Big Game Hunting

Posted by bisonaquatics on January 1, 2010 · 3 Comments 

Good morning and Happy 2010!

We hope you all are beginning your new year on the right foot.  We are very fortunate to have so much health and happiness in our world and, if this morning is a precursor to the rest of 2010, we’re in for a lot of timeless memories.

The swimmers arose from their beds at 6:45AM and hopped on the bus headed for Bonita Beach (instead of the pool.)  When we arrived, the sun was just rising from the east and the scenery, with barely any people on it, was absolutely breathtaking.  The Gulf tides paced back and forth as fish, crabs, seagulls and pelicans greeted us with their morning hospitality.

 We began our morning with some stretching and some medicine ball work with a partner.  That was followed by the removal of our shoes and a nice jog along the coastline for about 3/4 mile before turning around and heading back to our sandy headquarters.  When we all finished, the real fun began.

The water is not as scorching  on January 1st as July 1st, yet it was time to embark on Howard University history, which we hope to transform into a tradition.  We sprinted from the shore straight for the Gulf of Mexico before the water forced us to tumble to the surface and begin our Gulf Swim.  The immediate chilled rush got the heart rate pumping and, as a team, we were off against the tide towards the southeast, about 1/2 mile down the beach.

The swim was a grind but our muscles churned through the salty sea with great purpose and energy.  When we gathered at the turnaround, we were all whooping and hollering about our massive voyage in the deep sea.  As we took time to absorb the scenery, we noticed that, hawking above us with intense beaks and feathers, were close to 300 Brown Pelicans looking to feast on some fish that they spotted below the Bison.  The scene was something out of National Geographic as each swimmer (and their coach) was caught in the heart of a dive bombing display of carnivorous water fowl hunting for a tasty treat.  Not wanting to be quitters, the team stayed the course of their swim back to its origin as one pelican after another grazed the surface to spot their breakfast before coasting the clouds and, in plummeting towards the Gulf.

To only partly grasp the extremely priceless scene, click HERE for a video that is more than accurately depicts what we were in the middle of this morning.

With danger all around us, we managed to make it safely back to shore with a story that will, no doubt, be told by each member of the surviving party as long as they can remember.  Once safely engrained on land, we each turned to face nature at work.  One local couple congratulated us on our feat and said, “We come out here every morning and we’ve never seen so many pelicans in one spot as today.”

What a recipe for success: a tremendous amount of exercise, but a supreme sense of accomplishment and a lifetime of tales that unified the group in a way that no other obstacle ever could.

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