Tag: swimmers

Massive whale emerges yards from shore, thrilling beachgoers

A large sperm whale joined swimmers near the shore Saturday at Port Beach, Australia, generating concern that the mammal might strand itself.

*UPDATE: It was reported Tuesday (Dec. 12) that the sperm whale has perished after it became stranded on a Perth sandbar.

A large sperm whale joined swimmers near the shore Saturday at Port Beach, Australia, generating concern that the mammal might strand.

The accompanying footage was captured by Ori Weiser, who announced via social media that the whale ultimately “swam away happy.”

Wishful thinking, most likely, because healthy sperm whales generally remain offshore in deep water.

Typical diving forays in search of prey extend 2,000 feet beneath the surface, but sperm whales are capable of diving to depths of more than 10,000 feet.

The whale might have been sick, injured, or disoriented. But as of Saturday night it had not stranded.

9 News Perth reported early Sunday that swimmers were asked to exit the water during the 50-foot whale’s appearance.

Weiser’s footage shows the whale just yards from shore and one clip shows a jetski rider following closely behind.

Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on the planet and are found around the world.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the most significant threats to sperm whales are ships (vessel strikes), commercial fishing gear (entanglements), ocean noise (disorientation), oil spills and contaminants, and climate change.

Shark, swimmers unknowingly create spooky image

Ghost or the Grinch? These are just two observations regarding an image captured via drone Friday off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween.

Ghost or Grinch?

These are just two observations regarding an image captured Friday via drone off Australia’s Bondi Beach, just in time for Halloween.

The image, captured by Drone Shark App and shared via social media, shows two swimmers and what’s described as a grey nurse shark swimming through an immense school of salmon just yards from shore.

The swimmers parted the salmon in the form of two circular clearings, which appear as eyes in a ghost-like face, while the shark cleared an area that might be perceived as a mouth.

The salmon school was so dense that the swimmers and shark seemed oblivious to each other’s presence. The spooky image, therefore, was purely coincidental.

“Do you see what I see?” Drone Shark App wrote on Facebook. “Tell me what you see?”

“Ooooh, it looks like a ghost. Just in time for Halloween,” one commenter wrote.

“Grinch,” stated another.

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But some comments pertained purely to the subjects.

“I see two people who want to be eaten,” a follower chimed in.

Reads another comment: “More reasons to fearfully admire the beautiful ocean and only go in a few feet from shore.”

Schooling salmon are common off Sydney at this time of year, and the fish attract both swimmers and apex predators.

In another Facebook post, Drone Shark App shared the video footage from which the accompanying screen shot was pulled. It shows several swimmers near or within the salmon school, oblivious to two nurse sharks also swimming through the school.

The drone operator, when contacted by For The Win Outdoors, asked only to be identified as Drone Shark App. The group’s social media pages are filled with photos of video clips showing sea life off Australia’s beaches.

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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