Encountering wildlife while surfing

[gd6]

The 2nd time I went surfing, I was with a few friends and a pod of dolphins showed up and got really close. There were about 5 dolphins, 9-11ft long, probably over 800lbs each. I was in complete awe and almost thought I was going to get close enough to touch one. I didn't realize dolphins got that big, but it checked out once I looked up the pacific bottlenose dolphin. They were being playful and just seemed to be enjoying themselves, and they were incredibly beautiful. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget.

At another break with rather clear water my heart dropped as I was sitting on my board and a large sting ray went a few feet directly under me. Definitely shook me up a little bit. I decided to try not to look down anymore that session, as there was definitely some leopard sharks (harmless) and other things in the area that were spooking me. I swam with leopard sharks in a still harbor before and knew they weren't dangerous, but surfing with big things moving underneath irked me a bit.

Any good stories about wild encounters while surfing?

[oldmansurfer]

I have seen dolphin, whales, stingrays, manta rays, sharks various fish. Lots of stories, here's a couple.
I ran into sharks a lot surfing. Where I learned to surf at Kealia beach you could see sharks riding the waves when they were at around 4 to 6 feet (8 to 10 foot faces). On one occasion I was surfing alone at Kealia and a carload of mainlanders arrived and they came out to surf with me. Turns out they came directly from the airport and saw me having a good time and couldn't believe that waves that good could have only one guy out. Anyway the waves were in that range at about 4 to 5 feet where you could see the sharks riding in the waves. I took off on one wave and there was a shark in that wave which seemed to persist riding it longer than most do but I didn't think anything of it and took off anyway. I had a great ride, getting tubed a couple times and paddled back out. One of the mainlanders paddled over to me I thought to congratulate me on such a great ride which it was but instead he asked me a question. "Did that fish get you?" No clue what he was talking about I answered "What?" He said "Did that fish in that wave get you? When you took off it turned and went straight for your feet. I could have sworn it got you." I was astounded and responded "That was a shark." He asked "A baby shark?" I said "No just a small shark. Probably a gray reef shark and they don't grow real big." I decided I had enough surf and went in for the day. I think something about the new guys was attractive to the shark so it was behaving differently.



On another occasion I was out surfing alone and the only other person there was a guy was fishing on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the waves were small but really nice and while I had to wait for sets there was no competition so I caught all the waves I wanted. I was in between sets waiting for waves to come in and I noticed some movement in the water below me. A shark swam directly under my surfboard. The water was so clean I could see it was a white tip shark. I was amazed and thinking it was just as long as my surfboard (7 feet) when I realized my legs were below the board along with the shark. I pulled my legs out and put them over the board and looked around but never saw the shark again. I decided again it was time to go in. I asked the fisherman if he caught sharks there and he said he didn't and asked if I saw one. Yep sure did. I guess maybe that shark was attracted to the fisherman's bait.



I used to surf at a break in Kalapaki and got to know the crew there. They had a routine for shark sightings which seemed odd to me. If someone saw a shark (fin) then they would scream "shark!" and everyone would go in. They would stay on the shoreline for at least 30 minutes after the last time someone saw the shark (fin). This system struck me as particularly odd since sharks rarely had their fins out of the water so not seeing a fin wasn't a good indicator of the absence of sharks. I finally decided to just stay out since it was the only way I would get the waves to myself. I did this same behavior at Wailua and Hanalei and Kalihiwai and anywhere I surfed. I figured if it stayed out of the break like they usually did I wasn't going to worry about them but if I saw sharks close up then I left the water for the day (not 30 minutes) since the shark is behaving abnormally since they usually stay out of the break. I saw sharks frequently at Pakalas and they always seemed to stay out of the break but the turtles would pop out of the water right next to me and scare the crap out of me.

[oldmansurfer]

another one
Another close encounter I had was at Mahelona Bay. My friend Mark invited me to go with him. This was my second time to that break. You had to walk over seaweed covered boulders and jump off them to get into the water. I was doing that and slipped rolling down the side of a huge seaweed covered boulder into the water. I figured what they heck no worse for wear and paddled out like normal hoping no one would notice my fall. The waves were small and the water was clean and I could see sharks swimming very rapidly past me. This was very unusual behavior. Sharks are usually cruising when I see them in the surf but these guys were speeded up and acting aggressive. Initially I wasn't sure if they were sharks since they were so fast but after a few encounters I was sure and asked Mark if he was seeing the sharks swimming real fast and he said he was and that we should go in so we did. We walked back to the car and his girlfriend who was waiting at the car started screaming something at us. I thought it sounded like she was saying "Should I call the ambulance?" Which didn't make sense. I asked Mark what she was saying and he said "Oldmansurfer!!! Look at yourself!!" I looked down at my chest and I was bleeding all over the place. Apparently when I fell in the water I got scratched but didn't notice and was bleeding. The ocean washed it away so I never noticed in the water but outside it accumulated so I looked like a war victim. This undoubtedly stimulated the sharks to act differently.

