Great White sighting off Doran Beach

Great White sighting off Doran Beach

By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


Published: Friday, September 3, 2010 at 3:28 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 3, 2010 at 3:28 p.m.
A great white shark with a seal lion in its mouth was seen Thursday at Doran Beach, long considered one of the safest places on the North Coast for surfing, kayaking and swimming.


“I have been out here a long time and I have had nothing reported that close, except between Seal Rock and the jetty a long time ago,” said James MacMillan, the supervising ranger at the county beach. “Within our bay I have not heard of anything.”

The sighting comes as the park gets ready for the Labor Day weekend, expecting 300 beachgoers a day and with its 138-site campground full.

The sighting was at 10:30 a.m. Thursday by visitors who were standing on a beach area called the Board Walk across from the U.S. Coast Guard station.

“They saw about 200 yards out a great white shark that came up with a sea lion in its mouth, having a nice little feast on it,” MacMillan said. “It was about 18 feet long. There was a pool of blood in the water afterwards.”

MacMillan said he considered the sighting credible and rangers warned beachgoers on Thursday, but the only people out were those wading in shallow water.

Rangers also were advising everyone coming in to the park on Friday of the sighting.

There have been an unusually large number of shark sightings along the California Coast this summer, the last one a week ago in Pacifica, plus two incidents in which sharks attacked kayakers in central and Southern California.

Sharks are more commonly seen at Salmon Creek, where there have been several attacks on surfers. A shark was seen there by the Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter a month ago.

There was also a shark seen by a surfer at Bolinas on Aug. 7 and one was photographed Aug. 23 at Stillwater Cove north of Fort Ross.

Wow,

There was also a shark seen by a surfer at Bolinas on Aug. 7 and one was photographed Aug. 23 at Stillwater Cove north of Fort Ross.

I didn't know about the one at Stillwater North.
Thanks for the Doran heads up.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15943776?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,26239.0.html


  Is the increased GWS activity  due to the  weather conditions  that caused a really nice plankton bloom this year?  Lots of blue whales , more krill, more fish, more seals.


  It would seem logical to assume that, but I'm not a scientist, and I don't know if those conditions apply to Northern California as well as the Monterey Bay area.

  Maybe just a different year odds wise.
 

 Added 8/5: The number of seals off the coast are  basically a constant in this regard. They're not migrating from Japan because of improved conditions here.Whales tho?


  

wheres the picture of the one at stillwater?

Not the first time they've been off D Beach. Saw one there last or the year before myself and have seen a pic of another one taken there within the last ten years also.

Last year I wrote this;
And yes, I think the chickens have come home to roost.
 Steve

   
Re: Official GWS Thread
: February 08, 2009, 12:14:35 pm »
Quote  Modify  Remove
I grew up diving at Greyhound Rock, New Years Island and Halfmoon Bay because as a kid with little money, I had to stay close to home. I mean, back then Woolco gas cost 25 cents a gallon !
My brother and I dove these spots dozens of time, speared many rockfish [ especially big grass rocks] lings and cabezon and never had a shark experience at all.

I think that since then, the ever increasing biomass of pinnipeds in the water [ thanks Marine Mammal Protection Act] and of course the ever increasing biomass of hominids in the water are ever so steadiliy ratcheting up the threat matrix.

I grew up unafraid of the possibiliy of my own shark story in the Bay Area...and yet as I grow older and wiser, I am starting to consider them as a greater issue.

I am rational to fault and yet I thank the odds are slowly shifting.
 If he ever read this post, I am sure that the diving communities best spokesman, Randy Fry [ RIP] would argue against me.

Then a GWS took him.
 Steve

Holy crap!!!! I was paddling that same spot a week earlier, never really worried about the tax man off Doran Beach. I hope he's full now.

i agree andy weres the pic?