The great white shark appeared to be about 14 feet long. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
When August hits in California, the coastline gets a little sharkier. Great whites move closer to shore from their annual migration out to the open ocean, and two friends fishing off kayaks near Half Moon Bay found that out first hand.
A dorsal fin popped up behind them, and it belonged to what experts believe to be a 14-foot great white shark. The kayaks Ian Walters and John-Patrick Thomas were in on August 6 were 13-feet long, and the shark appeared to be just a little bigger. Cooler heads prevailed, though, and they had a good look at one of nature’s most amazing creatures.
“It was a beautiful, calm, foggy day,” Walters told KRON4. “I noticed a really big dorsal fin. Further down, I noticed a very big tail. We both just tried to keep each other calm. We watched it circle around.”
Great whites — and most sharks, in fact — like to approach from behind. It’s their way of inspecting possible prey without being spotted, and it’s a behavior that has been frequently observed.
Walters and Thomas put their kayaks in the water at Pillar Point Harbor and paddled out about a mile before they saw the shark. Walters had a camera on hand and managed to film the encounter. Neither of them seemed the least bit frightened. Walters asked Thomas if he was alright, and Thomas responded calmly. The shark didn’t appear to be aggressive, instead swimming slowly behind them.
Both kayakers feel lucky to have been in the right place at the right time for the interaction.
“It was pretty magical to be near one like that,” Walters said. “The apex of the apex predators. It wasn’t aggressive at all. The experience was mostly surreal.”
When the shark decided that the kayaks weren’t a meal, it vanished back into the deep.
