This actually happened last week. This email is from a good friend of my wife.

This email was written after a friend of mine and I had a unique fishing
experience yesterday off Wrightsville Beach . Below is the account from
Mike, the other fisherman.

Steve and I found this monster 1 mile off Crystal Pier while trolling for
false albacore yesterday afternoon. This beast was the size of my boat 18'cc
and didn't move when we approached for a closer look. The water was ultra
clear and there was no doubt that this was a Great White! Prior to this
picture being taken, Steve and I were within 4' of this shark as we cruised
along side of it for about 100+ yards. The picture was taken as he began to
submerge and then swim away. Steve estimated the shark to be 15'-17' and
around 2,000 lbs. When the shark finally submerged out of view, we were
within 1/2 mile of several surfers...The shark had no markings (it was not a
Tiger Shark) but had a white underbelly and very large teeth. The teeth and
an eye can be seen in the photo as well as the white underbelly. The
shark's length was estimated when it was alongside the 18' boat.

Happy swimming!

Steve

Nice! You shoulda chucked a baited hook to him. That would have been a fun fight for a bout 15 seconds.

Man....here fishie, fishie, fishie....CHOMP!

"We're going to need a bigger boat!"

Did they go warn the surfers? Jesus.

Why they don't eat THAT many.

"It's just bluefish...just blue fish"

perhaps i will pull my feet in from the water now.. yikes.. well at least it didnt seem agressive...

i love these shots too

There pretty cool too.. but the second one is a dolphin. Snopes it. That'd still scare the crap out of me.

i snooped it, and i find it hard to believe that second pic (http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/sharksurfer.asp) is the same animal (as they claim).... but as you said, even if it is a dolphin..i would need new underware after seeing it...


PS i am sure glad there are NO SHARKS here in the gulf of Mexico. Dunedin passed a law banning them from the causeway area too (after the release of a dolphin that was attacked by a few sharks, saved and re-released, only to be killed by a tiger shark just a little while later)...

Yikes, I was at WB this weekend. Glad it was too cold to go swimming. There were lots of surfers out due to the Nor'easter. Tides were higher than normal and the wind shifted to the NW which made for some calm seas but big surf.

Here are some photos from the Atlantic Beach/Shackleford Banks area over the summer.

If you were to flip over in the middle of this, it would be a feeding frenzy.

I need to start bringing crew more often

Remember, you don't need to outswim the shark, just your crew!

During the T500, we can see sharkies under us all the time.

Usually capsized sailors are flailing around too much for sharks to be too interested in us.

But I do have to say that the one time we flipped this year I was thinking about our little sharp-toothed friends

I would think flailing is the worst thing you could do with sharks around (doesn't that alert the shark to a distressed animal, ripe for the picking?)... well that and wearing "seal flavored aftershave"

when sharks are schooled up like that they are interested in only one thing, and it is not eating!

ooooooo you dirty dirty shark!!!! GET A ROOM!

Andrew,
Concerning the dolphin that was released and immediately killed by sharks in Dunedin, here is a link with the story and some photos. Look carefully at photo of the island where the attack took place. It is that sandy Island #8 or #9 that we haul up on to drink beer. Next time raise a glass to Tony the Tiger who lives just off shore.

"Shark attacks released dolphin" story, photos, and blog

just stating a biological fact.....

2 or 3 days after the dolphin kill, i was sailing with Daren and others. We talked about the attack right in front of the seminal boat ramp. I told Daren not to ever capsize there as the fishermen throw in their scraps, the bait fish eat the scraps and tiger sharks apparently hang out...


It was blowin 15-20, we stopped at the Memorial Causeway beach. when we left i wanted to pop the chute but I had spin issues and we (Daren and I) were last off the beach. As i passed him, i told him i was going to pop my spin and made sure he was ok...

about 20 min later, i lost sight of him and hoped he was behind an island...
Nope! he capsized (twice) right there, in front of the boat ramp where the dolphin was killed... and needed help from several power boaters. good thing he left the smoked salmon he carries at home that day i guess..

PS its island 9 (aka beer can isle) but we could re-name it budwiser compus