A pair of Bay Area kayakers had a terrifying encounter with a shark while fishing in Half Moon Bay last week, and the incident was captured on video.
Ian Walters
Ian Walters, a teacher at Head-Royce School in Oakland, was filming his friend as they were kayaking and fishing at Pillar Point Harbor north of Half Moon Bay and the famous surf spot Mavericks Beach last Tuesday when a shark began following his friend.
“Are you OK?” we hear Walters ask as he sees the shark’s dorsal fin cutting through the water about 15 feet behind a friend’s kayak.
“Yeah, I’m just gonna move in,” his friend says in the video.
“I’m going to follow you, okay?” Walters replies.
In an interview, Walters said they realized how lucky they were that the shark had not attacked them, but that they found the experience more surreal than scary.
“He followed my buddy for a couple minutes. We moved closer together and then we saw him circle back around and follow me,” Walters recalled. “And we kind of led him to some seals and looked over our shoulders for another hour or two and everything was fine.”
Walters shared his video with shark enthusiasts on the Internet. Commenters said the shark was likely a great white based on its size, which was about 14 feet long.
“I never thought I’d ever get to experience one up close, you know?” Walters said. “I feel lucky that I did and I did it with a friend who could keep me calm and I could keep him calm. We tried not to let it bother us.”
He says it may be a while before they can kayak again, but he certainly has a story to tell his sixth graders.
