Picture of deep blue shark1/31/2024 ![]() We watched it rip into the whale a number of times. This was a chance to swim with and observe a hyper predator in a situation none of us would likely encounter ever again. Then we spent the next four hours swimming with it. Safe to say that this huge shark ate dead whale meat until she was ready to burst But it was coming my way, and it was going to get through me one way or another. It was so drunk on whale blubber, it wouldn’t have been able to eat me if it tried. The shark, on the other hand, was just swimming in a direction. I realized that I might leave this world as shark excrement. I realized that I might soon be that seal. Every video by Andy Brandy Casagrande of white sharks leaping from the water clutching an unlucky seal in their maw flashed before my eyes. It suddenly occurred to me that I might be remarkably stupid. My full-face view was the largest white shark I had ever imagined swimming slowly and calmly straight toward the splash I had just made. I didn’t have time for the adrenaline to circulate. Mask, fins, snorkel, camera! I zipped up my wetsuit, then back-flopped overboard. I hadn’t been out of the water for 10 minutes before my buddy picked his head up and said, “Hey Jeff! There is a tiger shark right under the boat.” I thought, “Who cares? I’ve seen hundreds of tiger sharks in my time…” And that’s when I saw a giant dorsal fin break the surface, preceded by a face that must have been three feet from nose to eyeball.Ī bulging Haole Girl can’t resist another nibble Everybody there had seen hundreds of tiger sharks, so it shouldn’t raise an alarm. “When I say ‘tiger shark,’ you know what I mean and need to get in the water.” It was perfect. The other boaters were still all on-board, so my friend cleverly came up with a secret code. Soon, I got bored of photographing a dead whale and went to climb out of the water while my buddy opted to stay in. The water was cold, I was hungry for breakfast, and the whale carcass wasn’t getting any prettier. When I haven’t had my beauty sleep, I can be a bit of a diva. My buddy and I were the first to slip into the water. ![]() Small boats and whale carcasses look a lot alike, and Haole Girl skillfully confused the two!Īnother boat had beaten us to the event, and nobody was in the mood to share. The only part of the necrotic behemoth that was whale-like at all was the bulbous head and mouth, and those were pock-marked with countless postmortem cookie cutter shark bites. The stench was so thick, it coated the nostrils and tongue in something that had a more smokey and unique flavor. The rotting blubber caused a slick that shimmered in the low sun and stuck to boat hulls and swimmers alike. Giant vertebrae stuck out from what I assume was once the posterior end of the thing. By the time we found it, the sun had burned the skin off and the fins had all been gnawed away by scavengers. At one point, it had been a sperm whale, and a big one at that. We found the bloated carcass about eight miles outside of the harbor. I was plucked from Honolulu Airport at 7am and shuttled straight to a waiting boat. ![]() Within a half-hour, I had a reservation on the first flight in the morning and a call-out-of-work-sick email drafted and ready to hit send. One friend used three adjectives to describe it: “It was big, it was white, and it was pointy.” Then he sent a photo. Chewing on this carcass was a shark that they claimed couldn’t be identified. In our circles, that alone would be gross and exciting news. They had found a dead whale floating offshore. Some good friends from a neighboring Hawaiian island called me one day to be mysterious about gloating. I would like to relay such a connection I had a few years ago.Ī whale carcass attracts large sharks, but nobody was expecting to see Haole Girl, a giant lady around 20 feet long! Every once in a while, we are reminded that our life experience isn’t entirely unlike that of the animals with whom we share the planet. We aren’t the only animals that have the ability to gather intelligence: animals like cetaceans and cephalopods are also famously brainy. Observation and extrapolation is at the heart of science, problem solving, engineering, and even government intelligence. As a species, we value our ability to observe and then apply what we learn to new situations. It is easy to forget that we are animals, and we share a planet with others, each trying to eke out a living using whatever advantages we have. Make better choices than the author of this story. Face to face with one of the largest great white sharks ever captured on cameraĭisclaimer: If you find yourself next to a whale carcass with a giant, actively feeding great white shark, 10 out of 10 trauma surgeons and a small army of shark biologists recommend staying out of the water.
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