Two Shark Encounters in Hawaii Waters

Written by Lisa Kubota - lkubota@kgmb9.com

June 29, 2008 05:52 PM

Two Oahu men shared stories about separate shark encounters a day apart. The most recent one happened on Saturday about 11 miles off Kaneohe. Home video taken from a charter boat showed shark-infested waters. The large predators could be seen tearing into the carcass of a 35-foot sperm whale.

"It was a pretty incredible sight. There was a whole bunch of sharks having lunch," said Mark Wildman.

"You don't see a mass frenzy so to speak, just a slow, methodical feeding and I think it's because of the abundance of food for one thing when you have something as large as a whale," explained shark expert John Naughton.

Wildman estimated there were more than 50 sharks in the water. He got scared when the boat got close to the carcass.

"At first I wasn't but after awhile I was ... when the sharks started almost coming into the boat," Wildman said.

"(They were) predominantly tiger sharks, which we would expect. They're the main scavenger here in the islands when we do have dead animals. Also, some oceanic white tips, and probably a few other species, too," Naughton said.

Experts will monitor the carcass to make sure it doesn't drift close to shore.

Another reported shark encounter happened on Friday about a quarter of a mile off Yokohama Bay. A blue water diver who was looking for fish said he came face to face with a great white shark.

"Just to have something like that come after you, it's really different-looking. It was really more amazing than anything else," said Stanley Aranita of Wahiawa. "Just kind of like more respect, yeah."

Aranita had chummed the water. 15 minutes later he said he spotted the shark about 100 feet behind him and it closed in seconds later. He estimated it was about 15-feet long. He tossed his spear gun to the side and jumped into his kayak.

"They can be on you before you even see them and very often that's what happens during an attack," Naughton said.

"Something would have gone, the fins or my leg or something. Guaranteed," said Aranita.

Last Updated ( July 06, 2008 09:58 PM )

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