Hello,
Not sure whether this should be on the shark board, NCAL, or both.
Just wanted to drop a hint; a friend of mine found a large pack of leopard sharks in shallow water on 02/26/06. I went back with him the 28th and 29th, with freediving gear, and had an incredible experience. In no more than six feet of water, we swam with many different mature leopard sharks. Two to six feet long and totally non-threatening. You would get a bit of speed, then coast through the murk silently. More often then not, you would glide up to one or more shark. Once you found one you could follow them pretty easily with strong arm strokes to minimize noise. At one point I was directly over top of one, perfectly paced as if we were connected at the chest. I'm not sure who was following who on that encounter. Another observation was that when you were following them they would respond to the speed of your pursuit. The sharks could out-swim you at any point, but they would maintain a small lead and only swim faster in response to you swimming harder, or noisier. Didn't get any photos due to a lack of gear; I'm selling everything I own for a proper Nikonos kit. Each day we had hours of contact with the sharks. A local authority informed us that they were in town to mate.
Since our sightings, there has been significant storm and swell activity, so I'm not sure if you can still go take a peek or whether the sharks left port. I went back on 03/01/06 but the cove was all beat up from a south wind and the visibility prevented you from seeing your outstretched hand. I don't want to reveal the exact spot for a number of reasons. First, the spot is pristine and generally deserted; an increasingly rare attribute around here. It's a devil to get to. Second, leopard sharks aren't unique to this spot. I believe you could potentially find them in shallow, rocky, sandy bottomed, grassy and protected spots in, at least, Northern San Mateo County and maybe elsewhere. You have to re-define what you consider a dive spot and muck around in very shallow water. They were most often found in grass in less that four feet of water. Go check it out!
Matt Petty
Not sure whether this should be on the shark board, NCAL, or both.
Just wanted to drop a hint; a friend of mine found a large pack of leopard sharks in shallow water on 02/26/06. I went back with him the 28th and 29th, with freediving gear, and had an incredible experience. In no more than six feet of water, we swam with many different mature leopard sharks. Two to six feet long and totally non-threatening. You would get a bit of speed, then coast through the murk silently. More often then not, you would glide up to one or more shark. Once you found one you could follow them pretty easily with strong arm strokes to minimize noise. At one point I was directly over top of one, perfectly paced as if we were connected at the chest. I'm not sure who was following who on that encounter. Another observation was that when you were following them they would respond to the speed of your pursuit. The sharks could out-swim you at any point, but they would maintain a small lead and only swim faster in response to you swimming harder, or noisier. Didn't get any photos due to a lack of gear; I'm selling everything I own for a proper Nikonos kit. Each day we had hours of contact with the sharks. A local authority informed us that they were in town to mate.
Since our sightings, there has been significant storm and swell activity, so I'm not sure if you can still go take a peek or whether the sharks left port. I went back on 03/01/06 but the cove was all beat up from a south wind and the visibility prevented you from seeing your outstretched hand. I don't want to reveal the exact spot for a number of reasons. First, the spot is pristine and generally deserted; an increasingly rare attribute around here. It's a devil to get to. Second, leopard sharks aren't unique to this spot. I believe you could potentially find them in shallow, rocky, sandy bottomed, grassy and protected spots in, at least, Northern San Mateo County and maybe elsewhere. You have to re-define what you consider a dive spot and muck around in very shallow water. They were most often found in grass in less that four feet of water. Go check it out!
Matt Petty
. The main purpose of the message was to open people's eyes. I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board who know exactly where to go see these sharks. However I'm sure there are plenty of people who have no clue they exist. I didn't. I haven't used SCUBA gear, and have very limited freediving experience, but am an active surfer who knows this coast pretty well. I was just floored that there were easily accessed, mellow, sharks in my back yard. A large portion of the experience was having found them ourselves. So; my post wasn't supposed to be an "I've got a secret" type of thing. More like "holy %#$!", don't discount the diving opportunities close to home and explore. The posted suggestion to either give up your spot, or keep quiet, doesn't seem to apply in my mind.