[oldmansurfer]

One other "shark encounter" I had was at Kalihiwai. I was surfing and the guys I was sharing the break with all went in. Someone mentioned a shark so I stayed out and surfed alone and looked around. Nothing for a while and I enjoyed the waves alone then way outside I saw a huge fin. This was really enormous sticking out of the water 3 to 4 feet approximately. I figured must be some weird shark and the fin was long and narrow and black so I thought I would have an easy time going through books to figure out what kind of shark it was. When I got home I tried to look up what kind of shark it was but it didn't match any of the sharks that I had pictures or descriptions of in books. A couple days later I was reading about whales in Hawaii and saw male killer whales had a fin just exactly like that one that I saw.

[oldmansurfer]

Body surfing at Breneckes beach I saw sharks on a few occasions. My initial reaction was to swim like crazy to the shore. One day I did just that after seeing a large shark going sideways in a wave. When I got to the safety of the shore I turned around to look for it. There was a guy standing right next to me who appeared to be doing the same thing and he asked me "Did you see it?" I said "yeah I saw it, did you?" and we talked about what to do now since there were several people still out there with the shark. He convinced me that swimming frantically was the wrong action to take and that perhaps doing nothing was the more wise action since yelling "shark" as I usually did made everyone get excited and swim erratically to the shore which was more likely to draw the attention of a shark. We decided to not say anything to the others and no one was hurt by the shark. I changed my behavior around them and swam strongly but with minimal splashing to the shore. Once at Brenneckes I saw a shark tail up in the air obviously snacking on something on the bottom well to the side of everyone. I got out of the water and approached as close as I could from the safety of the shoreline but could not make out what it was feeding on. There was no blood in the water so I figured it wasn't a human. At Brenneckes I learned to tell the difference between a shark and a porpoise fin. Porpoise fins were somewhat curved along the back edge of the fin and sharks were more triangular.

[oldmansurfer]

The scariest shark encounter I had was when I was kneeboarding with surfer friends at Hideaways. I got to the water first and went out and swam out about 30 yards only to see the hugest shark fin I had ever seen in my life. It was a yard wide at the head and it's fin stuck out about a foot and a half from the water and it was headed directly toward me and I quickly went through options. I could try to out swim it but was sure it would win that race, I could swim toward it but that was crazy, I could swim to the left over the shallow wana (spiny sea urchin) riddled reef but I would likely get injured and bleed maybe not a good thing with a shark nearby so the only reasonable option was to go to the right out into to open ocean and so I did. I swam strongly but not erratically. I never saw the shark again. My friends paddled out and I was yelling at them not to come out and that there was a shark and they yelled back that the break was the other way and paddled out regardless of my warning. So I joined them but made sure I kept most of them between me and the open sea. I kept counting them to be sure none got eaten and none did. One two three four, yep still four.

[gd6]

so many shark stories, I'm glad they all ended well. I'm just starting to surf and still get uneasy with the idea of sharks, and am very glad I live in Los Angeles county where shark incidents are pretty much unheard of as far as statistics go (I believe it was 6 attack in all recorded history, with no fatalities). I know its very rare everywhere else, but the idea of it still is rather unsettling.

[oldmansurfer]

I have also seen humback whales and manta rays and pods of dolphins or individual dolphins which make you worry more because you want to know if they are sharks or not. I have not been approached as close by dolphins as sharks but they have been fairly close. Back when I was surfing Kalapaki I saw a manta ray that was originally mistaken by the other surfers for 2 sharks since it was cruising with it's wing tips out of the water. I was thankful for it's appearance since the other surfers all went to the shore and left me there to surf by myself. I have seen them again and I used to be able to easily distinguish between 2 sharks and a manta ray by the distance between the "fins" and the unison movement. Sharks are always out there and mostly they don't want to eat you.

As a kid growing up in Hawaii I used to watch and help with the hukilaus where they surround a school of fish with a net that goes from the shore around the school and back to the shore. They then huki or pull it up on the beach. Every time they did this they had one or two guys whose job was to let the sharks out. I used to watch and talk to them amazed that they never got bit. They would put on a mask and swim around the outer perimeter of the net looking for a shark in the net. They would lift or sink the net to quickly allow the shark to escape and then they jump to the other side of the net. Sometimes an uncooperative shark they would gang up on and push it out or if it was small enough they might wait till the net was pulled in the grab it and throw it out. They taught me that mostly sharks don't want to eat you but you should still treat them with respect.

[tony g]

I have a few shark stories too, but here is a little different wildlife story. My brother in law and I were surfing Roads End beach in Lincoln City, Oregon when a huge dorsal fin was coming straight for us. It was so big it almost did not look real. It was coming right at us so we started frantically paddling to the beach as fast as we could. It could of easily got us, but instead, let us make it to shore. The huge fish then continued to show himself and its disapproval of us being out there. When we made it to shore, we could easily see that it was a huge killer whale. We also figured out it seemed to be protecting a nearby pod of orcos, that we later saw down the beach. Anyway it was a exciting morning, even though we were chased out of the water. You never know what you will see out there.

