It was an ordinary day. Amid chatter about the rare sighting of two basking sharks about 5 miles off the coast of Cape May County, a different kind of shark was up close and personal to bathers recently in Cape May Point. "It was in knee-deep water," said Ben Swan, chief of the Cape May Point beach patrol, "within 5 yards of the shore." Lifeguards cleared the water for about an hour, Swan said, and the shark swam back out to deeper waters. Bathers returned to the ocean, and nobody was too bothered about it, he said. "Look at that, it's a shark, man" one man could be heard on widely circulated video that shows two fins protruding from the shallow ocean swimming around. "So they called everyone in." Swan said these types of sharks are common, though not typically that close to the shore. "We get these types of sharks," he said. "It looks like a brown shark. The sharks that we have, they swim around all the time. We swim out there as lifeguards. We know these sharks are swimming below us." He said that type of shark doesn't endanger bathers, preferring to feed on small fish and crustaceans. "It was very, very close," said Melissa Hasse, the beach patrol administator. She speculated that the shark was going after a school of fish in shallow waters. The shark sighting triggered awe among some folks, and rolled eyes among others at the reactions. "Imagine being shocked at ocean life," commented one person on Facebook. Another answered back: "Give your sarcasm a break! All my years in Cape May, I have not gone to the beach to find a shark swimming that close along the shoreline where people swim. You have to admit it is worth mentioning and enjoying the opportunity to witness. We can be such a smug bunch!" Monday's shallow-water shark followed news of a less common shark, the basking shark, being spotted twice by the Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center, about 5 miles off the coast. "This individual was estimated to be 15-20 feet in length cruising along at the surface about 5 miles offshore," the group wrote in a Facebook post attributed to "Naturalist Melissa." "They are the second largest shark species alive today! We know this is a different individual from the one we had last week because the notches do not match on this dorsal fin." As for me swimming in the waters where the sharks call home....I'd rather search for a swimming or wadding pool before swimming with the sharks. I would rather return the next day if I had my choice. PS - As for me....I must say I have been visiting the Jersey Shore for almost 80 years now, and have never seen, or have even heard of, a shark sighting while I was swimming in the water, no matter what beach along the coast it might be. Have I just been lucky?, or are all these stories made up to make you be more careful if you come to the Jersey Shore? My wife and family love the Jersey Shore and will return to it in the near future if possible. I guess I will be more vigilant the next time I visit, but to be frantically scared if I happen to see a fish fin go by while swimming may be even more dangerous than to carefully find my way toward shore and tell the lifeguard on duty. I assume they are trained as to being able to tell what type of fish is swimming in the area at the time and what you should do about it if it may be harmful to you. Don't want to ruin your vacation by being bitten by a shark, but then again, you don't want to ruin your vacation by sitting on the shore all day when the waves are breaking along the coast in front of you. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an oridnary guy.
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