True... I've said it before... if you don't see sharks in the water, you're not looking. I saw one yesterday... it was under the water, not at the surface. Cruised from about my 11 o'clock to my 2 o'clock right in front of me. Probably a brown... was the right size and shape, but I didn't really see the color.
just so we're clear here, being chased by a giant bullshark and dodging 2 additional giant hammerheads on the way in on the same wave is no big deal and totally normal in san fran. got it!
travy the hammerheads were pretty small. Maybe 3-4ft. The bull was in the 6+ range, may have looked larger due to the shadows and the oh sh*t factor. It was really fat and was super aggressive. Like I said I tried to take myself out of the food chain by going back out on the SUP just to look at all of the sharks. My friend was out there body surfing AFTER seeing this event. I could see pretty sizeable sharks within 10-20 feet of him when I was on the SUp. That's basically where the surfers up in san fran must be mentally....
lol. my mistake! i still think it's a bit suspect but makes a little more sense here.. having grown up in florida i've seen my fair share of sharks while surfing but the original story sounded a little embellished. really, i was just busting purple's chops a little. regarding sharks, as long as there are no seals or big schools of fish in the lineup i don't even think about them. if one wants to bite you there is nothing you can do about it so why even worry.
KITTY HAWK - A visitor to Kitty Hawk snapped this photo, purportedly of a shark in the breakers near the shoreline. The photo, which Marlo Johnson said she snapped from the beach near Kitty Hawk, also features her nephew and her daughter. Johnson said she also sent the photo to a marine science lab to see if they can review it and tell her exactly what type of shark it is. "Shortly before this, we had seen dolphin running and this is what we thought we were taking pics of," Johnson said. "I have the picture in the hands of Virginia Institute of Marine Science for verification, but this sure doesn't look like a dolphin to me." Rest of story
^^^Looks like a Dolphin to me, but the dorsal fin does look rather upright and sharp. Could be a Blacktip?
I believe it, seen plenty at The Inlet down here, and when i'm on my SUP I see waaaaaaaay more. The water is typically very clear on the north side of the Inlet so tons of things to look at, south side is normally murky and where most bites occur, no surprise there. Seing 6-8 dolphin catch and ride a wave along side of me a couple weekends ago opened my eyes big time, as they just came out of nowhere, but one the coolest thing to ever happen to me in the water, thankfully they are the friendly type.
Yep, it's part of what makes it such a cool place, not only that but sooo many dudes are afraid to paddle out there because they have heard it's the "shark bite capital of the world", so it helps with the crowds, which is what i love most.
I'm pretty sure that picture is of a dolphin. Looks like the water is distorting the head and lower fin. Also I have never heard of a shark with that growth on the tip of the dorsal fin. All the dolphins around here have that algae dangling from their dorsals.
i agree with zippy, half the people can't tell the difference, especially if they visit the ocean 1 week per year
Looks like a dolphin to me... too much curve to the pectoral flippers to be the pectoral fins of a shark. Besides that, sharks don't surf!
i can attest to that, a couple years ago i saw a 5-6 foot shark get hammered by a wave, and then a couple more...he got stuck in the impact zone and took a couple on the head..I was walking down 'cause there was a steady N drift, paddled right back out...i figured he learned his lesson.
On the blown up photo in the link that dorsal thing I thought was algae looks a lot like the dorsal of a black tip.