Hammer Head Shark on San Francisco reef today.

[noj3333]

I'll preference this by saying, in my 300+/- dives I've never seen a shark this size... For me it was amazing to see, maybe it's routine for more experienced divers, or people who seek out shark experiences, but for me it was AMAZING...

I probably was the closest in the group to it, and it was maybe 60' away from me, and stayed within sight for 2 or 3 minutes.

Jorge (of 3P), our DM said it was about 12 feet long...

The picture is not mine, it was taken by the only person in our group with a camera.

 

[ROUS]

Wow. A remarkable experience. Congrats.

 

[Green Frog]

Outstanding. I have to disagree with your statement about more experienced divers… it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time, which you obviously were.
For the first couple of years I was diving (back in the ‘90s) I had a standard saying, “If you are afraid of sharks, stay close to me while I have my Nikonos in hand. I never see a shark when I have a camera in my hand!” After a couple of years of diving around the Bahamas, the jinx was suddenly broken and now I seem to see them pretty often. I even saw a pair of Scalloped Hammerheads on the wall at San Sal (Bahamas), but they were smaller than yours… probably only 8 footers. Congrats on breaking your big shark drought.
Froggie

 

[Knockneed Man]

Fantastic. I’m jealous! And I’m sure everyone knows this, but just to clarify, that’s a great hammer in your pic, not scalloped.

 

[also_anon_dc]

Amazing! Hammerheads aren't common in Cozumel are they? I've been there many times and never heard of anyone seeing one.

 

[gopbroek]

Cubano Jorge told me he was a DM here for 17 years before he saw one.

 

[DeltaWardog]

Amazing! Hammerheads aren't common in Cozumel are they? I've been there many times and never heard of anyone seeing one.

It's incredibly rare. In all my trips I have only ever heard one person (a divemaster) say they saw one on the reefs, and the other DM on the boat agreed it was mind bogglingly lucky to see one in Cozumel.

 

[gopbroek]

I wish I had stayed a few days longer

 

[2stroketony]

I'll preference this by saying, in my 300+/- dives I've never seen a shark this size... For me it was amazing to see, maybe it's routine for more experienced divers, or people who seek out shark experiences, but for me it was AMAZING...

I probably was the closest in the group to it, and it was maybe 60' away from me, and stayed within sight for 2 or 3 minutes.

Jorge (of 3P), our DM said it was about 12 feet long...

The picture is not mine, it was taken by the only person in our group with a camera.

Very cool. Very large yes. Larger ones maybe off kaneohe Oahu breeding grounds.

 

[ggunn]

That's an impressive dorsal fin. Do big sharks like that tend to hang around for a while or are they just passing through?