Chapter Eleven
Johnny was waiting for us at the dock of the Shark Trek when we arrived at Spanky’s Marina. This wasn’t a high-end marina. The wooden docks had seen better days and were desperately in need of a fresh coat of paint. Most of the boats were older, wooden styles, rather than the swanky fiberglass boats I had been expecting.
The Shark Trek was a thirty-five foot wooden trawler that looked surprisingly like the boat that went down in the first Jaws movie. I leaned in to Darby and softly sang the theme song to him, “duhn-DUHN … duhn-DUHN … duhn-DUHN, duhn-DUHN, duhn-DUHN.”
“Oh, stop it,” he said, but he couldn’t help laughing.
Johnny was in high theater mode this morning. “Susan, dahling,” he drawled. He gave me a big hug and air kisses next to my cheeks, “I’m so glad you could join us.” He moved on to give Darby a hug with more air kisses.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” I said. “I’ve never been deep-sea fishing before. This is a first for me.”
“It’s very exciting when you catch the fish, and you will love the experience of being on the open sea. Shall we board?” He bowed and spread his hands and arms out to usher me onto the boat first. I laughed at his gallantry and stepped aboard.
Boating terminology was pretty much a foreign language to me, but I did know if I was standing on the deck facing the front of the boat, the front was forward, the back was aft, the left side was port, and the right side was starboard. The only reason I knew this much was from playing pirates with Dad when I was little. Right now, I just wanted to know where the life vests were.
“Let me introduce you to my good friend and captain of the Shark Trek, Jorje,” Johnny said as a short, slightly overweight man appeared on deck from inside the cabin. “Jorge is a cook at the restaurant, and his mother, God rest her soul, helped him to buy this boat before she died. Jorje is one of the best fishermen in the area, and today he is going to help us catch the big one.”
“I see you’re a Star Trek fan,” I said to Captain Jorje, referencing the name of the boat. “Very creative.”
The captain smiled and gave me the Vulcan salute. His smile was warm and friendly. He wore a large straw hat for protection, but his face had a leathery quality from overexposure to the sun. I guessed him to be in his mid-fifties.
He shook our hands and said, “We’ll be outward bound in five minutes. This is my first mate, Ryan.” He pointed to a young man who looked to be about eighteen years of age. “He’ll show you how to use the equipment and take care of anything you need on our voyage.”
I spoke up right away and asked, “Where are the life vests?”
Everyone laughed, but I was serious. I was secretly afraid of being on large bodies of water. I was a strong swimmer, but that experience was confined to local lakes and swimming pools. I watched enough Discovery Channel to know there were some sea creeps I didn’t want to see up close. Moray eels and sea snakes made my skin crawl. Lionfish and stingrays were dangerous, and I certainly didn’t want anybody to have to pee on me if I was stung by a jellyfish. And the sharks! I wasn’t going to be eaten by a great white shark. I didn’t know if the Gulf had all of these particular sea creeps, but I didn’t want to find out either.
Ryan grinned and opened a cupboard. It was filled with vests. “You can wear one if you want to, but most people just set one on the deck. If anything happens, and you feel you need a vest, you can put it on then.”
I grabbed two.
He showed us the fishing equipment, which was set up at the back of the boat. There were two swivel fishing chairs bolted to the deck. To sit in a chair, you straddled the fishing pole holder so the rod and reel were between your legs as you landed the big one. The reels were huge. Ryan told us each reel held ninety feet of line.
Johnny promptly sat down in one of the chairs.
We were finally ready to leave. Captain Jorje turned the engines over. I might not know much about boats, but thanks to my dad, I did know something about engines, and it sounded as if one of the engines had a miss. We pulled away from the dock.
It couldn’t have been a more gorgeous day for going out into the Gulf. There was a small chop to the sparkling blue-green waters. The sun didn’t feel hot at all with the breeze, and the light spray of the water was refreshing. It almost made me forget my troubles. I definitely felt more relaxed.
“Where’s your hat?” Ryan asked.
“I didn’t have one to bring,” I said. “Do I need one?”
“If you don’t want sunstroke, you do,” he said.
Darby shot a look my way with raised eyebrows as if to say, “See, you weren’t wearing a hat at the boat races, and you got sunstroke.”
Ryan continued, “The air feels cool when the boat is moving, but the sun is just as strong as when you’re on land.”
He entered the cabin and came out a minute later with a white bucket hat with the words Shark Trek embroidered across the front. Oh my gosh! It was a Gilligan hat! I was out for a three-hour tour with a skipper and his first mate, on a boat from Jaws, with an engine that wasn’t running properly. This was not good. I pulled the hat down on my head.
Darby couldn’t control his laughter when seeing the look on my face, and the hat on my head. I ignored him.
