Great White Shark Spotted Off Haleiwa
Jan 3, 2006, 08:36 PM EST





HALEIWA (KHNL)
While the excitement is building to bring in the new year, excitment turned into terror for a longtime waterman who went face-to-face with the most feared creature in the ocean right here in Hawaii.

Not only does he have an amazing story to tell of his run in with a great white shark but he's got the pictures to prove it.

Jimmy Hall knows he was lucky. He's been running a shark tour on the North Shore for about 4 years. He's seen thousands of sharks but this is the first time he's seen the great white shark, hands down the most feared creature in the ocean.

"Every time I tell the story or think about it, or close my eyes, it's right there. I don't think I've done anything where the high has lasted so long. I just cannot get over how incredibly fortunate I was to be out there when that incredible animal came by." said Hall.

Jimmy Hall of Hawaii Shark Encounters had a close encounter during a shark tour on Wednesday about 3 miles off Haleiwa.

"And I looked at that, and matter of factly, that's a small humpback whale. That's how big this thing was. When it got closer, it was no humpback whale. It was a white shark, unmistakably".

This great white is a female. Experts estimate her to be about 18 feet long and between 1.5 to 2 tons. Just to give you an idea, that boat she's rubbing up against in the video is 32 feet long.

"I went outside the cage, and just went out mid-water and she was making an approach and I just sat there and saw this incredible fish and just came swimming up, until we were about 2 feet away, nose to nose with that shark, and it swam by and just put my hand by her side and wow! That was really, that was really something!"

Hall hopes this historic sighting helps experts learn more about great whites and clear up any myths.

"If there was such a thing as a man eating shark, that's all the shark would eat. There's so many of us. We swim so pathetically slow compared to everything else in the ocean, they wouldn't do anything else but eat people.

"We were just incredibly fortunate to see this one. Cause we happen to see it, doesn't mean it's the only one that's ever been here."

Hall has talked to local shark experts. They'd like to track where she came from. An expert says the public shouldn't be concerned because great whites are known to be here, but he wouldn't advise anyone from jumping in the water when one is in the water.


Here the video.

http://66.180.128.240/news/news8at6/shark.html

Yikes!! Hope I don't meet it or any of it's relatives...leaving Jan. 23.

It's like lightening. It's always in the sky and hitting places and people. In the states Florida has the most lightening strikes and shark attacks.

In the lakes we have pollution and most of it we can't see.

If you look at surfline for sharkiness of beaches, Waikiki is one of the higher ratings,even higher than the North Shore or Makaha. Beau at Classic Surf Shop says the Tigers at Waikiki seem to have learned to live with tourists seeing that they leave everyone alone. Hard to believe...I don't usually think of them ,like most of us...

Kenny Ashburn mentioned to me he has witnessed sharks swimming in the shallows along the Waikiki beaches, some have swan through the lineup at "Publics" and "Canoes". The average tourist has no idea how close they come to sharks while ion the ocean.

With the large amount of sea turtle activity that I had witnessed along Hawaiian beaches its no wonder that the odd tiger would be seen there.


I recall reading something that stated that if you have ever swam in the ocean you came within 40 feet of a shark at one point or another.

It's not the sharks in the water but the ones on land that worry me the most.

To get out of a good working shark cage seams like tempting disaster. That diver should be playing lotterio, super 7, 649, mega millions, the Spanish lottery because he is lucky. Lucky to be alive. To me swimming around a Great White Shark is like hanging close around with a grizzly bear or petting a lion or tiger. It's too tempting if they should be hungry or on a whim feel their territory challenged.

Back in the autumn of '99 I was surfing Waikiki on a somewhat squally morning at Kaisers (just offshore from the Hilton Hawaiian Village). Just a handful out as the conditions weren't ideal. Three groms were yelling at me, as I was waiting outside for the larger sets (only up to head high that day). After paddling in a little they said they saw a fin behind me. It freaked me out because I didn't see it, but they didn't get out of the water, so I stayed in, but was way more vigilant that morning.

I still think central Florida takes the cake for chances of getting bit, not necessarily mangled like other locations though aka Australia, South Africa, Central/NorCal.

The worst place for sharks is around Kenny the orange coated kid. If you are around Kenny in Lake Ontario you could get eaten by a long lost megladon.

Things not to do with sharks:

1. Don't hand feed them at the dinner table.

2. Respect them but don't mistake weakness as kindness.

3. Never run with bull sharks in Pamplona.

4. Never wear a tight orange coat in the water or hang with a kid named Kenny from Colorado.

5. Wear concrete when giving a shark a dirt bath and scrubbing them with steel wool.

6. Never shock a shark in angina while you are standing in a pool of gasoline.

7. Always hold the door for a nurse shark.

8. Tip a hammerhead shark at least 15% for good service.

9. Sharks find that taking ones hat off when falling into the water offensive.

10. Always call a cab for a Great White in distress.