The great white shark appeared to be about 4.3 meters long. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
When August arrives in California, The coast is teeming with sharks. Great white sharks come closer to shore on their annual migration to the open ocean, and two friends fishing from kayaks near Half Moon Bay experienced this firsthand.
Behind them appeared a dorsal fin that experts say belonged to a 4.3-meter-long great white shark. The kayaks Ian Walters and John-Patrick Thomas were in on August 6 were 4.9 meters long, and the shark seemed only a little larger. But they prevailed and got a close 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 were both trying to calm each other down. We watched it circle around.”
Great white sharks – and most sharks, in fact – like to approach from behind. This is a way for them to inspect their potential prey without being detected, and this behavior has been observed many times.
Walters and Thomas launched their kayaks in Pillar Point Harbor and paddled out about a mile before they saw the shark. Walters had a camera and was able to film the encounter. Neither of them seemed the least bit frightened. Walters asked Thomas if he was OK, and Thomas responded calmly. The shark did not appear aggressive, but swam slowly behind them.
Both kayakers were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time for the interaction.
“It was pretty magical to be close to an animal like that,” Walters said. “The pinnacle of apex predators. It wasn’t aggressive at all. The experience was mostly surreal.”
When the shark decided that the kayaks were not a meal, it disappeared back into the depths, but gave the friends an experience they will never forget.
