These fishermen definitely needed a bigger boat. A pair of Bay Area kayakers were out fishing in Half Moon Bay last week when they had an encounter with a fish they weren’t expecting. In a video that immediately caught attention on Instagram, Ian Walters recorded the moment when a huge shark began following his friend’s kayak.
In an interview with local news station KRON 4, Dr. Paul Kanive, president of the California White Shark Project, said it was likely an adult great white shark up to 14 feet long. In general, great white sharks rely on surprising their prey and are actually very risk-averse, Kanive said.
“A simple poke on the nose will make the shark think twice about continuing the investigation,” he said.
Walters, who works as a teacher at Oakland’s Head-Royce School, described the experience as more surreal than scary in an interview with CBS News. The large predator followed Walters’ friend for several minutes, and then did the same to Walter’s kayak.
“We kind of led it off towards some seals and looked over our shoulders for another hour or two and everything was fine,” he said. “I never thought in a million years I would get to experience one close up, you know? I feel lucky to have done that and done that with a friend who could keep me calm and I could keep him calm. We tried to not bug it.”
It’s similar to another episode on the California coast back in 2015, when several SUPers found themselves in awe of a few great white sharks circling beneath them.
