Friday, July 11, 2008

Life Imitates Steven Spielberg

Shark is reported off Martha's Vineyard
Lifeguards spotted what they believed was a great white shark off Martha's Vineyard yesterday, forcing the closing of beaches and prompting the inevitable references to "Jaws," the movie thriller that was filmed on the island.

The dorsal fin of the shark, sticking some 2 1/2 feet out of the water, was spotted 75 yards offshore at South Beach in Edgartown. Authorities received reports of other sightings along State Beach, on the island's northeast and the site of the opening scene of "Jaws."

What's even weirder is that we watched "Jaws" on AMC this past weekend...

It's just so weird [/Barbarino]

That is all.

6 comments:

breda said...

"It's just so weird [/Barbarino]"

I totally heard John Travolta in my head.

Weer'd Beard said...

That fin sounds AWEFULLY big. I wonder if it may just be a basking shark that had wandered close to shore.

They're fucking HUGE and their overall body-shape is very close to that of the great-white. Really the only way to tell them apart when spotting them from the surface is the shape of the head (hard to tell from the surface) the color (Baskings are a deep brown of Olive, while Whites are jet-black on the back) and the shape of the fin (baskings are more round, whites have a sharp dorsal)

I got very freaked out a few times when I saw one of those MASSIVE fins surface behind the boat. Basking sharks are filter feeders and posess teeth no bigger than your average thumb-tack.

Jay G said...

Weer'd,

I may have to shanghai you to talk to my son. He is fascinated by sharks...

Anonymous said...

Proly just Teddy swimming back from another accident.
emdfl

Anonymous said...

Jay,

As a kid, my wife's family spent summers on the Vineyard. When she was 10 years old, she got to hang out with the film crew from Jaws at the town dock in Edgartown. The stories I can tell you about that mechanical shark . . .

- Brad

Weer'd Beard said...

"I may have to shanghai you to talk to my son. He is fascinated by sharks..."

Sharks, guns, politics, sea stories, none of those topics require much shanghai-ing with me.