David Strike wrote:

> Mate!  The last time I got a shock from one was when Julian pointed out a
> banded coral shrimp peeking out from beneath a rock ledge.  I drifted down
> to the seafloor for a closer look at it and put my hand down to the sand
> without first checking out the area.  The subsequent shock must have
lifted
> the mask about three inches off of my face - and caused me to spend
> considerable time washing out the wetsuit!  (My first thought was that my
> arm had been bitten off!) :-)

That would be the one I recalled.  All I can say is "better you than me."
As far as I know, the only electric creature in our salt waters is the
Torpedo Ray which when full grown, is reported to have a charge sufficient
to knock an adult unconscous.  I've not seen one larger than about 3 inches
across and have never managed to get shocked by one.  The first one was on
Florida's west coast.  I was in shallow water and scooped him up in my mask
to have a look.  My father cam over and put his finger on top of the ray.
That's when we discovered his electrical generation capacity.  8^)  I've
only seen one since, somewhere in the same size range.  I assume that, as
they grow, they move to areas we don't normally visit, places like mangrove
bogs or, perhaps, deeper water.

> It reminded me of the time, a few years back, when I was spending a
morning
> with the TEAM ONE Clearance Divers at another popular Harbourside beach.
It
> was a week-day and there were lots of mums sunbaking on the beach and
> watching their kiddies splash around at the water's edge.  The guys did a
si
> mulated beach landing on O2 rebreathers carrying M16's.  Mothers rushed to
> pick up their offspring and headed for the hills - well! the carpark - as
> quickly as they could.  I like to think that - on Thursday - we managed
our
> panic with a degree of dignity!  :-))

We were once tied up to the dock in Bimini, the nearest of the Bahamas, when
the water, boat, dock, everything began a low frequency vibration.  I rushed
to the deck to see what was going on, only to find a long, low high powered
boat approaching.  It was one of the Coast Guard's Blue Thunder boats.  A
local manufacturer, to apologize for making the go fast boats favored by
drug smugglers of the time, had provided several of these twin inboard boats
to the Coast Guard.  They sported 650 horsepower per engine, 1,300 total.
At idle, they vibrated everything around.  When the boat reached the dock, a
group of Bahamian Defence Force men jumped off, complete with military
boots, long sleeve camouflaged shirts (in 90 degree, plus weather) and
machine guns, the ones we used to call Grease Guns becasue that's more or
less what they look like.  Since I could not vacate the premisis, I did the
next best thing, got real, real polite.  I offered everybody who stuck
around a soda or cold bottled water.  I had a few takers.

I wondered what the point of green camo was for folks in a boat.  I mean
nobody, not even a Bahamian native, wears long sleeve shirts in the summer.
It turns out that they drop these guys off on deserted stretches of island,
places where the suspect somebody will be picking up or dropping off drug
shipments.  What I was seeing was a shift change.  You may assume that,
since that day, I've approached barren stretches of Bahamian beach with a
bit more caution, doing everything in my power to not look like a drug
dealer.

The days of fast boats used for drug runs are pretty much history down here.
While we still hear about them occasionally, it's not a winning stragegy.  I
don't care how fast your boat is, the Coast Guard helicopters are faster.
Besides, even a 30 or 40 foot go fast won't hold enough drugs to make a
serious difference in S. Florida's overall trade.  That takes a freighter.

Lee