I heard about yet another shark sighting in San Diego recently, this one was from Ponto in Carlsbad. Apparently some people saw a little blue shark beach itself, and upon closer inspection it had a few bite marks on it. It was a little guy, so they attempted to put it back in the water, which is when they spotted a big ass fin in the water, swimming back and forth just outside the surf line.

This has been just one of many sightings of “large” sharks in San Diego before and after the attack in Solana Beach back in April. I’ve been extremely paranoid about sharks since I was a little kid, and the only solace was growing up in San Diego, where there hasn’t ever been shark attack on a surfer (I’m pretty sure. The mag is for fact checking, my blog goes freeball). Anyways, the amount of shark sightings down here in the last six months have been off the charts. It’s slowed down in the last few months, but then I hear this story from Ponto and goddammit I’m freaked out again.

I know what you’re thinking. “Yeah right, people are just telling all sorts of bullshit stories because of the hype of the attack.” Maybe, but I have a firsthand account that adds to the hype. About a month before the attack I was surfing Blacks and there was a huge dead seal on the beach with a big-ass bit mark out of it. When I told other people I knew about it, they’d usually reply that they’d heard about a seal somewhere else in north county that had washed up with a bite mark, and many with their heads bitten off. Fun stuff. You want a story that would make you pee yourself a little? Tally the number of dead seals the lifeguards have hauled off the beach in the last four months. I don’t think they’d tell you, but I bet the number is crazy, and way up from previous years.

Some people think all the white shark activity down here could be linked to all the seals that have taken up residence at the Children’s Pool in La Jolla. While animal rights’ activists and local beach goers have been at war over that issue, surfers have mostly kept out of it, not thinking if affects them. Well, I’m no marine biologist, but when you leave food out, it’s only a matter of time before the ants show up.