Incident with Great white Shark

[zoila]

Hi everyone.
On Saturday 13/11/21 Scuba Diving in Western Australia at Peppermint Grove Beach Capel.
1145hrs My son & I entered water together from boat ,We were both wearing Sharkshield freedom 7 devices & were turned on prior to entry.
I unclipped my Apollo Av1 scooter of rope tethered from boat & proceeded in my routine check of anchor & line.
1150hrs , after sorted anchor line , went past boat location, water was excellent visibility 10m+, noticed my son Toby's scooter was still hanging from rope, His bubbles indicated he was already at the bottom next to reef structure. I met up with him & he signaled that there was a shark sighted. I looked around but couldn't get any visual on it. He was noticeable shaken & I asked if he wanted to go back to boat- he wast sure as he didn't get a good look at what he had seen. All he saw was when I had hit the water upon entry on the other side of boat he saw a large fin splash near the boats outboard.
He wanted to continue dive & he collected his scooter.
1155hrs we dived around a close reef complex & ended up near sand line, I noticed something big at the corner of my eye, turned around and a white pointer 3.5m-4m was approaching slowly about 10m away. , it didn't seem aggressive-just checking us out, but it was huge, like a barrel. I basically froze & put my scooter in front of me with my back to reef as some defense?, Toby was in the open water near sand line & I could only watch helplessly as it went up to him within a few meters. It slowly turned & went opposite way. I can only think maybe the shark shield did provide some electrical barrier from coming closer.
1200hrs The shark had passed, I signaled to Toby to come over to me & follow, I knew where boat was -we hugged the sand between the reef complex and made way to under boat, we lost sight on the shark, but the boat was over the sandline & in an exposed situation. The decision was made to get to surface as quickly as possible ,clipping of our scooters and basically jumping back into boat with everything still on.
Never happy to abort a dive, though I'm going to have to get back on the bike & continue- its the second shark encounter I've had within a year....
-Carl

 

[Raphus]

Thats not an incident. You were very lucky to see a GW.

Thanks for sharing the story

 

[zoila]

Thats not an incident. You were very lucky to see a GW.

Thanks for sharing the story

There has been a couple of fatalities from GW in recent times at that location, so for any west Australians, yes it is an incident.

 

[DevilEyeDog]

By definition incident is: "something that happens, especially something unusual or unpleasant." You are correct, it's an incident. Happy everyone is okay. I think when someone writes "incident" I would expect is a near injury, harm or significant adverse event. I'm sorry you and your son were traumatized, but glad it did not result in what I perceived to have happened when I read the title. I'm not familiar with the dive area, but if there's a more local site/page to report the sighting just as a heads up for divers to be aware perhaps that would be helpful. Then again the cynics would say "the sharks live in the ocean so must we report them?" Glad again you and your son are okay.

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

An amazing experience thanks for sharing. 25 years of diving in here in Tasmania I have never encountered one, and should I ever do I hope it's like yours

As they say it is the one you don't see......

 

[zoila]

By definition incident is: "something that happens, especially something unusual or unpleasant." You are correct, it's an incident. Happy everyone is okay. I think when someone writes "incident" I would expect is a near injury, harm or significant adverse event. I'm sorry you and your son were traumatized, but glad it did not result in what I perceived to have happened when I read the title. I'm not familiar with the dive area, but if there's a more local site/page to report the sighting just as a heads up for divers to be aware perhaps that would be helpful. Then again the cynics would say "the sharks live in the ocean so must we report them?" Glad again you and your son are okay.

Yes, your right technically it’s an incident, though luckily isn’t didn’t up being a fatality, I have dived all over the state for over 20 years & never seen a shark, even off islands with seal colonies. Nothing will prepare you for it even if you take all the precautions. Last year got harassed by a 2.5 m bronze whaler, Seems like a baby compared to that GW.

 

[Heat Miser]

Gulp!! I was diving 20km away at HMAS Swan wreck, the next day, no shark shield.

I hope Toby continues to dive.

What was the depth?

 

[drrich2]

Congratulations on surviving intact one of those 'a story for the grandkids' type adventures.

He was noticeable shaken & I asked if he wanted to go back to boat- he wast sure as he didn't get a good look at what he had seen. All he saw was when I had hit the water upon entry on the other side of boat he saw a large fin splash near the boats outboard.

Toby was in the open water near sand line & I could only watch helplessly as it went up to him within a few meters.

Unscathed in the physical sense. I imagine the memory of this will haunt you guys on ocean dives for awhile.

 

[100days-a-year]

Seen them a few times, as well as most of my Carolina, Georgia and NE Florida buddies and we are almost always spearfishing so the sharks are a little more interested. After a few times it would still be a giant adrenaline rush.
They do seem to have a much less hurried approach than other sharks. I've been bumped, charged and have had to wrestle fish with 3m sharks a few times. Even sandtigers will get sketchy at certains times.
Still safer than driving to and from the site but that's no consolation.

 

[Pressurehead]

They are massive when seen up close, bloody frightening, had one come up beside our 2 man TK2 kayak in 1976 [map supplied ] , we were training for a kayak marathon [250 mile Murray marathon], it did not break the surface in clear water, just turned on its side and had a look, we paddled to the bank and carried the kayak miles back to the Naval base, never to paddle there again, no Sir .
6.5 m Kayak and it was most of the length and so WIDE, still brings the hairs up on the back of my neck thinking about it.
At the mouth of this inlet: Google Maps

So glad you and your boy are safe.