Ocean Encounters

Mark: So Sorie, talking about ocean sports and being on the ocean. Maybe you could talk about your ocean swimming experience in Ogasawara.

Sorie: Yeah, I love swimming, you know. It's so peaceful to be there in the ocean. And the ocean in Ogasawara was very clear and you could see so many fishes and I'd love to go swimming and immersed in the ocean. It was like another world. It was very beautiful but there was one time—oh, that time.

Mark: What happened?

Sorie: My friends had come to visit and so, we went fishing. But before they started fishing, I decided to go for a swim. And I swam, and I could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean. And I see this fish but they're actually not fish, they were sharks. They were white-tipped sharks.

Mark: Wow.

Sorie: There were four of them at the bottom of the ocean. And I just remember that one you have to do is to keep calm. So I did that. I swam out. I told my friends, "There are four sharks down there, so get me out of here." So they got me out of there but my heart was beating so fast. I was so scared.

Mark: Were they dangerous? Those sharks?

Sorie: Well, they're not dangerous. They might be able to like bite a finger off but I didn't want that to happen either. So as soon as I saw them, I came out of the place. Yeah, but that was so scary.

Mark: Wow. Oh as far, it sounds beautiful and amazing and dangerous all the same time.

Sorie: That's right. So Mark, what about you? Do you have any encounters with fish?

Mark: With fish? Well, I remember fish in—don't you remember when we saw it together? We were swimming in that beach called Kominato, and we swam out around those rocks where we always went. How am I looking a pair of snorkels on it, so peaceful and pretty and like just tranquil and I'm looking at all the fish. And then suddenly, that freaky fish, it started at us. Do you remember that?

Sorie: Yeah, with huge eyes.

Mark: Huge eyes, and then he started coming towards us.

Sorie: That's right. So in the middle of the ocean, we decided, okay, let's just split.

Mark: We were swimming away from it and it was swimming after us, this little fish.

Sorie: It was very small. It was like 30 centimeters long but they’re really scary.

Mark: Yeah, we were quite far out from the beach and we did split, didn't we?

Sorie: And then what happened?

Mark: I went that way and you went that way. And just guess which way it went?

Sorie: My way.

Mark: And it just chased you all the way into the sea, into the beach.

Sorie: That's right. So I was swimming really quickly. I'm trying to get out of the beach and it was very close to me. And I thought it would bite my toes. But it didn't do anything. But I can't forget that time that a small fish got me out of the ocean.

Mark: It was so weird, isn't it, like, fish don't do that.

Sorie: They don't. And it was the only fish, like there were no other fish around.

Mark: Strange.

Sorie: Mysterious.