Tag: shark sighting

Aggressive shark halts girls’ surfing competition in Honolulu

A large and aggressive shark was spotted just feet from girls at a surfing competition Friday in Hawaii, prompted officials to postpone the event.

A large and aggressive shark was spotted just feet from girls at a surfing competition Friday in Hawaii, prompting officials to postpone the event.

The 12-foot shark, which might have been preying on a turtle, appeared near the lineup as 11-year-old girls were competing at Ala Moana Bowls Invitational State Championship in Honolulu.

Kiki Oshiro Kaneshiro, 12, told Hawaii News Now that she had just paddled in from her heat before the shark sighting.

“It was super scary,” she said. “I feel really bad for those girls. I really hope they’re okay and not really traumatized by anything, because I’m scared right now talking about it.”

KHON2 reported that the shark was thrashing at the surface just feet from two competitors.

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Andrew Rossiter, Waikiki Aquarium Director, told KHON2 that the shark most likely was “trying to break off a piece of meat, probably a shell.”

Rossiter added: “I would also guess this shark was eating a turtle and trying to break off a semi-circle of shell and meat.”

Green sea turtles are a common prey item of tiger sharks.

The competition was canceled as Ocean Safety lifeguards posted warning signs and cautioned surfers at nearby spots.

The Hawaii Surfing Assn. informed competitors on its website to be prepared to resume competing in the Ala Moana Bowls Invitational on Saturday.

–Image provides an arial view of Ala Moana Harbor, via Wikimedia Commons

Huge great white shark swims close by; ‘Don’t go in the water!’

Cape Cod is known for great white shark sightings as a colony of seals in the region makes for an enticing menu for the apex predator. Video shows the latest sighting.

Cape Cod is known for great white shark sightings as a colony of seals in the region makes for an enticing menu for the apex predator.

Some sightings are spectacular. Some are simply amazing because of the proximity of the sighting, such as the one on Labor Day near Race Point Beach in Provincetown.

The huge dorsal fin of a great white shark was spotted as it swam back and forth for about 10 minutes, and as close as 10 feet from shore, according to Tamzen Tortolani McKenzie, who captured video of the sighting. It was shared by MassLive on YouTube.

“The morning started calm, quiet and overcast,” McKenzie wrote on Facebook. “Often the seals hang by the shore, but today was different. The dogs and screaming kids couldn’t spook them off. A good friend Peter said, ‘They are not moving because there’s a shark out there.’”

Sure enough, an hour later a great white shark made its presence known to beach-goers, its dorsal fin rising above the water line.

In the video you can hear a girl’s voice shout, “Don’t go in the water!”

“Pretty amazing!” McKenzie wrote. “And no injuries! It was quite a sight to see!”

She thought the shark was up to 14-feet long and upwards of 4-feet wide. Whatever the measurements, it’s safe to say that the dorsal fin indicated it was huge, and there was good reason the seals were hiding out near shore.

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Apparently, great white shark sightings have been constant in the region.

MassLive reported that “the shark season on Cape Cod this summer has been a busy one, with great white sharks seen regularly off shore near Orleans, Plymouth, Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and elsewhere.”

Stay out of the water, indeed.

Photos of seals along shoreline and the great white shark swimming close by courtesy of Tamzen Tortolani McKenzie.

Startling shark sighting prompts swift action by witness

A boy flying a drone over the surf in Australia watched a shark swim perilously close to two swimmers, prompting his aunt to take action.

A 17-year-old boy flying his drone over the surf in Australia watched a shark believed to be a great white swim perilously close to two swimmers, prompting his aunt to take swift action.

Cameron Grace, on vacation from Sydney, captured video of the incident that occurred Monday at Main Beach in Forster, New South Wales.

“I said I gotta go down there, I can’t just sit here and watch this,” Rachel Walter, the aunt, told 7NEWS. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. So I ran really quickly down to the beach and I got into the water, and I waved for the two boys to get out.

“They were completely oblivious.”

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Interestingly, most surfers and swimmers are oblivious to the presence of sharks, according to one shark expert.

“For every one shark that you see, there might be 10 or 100 sharks that see you,” Rob Townsend of SeaLife Sydney told 7NEWS. “You just don’t realize it because they’re not mindless killers.

“If you think about how many people are in the water on a daily basis, especially in summer in Australia, you’ve got to imagine that this kind of thing is happening all the time and we just don’t realize it.”

But one certainly can’t blame Walter for her swift warning to the youths, especially considering the proximity of the shark to them.

Photo courtesy of Cameron Grace.

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