“How far out do we have to go before we start fishing?” Johnny asked. He was comfortable and using his normal voice now.
“About twenty miles,” Ryan said.
Darby settled into the chair next to Johnny, and they quickly became immersed in conversation. I stood at the rail and enjoyed the breeze. Ryan sidled up to me. “It’s pretty out here, isn’t it?”
“It is,” I agreed with him. “I can see why people want to make a living on the water. Have you been with Captain Jorje a long time?”
“Only about six months,” he said. “I worked on the Atlantic side on a couple different boats for two years, but when my family moved over here, I signed on with the Shark Trek.”
“Which do you like better, the gulf or the ocean?” I asked.
“Oh, definitely the gulf,” he said. “The waves aren’t as high, there’s hardly ever any pitching or rolling, and I don’t have to worry anymore about The Bermuda Triangle.”
“The Bermuda Triangle? Really?” I asked, surprised. “Were you ever in it?”
“No, but we were close sometimes. And I saw things that scared me out of my wits.” His shudder was visible.
“Like what?” I asked
“Mostly strange lights, and the gauges on the boat would act weird. Sometimes, the radio would go out for no reason. I was scared the most on the day we saw two suns. We couldn’t get back to shore fast enough on that day.”
A chill went down my spine. I looked around to be sure the life vests were still on the deck where I had put them. The Bermuda Triangle gave me the same feeling sea creeps did, and I wanted nothing to do with it either.
It felt great to be out on the open water, but it was also unsettling. Such a large body of water, and we were on such a small vessel by comparison. I appreciated the beauty of the gulf, but I also knew it could be deadly.
Ryan went to get the bait for the fishing poles. I sat down on the built-in bench, put my elbows back on the rail, and relaxed with my face tilted to the sun. If I would have had a pillow, I probably would have gone to sleep.
The sound of the engines changed. I sat up and listened. One of the engines had either shut off or had stopped working. Ryan came out of the cabin with a bucket in hand.
“Engine’s out again,” he yelled up to Captain Jorje.
“I know,” came down the captain’s exasperated response.
“What’s up with that, Ryan?” I asked. I couldn’t keep my concern out of my voice.
“We’ve been having trouble with one of the engines for a little over a week now,” he said. “The captain keeps fiddling with the timing, but I think it’s just old, and we need a new one.”
“Is that ok we only have one en
gine?” I asked. I started to hear the Jaws theme in my head again.
“Sure. We can get back on one,” Ryan said with a smile. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Easy for him to say,” I thought.
It took exactly forty-five minutes to reach the spot Captain Jorje had chosen for us. He let the engine idle and came down from the bridge. “Let’s get these poles in the water!” he said with enthusiasm.
“What are we fishing for?” I asked, caught up in his excitement. “Marlin? Ooh, I would love to see a swordfish!”
Captain Jorje frowned at me with disdain and said, “This is strictly a shark vessel. We’re fishing for shark today.”
My jaw dropped.
Ryan removed the lid from the bucket. It was full of bloody, cut up fish. Fish guts!
Darby swung around in his chair, gave me a big grin, and said, “Exciting, isn’t it?”
“Whooo-eeee!” Johnny let out a whoop. He was the excited one. “Let’s get one I can mount on my wall.”
The captain and Ryan each baited a hook, cast a line, and set the poles into the holders on the chairs. Ryan used a scoop to throw the cut up fish, the chum, into the water behind the boat. It was disgusting. Captain Jorje went to the bridge and pulled the boat several yards ahead of the chum.
Johnny and Darby were settled in their chairs, ready and waiting for sharks to take their bait.
They waited.
And they waited.
And they waited.
Today wasn’t the day for sharks. We had been on the water for nearly two hours now. Most of my time had been spent sitting on the bench, daydreaming about seeing Mick again, and trying not to doze off. At the moment, I was standing at the rail, still enjoying the beauty of the day, and looking at what little activity there was on the water.
There were two other fishing boats in reasonably close proximity to ours. One appeared to be anchored, the other was moving away from us. There was one speedboat in the distance off the starboard side. There would probably be a lot more people on the water on weekends.
Johnny yanked me back to reality when he let out an exuberant, “We got us a big one!”
The line flew off the reel. Johnny was right. Something big had taken his bait and was running with it. Captain Jorje stayed at the helm to maneuver the boat, while Ryan was beside Johnny in a flash to assist him. Darby stood behind Johnny to give his own assistance with words of encouragement.
Me? I was slinking back to the doorway of the cabin. I was ready to bolt inside and shut the door. There was no way I was being eaten by a great white shark. I picked up one of the life vests and clutched it to my chest. I stood in the cabin doorway and watched the three guys try to reel in the monster.
