Great White Lunch

[mdb]

www.marinij.com/marin/ci_4521172

 

[Cacia]

oh my.

that happens to those urchin divers up there too....

I think San Miguel has their share.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Ummm....Hope I don't look anything like a seal in the water.

 

[mdb]

oh my. that happens to those urchin divers up there too....
I think San Miguel has their share.

Catherine: As you already know, the Farallon Islands are about 30 miles west of San Francisco. The Farallon's are know breeding areas for Great White sharks. The Islands have a large Sea Lion and seal population. We have been out there several times. There is a GW shark so big the nickname is "Cadillac". The shark attack captured this week on video and digital camera was about normal for this time of year.

 

[Cacia]

how many surfers do you all lose per year?

 

[mdb]

how many surfers do you all lose per year?

Not that many, usually the shark takes a bite and pulls back. If the surfer has buddies they, normally, get their mate to shore and the surfer survives. The GW's seem a bit like cats, they take a bite and pull back waiting for the prey to bleed and weaken. Stinson Beach, Bodega Bay, Davenport, are sites that surfers interface with the GW sharks.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0123_040123_tvgreatwhiteshark.html

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/06/01/MN121310.DTL

 

[Thalassamania]

Back in the mid 1960s (when I was still invulnerable and dumb, not Superman but more like The Tick) I was spearfishing out on the Farallons. I had a white that I’d swear was the size of a Greyhound bus (take away 1/3 of water refraction and another third for my ruptured adrenal glands) come past me, grab the fish I’d just speared, jerk the gun out of my hand (an almost new USD Pacifica? Model) and disappear into the limited vis. And all I could think of was loosing the gun and the brandy new arrowhead point I’d lost. Oh … to be young and stupid once more.

 

[Cacia]

I am very curious about this notion that GW are the only sharks with an affinity for mammal blood. They say most sharks aren't really attracted to human blood at all, only fish blood.

Are the GW populations growing up there due to the protection of the seals? I heard that....

and then , maybe you all saw our local captain petting the 17 ft female video. She was not very aggressive....baffling.

 

[renpirate]

It does seem like the number of sightings are increasing. I know more and more people who have seen them along the Sonoma Coast. I have felt their pressence on at least one occassion, but haven't seen one myself.

 

[Peter_C]

I have felt their pressence on at least one occassion

Oh do explain that one!