Close Encounters

The basking shark survey stopped it's work earlier in September so I was surprised to see four of them feeding in the bay this late in the season, one small one was very close to the shore. I rushed off to get my Kayak and diving gear together. By the time I was running down the hill with the kayak slung over one shoulder an idiot on a stand up paddle board had chased the smaller shark out to sea. DON'T chase basking sharks! Stay still near their feeding area and they will more than likely cruise past you without getting disturbed.

By the time I had made it to the waters edge I was disappointed to find that I could no longer see the sharks at all. Undeterred I waited for a gap in the swell and paddled hard for the open ocean, I didn't want to get caught by a wave with all my gear lashed to the kayak!

It was a lovely sunny evening and aside from the gentle rolling of the swell the sea was calm, I caught site of a fin a long way out and headed off in that direction. When I finally got out to their feeding area I found huge shoals of Mackerel creating waves of spray all around with great whooshing sounds and 3 sets of distinctive fins circling a wide area. Just sitting on the kayak watching was amazing!

I hurriedly put on my fins and mask, grabbed my camera and slipped into the water. The visibility wasn't too bad and I was immediately buzzed by huge shoals of Mackerel, their fantastic colours glinting in the sun, below me another shoal swirled, almost in a baitball. I headed past them and waited for the biggest Basking Shark to circle back to me. I floated motionless keeping the Kayak out of the way and was rewarded by a direct approach, its huge silhouette resolving into fantastic clarity, the sunbeams illuminating the inside of its mouth I could see right through its gill rakes as it swept majestically past me.

It came so close I was concerned it might hit me, certainly too close to film effectively! But what an experience! I could see every mottled mark on its skin, its dark eye regarding me and the bright red of its gills as they flared. It was probably over 15ft long and at its stately pace seemed to take a long time to pass, or maybe my excitement caused time to slow. Finally its great tail fin swept elegantly right past my face and it swam into the gloom and out of view.




Aside from not causing distress to them the advantage of not chasing them is that they remain unperturbed by your presence and I was lucky enough to have another six close encounters like this with three different sharks as a result. I couldn't have been happier (except if my girlfriend had been there to share the experience!). The sharks moved away and I let them go, taking the opportunity to load my spear gun and catch some Mackerel for dinner, the shoals were massive and kept returning. On one shot my spear came back with two attached and in the end I decided to stop at five as that was enough for all of us for dinner.

I returned to shore a very happy diver! It made the horrendous hike up the hill carrying my kayak worth it!