[billie_morini]

In addition to dolphins, I've had several very close encounters with sea otters in Santa Cruz and seals at Bolinas. Most likely, anyone that has surfed in Santa Cruz has encountered sea otters, too.

[BaNZ]

I've encountered jellyfish. I've always hear people talking about how excruciating the pain is but I always thought they are exaggerating. Until I got stung by one and I couldn't even sit on the board. I fell off immediately and held on to my leg where I got stung. Luckily it was only a small one but it wrapped around my ankle. Ever since then when I see jellyfish around me, I gtfo asap. I nearly had a panic attack when I saw one the size of my head.

Few times I got nick by small fish and lost tiny bits of flesh. Painful but not too bad.

[oldmansurfer]

Oh yeah I had a Portuguese Man o' war go down my surf shorts. I almost died.... on another day I had maybe 30 or so stuck on my back and chest and arms all at once once and that wasn't anywhere near as bad. I was going through some whitewater from a wave and the way I do it when the waves aren't too big is to push myself above the board and allow the wave to wash between me and the board. Anyway it goes right down my shorts and I am in incredible pain. I was under water after falling off my board writhing in pain and I felt like I was paralyzed, I couldn't move my legs. But my arms seemed ok so I pulled myself up by the surfleash and dropped my shorts and removed as much as I could right then. Paddled in to the shore and removed the rest. I think stings are much worse if they are near lymph nodes Like under arm, under neck, or in groin.

[jaffa1949]

Few times I got nick by small fish and lost tiny bits of flesh. Painful but not too bad.

Which when it happens looks like this

Tinea eating special fish

and in case you want to do a head dip you wear this

Actual required head gear at the hot spring spas. Note: genuine picture of Uncle Jaffa at play

Nibbling fish are obviously a protected species

[jwoz]

Iv'e seen sharks (biggest about 5-6') lots of dolphins, seals etc. In Hawaii my wife got stung on her back and sides by a Portuguese man o war. She was in some serious pain. A local told us to run down to the 7-11 and get some Vinegar to pour on it then scrape it with a credit card (which we did in the parking lot). The vinegar worked almost instantly and we were back snorkeling in no time flat. Last summer I was stung in the foot when I stepped on a Sting Ray. I didn't have to pull the barb out, but man my leg ached up all the way to my groin.

[billie_morini]

jwoz,
hate them sting rays!

[jwoz]

jwoz,
hate them sting rays!

Do you get a lot of them in SB?

[gd6]

Here in Los Angeles there is a lot of stingrays, I think one single beach had over 400 incidents recorded last year. The guy who was going to give me my first surfing lesson got stung the day before and had to get someone else to give me the lesson. Really sounds like an experience I hope to avoid.

[jwoz]

Here in Los Angeles there is a lot of stingrays, I think one single beach had over 400 incidents recorded last year. The guy who was going to give me my first surfing lesson got stung the day before and had to get someone else to give me the lesson. Really sounds like an experience I hope to avoid.

Yeah I was stung last summer in Carlsbad (north county San Diego) a guy fishing said they were out in abundance when the water was warm. I found out later that if you soak the stung area in super hot water it alleviates the pain. I was told to do the sting ray shuffle (shuffle your feet while walking out to scare them off).

[Surf Hound]

One morning I was SUPing in Maui before work due to flat conditions with a group of friends. I had to turn around from the group and head in early to go to work. The paddle back to the cove was East and straight into the morning sun so I was keeping my head down to avoid being blinded by the sunlight. I was switching sides to paddle and just as my paddle was about to hit water I see a huge tiger shark going opposite direction from me. If I would gave let my paddle enter water I would have hit the shark on the nose. I fell to my knees and just watched as I cruzed along side of a 10-12 foot tiger shark. I can still see the stripes on his back and his big tail in my mind just as I did that morning. The damn shark was wider than my SUP. Anyway, I paddled to the Cove as quick as possible without trying to be frantic, told the life guards who got on there jet skis and verified a shark was out there. Water patrol shut down all of Kihei until like 2pm that day. I still get scared every time I see a huge shadow, which is generally just a rock shadow in Hawaii - I think it's a shark cause that's what I thought I was coming up on just before I nearly hit that tiger in the head. Worst part was maybe 1 week prior to this happening a man was bit by a tiger shark at Kalama (which is just a break over from the cove) - I think it was Oct 2010 or maybe 2009 - you can look up the time on Surfline and yeah- I was scared. I could barely walk when I got to shores when I told my buddies, adrenaline flowing, shaking etc... I still laugh when I think how scared I really was.

[oldmansurfer]

I went surfing today and had a 4 foot green sea turtle hog my wave. The wave was overhead and had a nice section of wall where the turtle was when I was trying to be there. I had the right of way but I decided to not run him over. I haven't seen a turtle that deep in the lineup before so I left the water thinking maybe it was hiding out from a shark.