Biting Fish?!
That's what I said when Devora told me to "Watch out for the biting fish!?!?!" with a half-crazed, panicky, neurotic yet jokey kind of tone that she has.
And so, I did what I typically do in such a situation. Mock it.
Ah yes, to my very own detriment. There are biting fish in the Tel Aviv waters!
They used to, apparently, be more up North, but this year they've made their way down.
So picture this: There I was, swimming about in the calmish waters of the Mediterranean, and every so often Devora would paranoically (or so I thought) say she felt something and get her feet up and afloat. I would laugh heartily and follow suit, but not entirely, still somewhat treading water with the balls of my feet. This goes on for about 30 minutes. (And in the back of my mind I knew that I would be the one to feel the pangs of remorse (quite literally) for not believing...if they did, indeed, exist. Indeed.) Again, Devora feels something, and says she thinks we should get out, but I tell her that there are waves now, so there shouldn't be such a problem. Meanwhile, we (me, Devora, and Devora's mom--Mona, who's with us) see some tiny fish swimming away near the surface of the water--they kind of look like sardines though. Though Devora's friend, and Devora's apparently seen the after-effect, was bitten by one of these "biting fish"--and has a small hole in her leg where a "chunk" of meat was taken out!
Anyway, a couple minutes later, I feel extraordinarily sharp teeth try and latch onto my foot. I gave out this half scream, half yelp and started swimming frantically for shore with my legs elevated. It felt like a frekin' pirranha! Devora and her mom both alerted to what had happened to me, and an old man swimming about and telling them that there are biting fish around...is enough to get us to leave the waters for the day. We chill a bit on the beach, talking and relaxing on the sand in the sun and shade...before heading out. All in all, a nice day.
But beware the biting fish.
And so, I did what I typically do in such a situation. Mock it.
Ah yes, to my very own detriment. There are biting fish in the Tel Aviv waters!
They used to, apparently, be more up North, but this year they've made their way down.
So picture this: There I was, swimming about in the calmish waters of the Mediterranean, and every so often Devora would paranoically (or so I thought) say she felt something and get her feet up and afloat. I would laugh heartily and follow suit, but not entirely, still somewhat treading water with the balls of my feet. This goes on for about 30 minutes. (And in the back of my mind I knew that I would be the one to feel the pangs of remorse (quite literally) for not believing...if they did, indeed, exist. Indeed.) Again, Devora feels something, and says she thinks we should get out, but I tell her that there are waves now, so there shouldn't be such a problem. Meanwhile, we (me, Devora, and Devora's mom--Mona, who's with us) see some tiny fish swimming away near the surface of the water--they kind of look like sardines though. Though Devora's friend, and Devora's apparently seen the after-effect, was bitten by one of these "biting fish"--and has a small hole in her leg where a "chunk" of meat was taken out!
Anyway, a couple minutes later, I feel extraordinarily sharp teeth try and latch onto my foot. I gave out this half scream, half yelp and started swimming frantically for shore with my legs elevated. It felt like a frekin' pirranha! Devora and her mom both alerted to what had happened to me, and an old man swimming about and telling them that there are biting fish around...is enough to get us to leave the waters for the day. We chill a bit on the beach, talking and relaxing on the sand in the sun and shade...before heading out. All in all, a nice day.
But beware the biting fish.
posted by IJW at 1:57 PM
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