mattdrayer Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Last Thursday evening I was about 1/2mi off of Swampscott doing one of my standard 10k out-and-back courses in the Epic V12. I heard a wooshing sound to my left and was able to turn my head quickly enough to see a 7-8ft shark about 25 yards away falling back down into the water after having breached. Its dorsal coloring was a dark charcoal and abdominal coloring a beautiful silvery white. I'm almost positive it was a juvenile GWS, although it could have been an adult mako or a very large thresher. I don't believe it was a thresher although admittedly I didn't get a good look at the tail. I slowed my paddling and said "Holy &@#$ did that just happen?!!" -- can't stop in the V12 without getting wobbly and hanging my legs over the sides for stability -- definitely didn't want to do that! About 30 seconds later I cruised through a school of baitfish, and so I'm presuming that I surprised it with my surfski in the middle of its dinner. At that point I had to decide if I should turn around or keep going out, figured the odds were in my favor so I decided to keep going ? I did see similar a couple years ago while standing on the beach at Sandy Point State Reservation -- a shark about the same size jumped several feet straight up out of the water, same coloring and everything. Similar behavior to what I observed: Matt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Berkovitz Posted September 14, 2022 Share Posted September 14, 2022 Interesting! I had heard that there was a GWS spotted at Nahant not long ago. Not surprising that they would be around though with the warm water and the seal population... A few years back David Mercer and I saw a 6+ foot shark jump out of the water in Sandy Bay right next to us. Surprise!!! We were too shocked to notice what it even looked like. When I was up in Campobello with NSPN folks a few weeks ago, some people in a powerboat told us they had seen "a shark following you". Could be true, sure. On the other hand we had seen several ocean sunfish recently nearby, flopping their fins around. Either way... what were we gonna do? Take evasive measures? Keep on paddling... Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhabich Posted September 15, 2022 Share Posted September 15, 2022 We saw an ocean sunfish off Manchester today. It was as scared of us as we were of it…not at all. Swam under my boat twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cath Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) just some info http://quoddytides.com/estimates-vary-on-great-white-shark-numbers-in-bay.html https://i95rocks.com/great-white-off-eastport/ Edited September 17, 2022 by Cath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdrayer Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 I often joke with my friends and family (particularly my mom) that I'm never concerned about sharks because I can easily look on the shark tracker apps and see exactly where they all are A shark was spotted near Nahant Beach earlier this week -- when a friend asked me if it was the shark I saw, I responded that I wasn't sure, because there are so many around here it is hard to tell . I connected with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy a few years ago to see about having an acoustic buoy placed somewhere in Nahant Bay. There is one located just off Marblehead, and I'm looking forward to seeing the list of pings when it is pulled. The cost to provision and deploy a buoy seemed relatively reasonable (~$2500). It might be fun to see GWS activity in Nahant Bay...or maybe it wouldn't be fun at all and maybe it's better just to not know. Welp, time to hit the water again! Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdrayer Posted September 17, 2022 Author Share Posted September 17, 2022 Here is the AWSC's online White Shark Logbook -- it's a nice addition to their Sharktivity mobile app. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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