Menemsha charter captain Scott McDowell made his first trip of the season Sunday. Scott was at the
helm of his new boat, a 35-foot Duffy he named the Lauren C in honor of his daughter.
A memorable line from "Jaws" came to my mind after I received a telephone call Tuesday from Scott.
I remembered the part in the movie when the police chief played by Roy Scheider gets his first glimpse of the shark. He turns
to Quint and says, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
Scott said he was between Dogfish bar and Gay Head when a large shark came out of the water about 50
yards in front of his boat. "It was a large animal," said Scott, "surprisingly fat."
Scott speculated the shark has been feeding on striped bass. As far as I know no fly fishermen have
been reported missing from Lobsterville Beach, so it is a fair guess.
Scott is a very experienced fisherman and charter captain. He said the fish came completely out of
the water and twisted. He said he has seen three great whites in his life. "I have no doubt of what it was," he said. "It
was quite astounding."
His customers were equally impressed. Scott said one of the guys said it was "just like TV." I wonder
what he would have said if it came up and chomped on the stern.
This is not the first or the only sighting. About a month ago, Coop told me he and his son Danny were
fishing for mackerel off Gay Head. Coop said they saw a fish breach and were sure it was a great white.
At one time, I might have discounted reports of great whites in Vineyard waters as fish tales. I turned
from skeptic to true believer, after a great white spent several weeks hanging out in a Naushon cove a couple of years ago.
After speaking to Scott, I called Greg Skomal, Division of Marine Fisheries marine biologist and a
national shark expert based on the Vineyard. Greg spent some time with the Naushon great white and is the guy Boston Herald
reporters call on a slow news week whenever a shark is sighted in Massachusetts waters.
He shared the following email he received on his website Monday morning from a boater named David Pignolet.
"We were motoring from Oak Bluffs to Newport and fogged in. I was looking for a boat that I had seen
on the radar to our port side when I noticed something in the water. About 20 feet to port cruising with us was a huge shark.
http://www.mvtimes.com/2008/06/05/news/gone-fishin.php
http://www.mvol.com/webcamsouthbeach/
THE KENNEDY COMPOUND
then fly his wife to the family compound in Hyannis Port. There they planned to
attend the wedding of his cousin Rory, the youngest of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's 11 children.
But the wedding has been postponed, now that tragedy has apparently struck
the Kennedy family once again. Yesterday, there was live coverage of the massive search-and-rescue operation on every
television network, as Americans came together around the electronic hearth for another Kennedy-related national experience.
At Hyannis Port, the Kennedy clan's historic gathering point in good times and bad, a friend said the family spent much of
the day watching the same depressing footage, after a morning Mass that had been scheduled in honor of Rory's wedding was
converted into a prayer vigil for the safety of the missing.
The friend said several of the Kennedys also found time to swim later in the day and to play with the
children.
"You know, this family continues very strong," the friend said yesterday afternoon. "I admire their
strength. I haven't seen a tear yet, and that's beautiful."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfkjr/stories/kennedy071899.htm
 SOPHIA OF WISDOM III
 CAROLINE E. KENNEDY CAROLINA KENNEDIA
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
THE WORK GOES
ON ALSO IN
SPIRIT
 CHEERS
DOMNICK DUNNE
CHEERS
FORMER INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS | |
