Comments on: Westport WA Shark Sighting

By: dustin

dustin — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:50:11 +0000

I just wanted to say I saw what I thought was a shark in november of 2008. I know it’s been awhile and I was the only one to see it and I can’t remember exactly what it looked like. I’d say it stuck out of the water about a 8-12″ or so, but it was a good 50 yards in front of me. I was on a jetski, south of westport in grayland. I only saw the one main fin sticking out. I saw it, turned around and came back in. I went back out after a bit and told myself it was a dolphin and I’m sure most sharks are not interested in eating two stroke motors driving around like crazy. What I can remember of the fin was the normal peak coming off his back, maybe more curved than the white shark pics posted above. Instead of the it coming straight back down to the back, it kind of curved back towards the front a tiny bit. After looking at local sharks, maybe a blue shark? I have no idea, though I did see a dorsal fin for sure.

Check out this map, we used the grayland access that day: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100432531473956558639.0004378be840da134e98a&ll=46.847982,-124.105339&spn=0.13666,0.31517&z=12

By: matt

matt — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:31:08 +0000

its a basking shark
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/baskingshark/baskingshark.html

By: c l e m

c l e m — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:39:57 +0000

Thanks Sean…..yeah, we are definitely taking it pretty cautious down here. The feeling from most of the people we’ve talked to say its getting a little better (not worse) than the past year or so. We’ve been pretty lucky though. Our rental got a dead battery at the bottom of Yankee the other day, kind of sketchy. We are sharing a boat Monday to check out Las Salenas and Popoyo. It does sound a bit mellower than around here, but even San Juan is a nice change from the daily grind. I’ve scored some really good days, but sometimes I look at the beach breaks, and think that there has to be something wrong. Lots of closeouts. Maderas is definitely not anything special. We hung out there a couple times because its close. It makes sense that the sand bars might be messed up. Hope you guys are getting some fun days at La Push, looking forward to pulling on that wetsuit soon.

By: mruff

mruff — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:18:16 +0000

Nice Clem! Have fun the rest of your trip~

Shark attack.

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/unprovoked_surfer.htm

The first authenticated shark attack for the state of Washington during the Twentieth Century would occur on Wednesday, 12 April 1989. It was probably like any other day to surfer Robert Harms as he sat on his purple surfboard 100 m off Pacific Beach, near Aberdeen in western Washington (47 12.7′N; 124 12.6′W). McCosker and Lea reported that Harms, while lying prone on his board at 1045 hrs, felt a sharp pain in his left arm. The surfer resisted a slight tug on his arm, instinctively pulling it away from whatever had grabbed it. A large swirl next to his surfboard drew Harms’ attention to a large gray fish. He gathered himself back onto his board and headed for shore.