Yes today I saw another crocodile at my favourite fishing spot.
And I also believe that this the first time that I may have been stalked by a croc, and that I was aware of it. I say may because maybe it was just curiosity from his part, but it freaked me out all the same...
So this is how the story goes.
I went to East Point one of my all times favourite land based fishing spot.
It was a bit late in the morning, but it was good to be on the water edge, and to do a bit of fast spinning, with light gears and some 40 gr. chrome slices.
When I saw what seemed to be a rather large crocodile swimming a few hundreds meters away. I try to get a photo of it, but by the time I got the camera ready, he had dived and I could not see it any more.
Being on the rocks, I told myself that every things was ok because he was way too far to be dangerous...
So I continue to cast my little chrome slice in the sea in front of me, when just 4 or 5 minutes latter this big croc surface just a few meters from me. He was looking straight at me, close enough for me to see his eyes.
It seemed to me like if the distance between us was less than his size.
And I honestly got frankly scared and used some expletives that I would not write on this blog.
I very quickly walked backward on the rocks, keeping eye contact with it and trying to get my camera out of my belt bag at the same time.
He then turned away still on the surface, dived and swam away.
So I did not get a good shot of him, but decided to go home any way, didn't feel like staying there.
This crocodile was definitively not shy.
So here come the photos, not very good I know, but have you ever tried to take a photo has you walk backward on some rocks? The first one as he just had turned his head away, yes I was not fast enough to get the camera ready, sorry about that...
And the second he's underwater by then, but it gives you an idea of how close of the rocks he had been.
He's just turned away.
To get a bit of perspective...
On the bottom right corner of the last photo, you can see a bit of the rock where I was standing not long before.
So yes I went fishing and came back without a fish.
But hey, it could have been worse.
Have a good day,
Me.
6 comments:
I would be pretty scared, how fast are they?
Hi toemail,
To be honest with you, I did get scared there.
here is a link with some information about crocodile speed:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/cbd-faq-q4.htm
It is a bit slower than what I believed, but still way to fast for my liking...
Have a good day,
Me.
What are you worried about? Everyone knows crocodiles don't like French food.
Gavin
Gavin,
Some people, and some animals, have good taste...
;-)
Have a good day,
Me.
Holy Jeez! Be careful, Rambling Expat. I thought the scary thing in your link about crocodile speed was this:
"However, crocodiles can accelerate much faster than this over very short distances by exploding into action - I have measured adult saltwater crocodiles (around 4 metres total length) moving at 12 metres per second for a quarter of a second, which is long enough to capture prey standing within one body length before it even has time to react."
If the croc was 4m long, and was less than that distance away from you, you could be lunch in the blink of an eye.
Will you still fish there?
Ms. Dig.
Hi Ms. Dig,
Yes I try to be as carful as I can.
And I was frighten enough to remember to be carful and not become complacent about it.
And yes I think that I will continue to fish there, but not alone any more, and mostly not in the dark, at night or very early morning any more...
And yes they are really fast when you think about it...
Have a good day,
Me.
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