Great White Shark Cruises by SoCal Surfer Who Has No Idea it's There (Watch)
Great white sharks have been spotted all over the place lately, but it's the Southern California ones that have really been getting their 15 minutes of fame.
Last week, we reported on a great white shark nicknamed Chapstick who was hunting sting rays at an undisclosed beach in North County, San Diego.
Yesterday, Chapstick was back at it again hanging out in the lineup. But this time, the surfer had no idea she was there.
Ocean photographer and shark advocate Scott Fairchild captioned the post above:
"Always be aware of your surroundings. Especially in the ocean as sharks love to approach from behind, checking things out from a position of power and safety."
Fairchild told Surfer, this is "Chapstick as well, she's been exploratory lately."
In the drone footage above, Chapstick approaches the surfer from behind, swimming directly towards him. While she's still a dozen or so feet away, the shark veers to the right, swimming away from the surfer.
"In this case, the surfer never saw it and never had a clue it was around him," Fairchild said.
And her name? Fairchild came up with it himself. He said most shark tags he sees are quite large, but hers was "just about the size of a Chapstick."
One viewer asked:
"So just out of curiosity, what happens to the sharks when they go from sub-adult to full-grown adult sharks now praying upon mammals? Do they then become migratory, or will we have a resident population of large adult white sharks much like Northern California, or Australia, or South Africa?"
Fairchild answered:
"Animals can have individualistic behavior and certainly geographical differences but here in California, the large adults migrate. Often circulate in between the shark café out in the Pacific, up along Mexico and California to the islands off San Francisco and back."
***
Don't miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels.
Whether you're a professional surfer or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos.