What is up with the cuda's?
"Barracuda jumps into Keys kayak, bites woman in chest, Coast Guard says
Rescuers recount ordeal
By Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel
11:57 AM EDT, October 18, 2010
MARATHON
A scenic trip for two kayakers in the Florida Keys took a tragic turn when one of them was seriously hurt by a barracuda that leapt onto their kayak, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.
The accident occurred near Big Pine Key about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, when the barracuda jumped into the vessel and bit a 45-year-old woman in the chest, puncturing one of her lungs and breaking ribs, the Coast Guard said. The woman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was in stable condition.
"She had a pretty bad chest wound," said Capt. Kevin Freestone, owner of TowBoatU.S. in Big Pine Key and Cudjoe Key and a member of the Volunteer Fire Department in Big Pine Key. "She was conscious, and she was scared about what had happened to her."
The kayakers were "going for a real nice Sunday afternoon kayak ride" and traveling past pristine wilderness, Freestone said. They then saw "quite a big fish that was skipping across the water," Freestone said. "Lo and behold, it went and hit her. Crazy."
The fish, which the kayakers estimated was about 48 inches long, knocked the woman from their two-person watercraft, but she climbed back in, Freestone said.
The man, unable to row to shore fearing it would further harm the woman, phoned for help.
Freestone and two other people -- Big Pine Fire Rescue's assistant chief and a paramedic from Monroe County Fire Rescue -- took a small boat in search of them, he said. They maneuvered through shallow water to reach the kayak.
Freestone figured his vessel would get stuck in shallow water, only a foot deep in some areas, he said. But the vessel reached the kayakers so that a paramedic could help the woman. A second TowBoatU.S. vessel then was able to reach everyone and take them to safety.
The woman was taken to Dolphin Marina, and then taken by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Juan Ortega can be reached at
jcortega@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4701."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flo...,4262212.story