A group of surfers paddled beyond Ireland’s western shore Saturday to search for giant basking sharks, and hit the jackpot.
Tom Gillespie, a former surf instructor turned environmental scientist, captured the accompanying footage showing the close encounter with several large sharks that were feeding on plankton.
Basking sharks, the second-largest shark species, after whale sharks, are harmless filter feeders and popular among divers because of their docile nature.
Gillespie, who was off Clare with three surfing buddies, told the Irish Examiner that they had heard of recent sightings so they woke up early and paddled more than 200 yards offshore.
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“And there they were,” Gillespie said. “We reckon there could have been up to 20 or more of them over the space of about a kilometer.”
The sharks measured between 16 and 26 feet and swam with their mouths agape, ingesting plankton.
“We just tried to make sure we didn’t look like plankton,” Gillespie joked. “They were quite slow and peaceful, and they just came towards us and cruised past. We acted calmly and were very careful not to touch them.”
Gillespie added: “I’ve been surfing since I was 15 and occasionally you’ll see one or two, but I’ve never seen that many.”
The Irish Examiner quoted Padraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group as saying conditions lately have been prime for basking shark feeding activity.
“We have had high pressure and lots of sunlight, and these bright, calm conditions draw phytoplankton to the upper layers of the ocean and create viewing conditions that enable people to see the sharks,” Whooley explained.
Under these conditions the sharks appear to bask in the warmer surface layer; hence their name.
–Images courtesy of Tom Gillespie