A Quest for the Best Waves

As I haven't had the chance or financial means to travel far and wide as some of my lucky friends, I have had to seek refuge in the complete flawlessness of the South-West coast of England. During my many visits to Cornwall, I became completely surf-stoked and therefore my strength in the water grew. Once, in the sea at around 6:30am alongside the similarly stoked locals, there was a unified awe at watching the sun rise above the rim of the horizon and transform the view in front of us into a kaleidoscope of warm reds, yellows and purple. I haven't seen the Inca Trail or the Northern Lights, but I can guarantee you some of the best views you will ever see will be in the South-West of England. During this complete awestruck silence, I was unaware of how far I had managed to float out away from the shore, but I restrained panic due to the fairly small swell (we were waiting for the tide to change). As I turned my board away from the filtered sky, I noticed a grey mass lurking near the rocks towards the turn of the headland. Naturally in these situations you begin to panic, and the first thing that pops into your head is a potential Great White Shark attack and, inevitably, a mangled death. As I saw a fin peering out of the water I very slowly pushed my hands through the water away from the rocks and towards the shore, wary of startling it and raising any chance of attack. As I turned around however, I noticed that the creature had gone, and as relief flooded through me I began to sense the water pushing me more quickly towards the shore and suddenly the great mass appeared to be beneath me! At this point I had completely lost any composure and my blood ran colder than the water that surrounded me. The shark fin rose again in front of me and started cutting through the water until the shark was high enough to the surface to display a completely tooth-less gaping mouth. I stared in complete disbelief as the gigantic mouth seeped through the water towards me, and then sunk beneath the surface just before coming into contact with the nose of my board. I felt a swift movement beneath me, and then it was gone. I floated there for a second and glanced at the horizon. It was still full of colour, like a Hawaiian postcard, which showed how quick the whole encounter had been. As my friend called out to me to swim back in, I was filled with elation that I was one of the few surfers to ever encounter the gentle, giant basking shark in such a close proximity.