okay, this officially makes me the worst action photographer - ever.

I was swimming my usual route along the Makena shore this morning when an eight-foot Tiger Shark swam right up to me. Was my first reaction to pull my camera out and get a close-up photo? Nooooo. Instead I tried to kick it in the head. How lame is that?

Not only was I incompetent as a photographer, but I'm thinking I wasn't very understanding either. The shark wasn't behaving aggressively (well, besides the swimming right at me part), and maybe it only wanted to be petted on the nose. It probably only wanted to be loved.

After trying to kick it (think of the rejection and despair it must have felt) and missing, it swerved around me and circled, keeping between me and shore. Fortunately, a Pacific Whale Foundation boat was passing nearby and quickly responded to my girly screams for help. Many Mahalos to captain Brian of the Ocean Explorer and his crew for fishing me from the ocean and saving me from making any other social blunders towards the sea's creatures.