Fin Spotted in Pacifica at San Pedro Beach

Hi everyone, I just joined the forum recently and although I have not been kayaking for very long I wanted to share something that happened to me on Tuesday in Pacifica, the same day Harry had his encounter with a GW.

Around 8am Tuesday 11-22-11 I was kayak crabbing out at San Pedro beach in Pacifica and on my way out not much after the surf break I saw a fin  break the water and swim directly towards me. The fin was maybe 1-2 ft out of the water and was visible for about 5-10 seconds before it submerged quickly and then a short time later resurfaced and continued swimming towards me finally submerging again after a few more seconds. This all happened between 50-80 ft in front of me to my 10 o'clock and because of the direction the animal was swimming I never got a good look at the fin from the side, it was always head on. I have seen porpoises before in the bay and I quickly told myself that that is what it was, but then I heard about the attack at pigeon point and now I'm not so sure it was a porpoise. The animal never exposed its back to the surface and the fin swam straight and level for several seconds along the surface before submerging, not like how Ive often seen dolphins come up and go under. When the animal submerged the second time I could see, very briefly, the grayish, not black, color of its back, but distinguishing the size was difficult. I never saw the fin in the area again. Also usually Ive seen porpoises in pods. So now I'm thinking I may have had a sighting. If it was a GW this would be my first sighting/encounter with one. Anyone have any advice for distinguishing between porpoises and shark fins?

BTW I stayed in the water and did my crabbing anyway, all the while telling myself it was a porpoise.

Thanks for the report, great descriptive account even if you're not sure what it was.

One thing and others may chime in with dissenting info,  but I don't think I've ever read of a GWS attack where the animal was seen prior to the incident.  Not sure how they act when they're in investigative or territorial mode, but as far as I know when they're in hunt mode they tend to be pretty stealthy about it.

I'm sure I woulda just called it a day and gotten off the water.

Thanks Dale, it was definitely not an attack, thank god. But I did my damnedest to get my crabbing done quick as possible. Its just with all the shark sightings and encounters lately Im thinking they're alot more common than I previously thought.

Good to hear it wasnt another attack. Porpoise fins are usually smooth with a curve to them while sharks have a rough skin and angled fin. If it was a shark it may also have been a salmon shark which is found in the area and are a smaller cousin of the GW.

Wes