During her record making swim, Penny Palfrey has encountered sharks, whales, jellyfish and flying fish.
support crew on board the Carib Princess tender vessel spotted a seven foot
long white tipped shark following her.
Local fisherman Charles Ebanks, who is part of the support crew, drew the shark
away from the swimmer with chopped up fish and hooked it. The hook was attached
to a piece of yellow rubber matting. He dragged the shark away from the swimmer
and chopped it with a machete.
Less than an hour later, crew spotted a fin fast approaching the kayak ridden
by Richard Clifford. This shark was within fifteen feet of the swimmer. Mr.
Ebanks again swooped in on his Rib and disposed of that shark too.
When he drew alongside the Carib Princess, he told the crew that earlier in the
morning he had also hooked a nine foot long white tipped shark that had been
ahead of the swimmer.
Mr. Ebanks was recently in the news for disarming and chasing down a armed
robber and uttering the now famous phrase “Not today, bo bo.”
Crew watching him clear sharks chasing the swimmer shouted it out as he
returned to the boat.
Ms Palfrey had told her support team that she had kicked against something in
the water in the middle of the night which may have been a shark.
A Rib, an inflatable powerboat, has been in the water with a shark shield
attached but she must stay quite close to it for the electrical pulses it emits
to repel sharks to effectively protect her during her almost 68 mile swim.
She was also stung during the night by jellyfish or some other stinging
sealife, said Steve Munatones who was one of the support crew on the Rib during
the night.
“She was stung three times. They weren’t big stings. It might not have
been jellyfish, there’s lots of little things out there that can sting
you,” he said.
On Saturday afternoon a pod of curious pilot whales swam near her for several
minutes before following the second Rib driven by Mr. Ebanks who led them to
the lead boat, Cayman Time. The pod included at least one baby. They stayed
near the boat for several minutes before moving on.
By 11.30am, the swimmer was 11.5 nautical miles from her finishing point in
East End between Morritt’s Tortuga and The Reef resorts.
At her current speed, she is expected to reach East End in
Grand Cayman about 9pm Sunday.
Check back for more updates.
Related Videos
While I admire her daring, the killing of sharks is not worthy of the task. It is only a swim between two islands. Frankly I could care less about he swim but the killing of the two sharks is unacceptable.
as quoted by Panama jack. He must be a dive operator-professional shark behavior analyst LOL.
(Obviously sharks can be dangerous but there is no need to heve the terrible fright and instant reaction to want to kill all sharks. I have dived with 100s perhaps 1000s of sharks and people are not the chosen food source of these creatures. I have dived with nurse, reef, black tip, lemon, hammerhead, tiger, silky, galapagos, white tip and silver tip sharks and never been experienced overly agressive behavior from a shark.
Can and do sharks attack people? Occasionally, it is much more common to be struck by lightening than to be attacked by sharks.
The macho adolescent desire to kill sharks is extremely offensive to me as they are an important part of a healthy marine ecosystem.
Simply admit that sharks scare you and leave them alone, there is no need to kill them.)
Now panama jack. I love to do this. Since you are a professional shark analyst and all.
Even with this woman’s shark shield. If it wasn’t for those helpers. She would have been eaten. I just love you panama jack. It makes me warm inside to know there are people like you taking up my oxygen. you cannot argue with common sense. And to reiterate. This woman is swimming in an ocean, on the surface. Heart is racing and she’s splashing. All indicators that she is a distressed fish. Common sense panama jack. Don’t leave home without it.
I think it’s very sad that three sharks had to die so that Penny Palfry could break a record. Obviously she needs to stay safe, and it’s good that her support staff protected her. But it’s wrong of her to attempt a record that puts her in danger and creates a situation where endangered species need to be killed in order to keep her safe.
I know that people don’t like sharks, but simple reality is that they are key to the balance of the ocean’s ecosystem, and if sharks disappear it will be bad for the oceans.
I hope that Ms. Palfry reconsiders such long distance swims in the future. Is getting your name in the recod book really so important if three endangered animals need to die for it?
so the support group for Penny are saying no sharks were killed.
While I understand everyone’s issues with the shark killing, please don’t blame Penny as it wasn’t her that killed the sharks. I am sure she was under the expectation that the shark shields would have keep them safely away for her and well as their own safety. Ebanks whom I understand is one of the most experienced Cayman fishermen surely decides he had no choice but the kill them in lieu of dragging them away and releasing them.
I am impressed with this 48 year old grandmother of four! Personally, I just eat her up! She is an inspiration to anyone that participates in this sport.
Unacceptable what kind of word is that? Really. I also heard from hear support group that 6-8 mahi were caught on hooks and made into ceviche. Should we be talking about the hooks and the use of imported limes? Silly nonsense, innuendo, misquotes, misunderstandings here. Not even close to a real discussion.