It took about twenty minutes to wear the shark down and bring it up to the side of the boat. Captain Jorje came down to assist Ryan. Johnny had been serious about keeping and mounting the shark, so it had to be killed before bringing it aboard.
The captain produced a bang stick and explained that it was basically a shotgun shell on a stick. He used it on the shark, then he and Ryan used gaff hooks and rope to secure the shark while it was still in the water.
“Everybody stand back,” yelled Ryan. “She’s comin’ aboard.”
Johnny and Darby moved back to stand beside me. The captain and Ryan hoisted the shark onto the deck. It landed with a loud thud and a crack.
“She’s just a little tiger shark,” the captain said.
A little one? The shark was taking up almost one whole side of the deck. Its tailfin was at the back of the boat. Its jaws were facing us.
“What do you think she weighs?” asked Johnny. He was all smiles. Darby kept clapping him on the back.
It had to be a guy thing, because I was completely horrified by it all.
“She looks to be about eight feet and probably three hundred pounds,” said the captain.
This brought more cries of delight from Johnny and Darby. The captain addressed the three of us and said, “Now listen up. Even though this shark has been shot and is out of the water, she’s still dangerous. She’ll flop around for a while, and if you get in near her teeth, she’ll bite ya. So watch your step.”
There was a lot of water around the shark. Ryan moved it with the gaff hook, and we could see a board had splintered on the old deck when the shark landed. Water was coming in. Not a geyser, but it was coming in steady.
Johnny’s drama queen was instantly back.
“Eeeeee!” he shrieked. “We’re sinking! We’re all gonna die!” He was hopping from one foot to the other with his hands flapping in front of his face.
I looked at Darby with my eyes wide. Panic was starting to well up inside me. It was one thing to have a life vest. It was another to know you might end up in the water with large amounts of chum calling for sharks like a siren.
Darby put his arm around me and spoke calmly, “It’s going to be ok. We’re not going to sink. These guys are experienced, and they’ll know what to do.”
Yep, that was Darby - logical and always the optimist.
“Don’t panic anyone,” Captain Jorge said. He shot Johnny a stern look. “I’ll send a mayday just in case, but we’ll head for shore right away. There’s plenty of time to get back before this becomes a real problem.”
The captain went to the bridge to use the radio. Ryan began bailing water from the back corner of the boat, while keeping one eye on the shark.
“Ryan!” the captain bellowed from up above. “Run down and check the fuses. The radio’s out again.”
“Eeeeee! We’re sinking,” Johnny shrieked. “The radio is out. We’re all gonna die!” He ran, arms flapping, to the front of the boat.
Something in the air caught my attention. It was an emergency flare. It landed in the water behind the boat. Another landed in the water on the port side. Then another. The captain let a string of swear words fly from the bridge. Darby motioned for me to step inside the cabin out of harm’s way. He ran up to the bridge to see what was happening. Ryan ran past me from the engine room and up to the bridge as well. The captain let loose with another string of swear words.
I stepped into the cabin. My eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, and I could see it was a small resting area and storage space with a table and banquette seating around the edges. There was an open doorway leading to a slightly lower area. I assumed it was the engine room.
I looked out the starboard window and saw that a speedboat had moved into a perpendicular position a short distance from our boat. Was this the same speedboat I had seen earlier? There was so much excitement with the shark, I hadn’t noticed if the boat left the area or not. I couldn’t see who was driving the boat, but I could guess who it was.
Another flare came from the speedboat. This one hit the port side of the deck wall and stuck. The old, neglected wood immediately began to burn. The boat was on fire.
Johnny’s shrieks were much louder now, and they were mixed with crying. Darby yelled from the bridge, “Susan! Susan! Get up here!”
I wanted to put my life vest on. I looked for the armholes and quickly saw all the buckles were buckled, and I would have to undo them.
The boat shifted.
What was that? How could the boat shift? Fear mounted as I saw the fire was getting bigger. My fingers didn’t want to work, and I accidentally dropped the vest. My feet wouldn’t move. Darby yelled again, “Susan! Susan!” I could hear panic in his voice. I reached down and grabbed the vest.
I stopped for a second in the cabin doorway and saw that water was now pouring onto the deck below the fire. The back end of the boat was completely underwater now. I stepped out of the cabin and onto the wet deck just as the boat shifted yet again taking more of the back end under water. The movement set me off balance. I fell on my backside and began sliding fast, feet first toward the shark that was now half in and half out of the boat.
I let go of the vest and desperately tried to grab onto something, anything. My foo
t hit the head of the shark and it clamped its jaws down on the sole of my shoe. All I could see as I looked down were pink laces in its face. I screamed as loud as I could, but I could still hear Johnny screaming louder as the shark and I slid off the end of the boat and into the Gulf of Mexico.