User Submitted Cryptid Sighting: Sea Monster
Many people ask me if I have ever had my own Cryptid encounter or if I have ever seen anything weird. The answer to that question is yes. I have seen something weird that I cannot explain, and I saw it relatively close up.
Below is my personal Cryptid Encounter.
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida. Atlantic Ocean.
Possible Cryptid: Sea Serpent
Witnesses: 3
Reporter info: Name: Adam (owner of The Pine Barrens Institute)
User described details of sighting: In June 2014, I saw something strange in the Atlantic Ocean while vacationing in Florida.
My entire immediate family, as well as multiple relatives, were currently all together while on vacation in Orlando. Near the end of our trip, we chose to spend the weekend on Daytona Beach (about 10-15mins away from Ponce Inlet). The weather of that day was perfect, the sun was shining, the wind was calm, and there was not a cloud in the sky. My brother, sister-in-law, and I were about 20-30yds from shore in water that was a little more than chest high (I am 6′2″) and we were currently making our way towards a sandbar. My daughter (3yrs old at the time) was yelling from shore that she wanted me to come back and pick her up so that she could come with. I remember telling her that she had to stay on the shore with her Aunt because the water was way too deep for her and that she would be scared that far out from shore.
As the three of us were standing and talking, about 15ft away to our left, the water started rippling. All of a sudden, this huge black and gray (not a smooth gradient between the colors, almost like speckled paint which blended the two) serpentine body “snaked” out of the water real quick, coiled over itself (meaning it decided to change direction mid-break and reversed), and glided back the other way away from us. It moved exactly like how a snake looks in the water. If i were to guess, the body was about 3.5 to 4ft thick/around. All three of us saw no head, just the large midsection of the body. We also saw no dorsal, side, or tail fins anywhere. There was also no tail splash, the only sound was the ocean water hitting its body as it slid back under the surface. I cannot stress how shocked we were to see this thing rise up and then slide back into the water so close to us. I was in my late 20’s at the time and I can honestly say that it made me feel scared. All three of us instantly agreed that it would be in our best interest to return to shore and not venture back into that deep of water again. For the rest of our beach trip, I went out no farther than waist deep water.
Now I’ve seen sharks, barracudas, manatees, turtles, whales, stingrays and any other shallow/mid ocean animal you can think of. My family has been traveling to Florida to visit relatives ever since before I was born and we have always spent multiple days on Daytona Beach in the same location (the Sand Castle Motel in case you were wondering), ocean life is nothing new to me. But this thing was like nothing I had ever seen before. It has been over two years since this brief “encounter” happened, but I can still see it in my head as clear as day.
I have spent many hours looking at books and online trying to figure out what we saw. The closest thing I have found that somewhat resembles what we witnessed was captured on video in 2013 at Sanibel Island, FL.
So there you have it, my personal Cryptid encounter. If any of you have seen a serpentine like creature within the waters around Florida, please let me know. You can either message me directly here, or you can send an email.
-The Pine Barrens Institute
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