Ever Had a Hungry Shark Come Charging At Your Kayak Before?
By Ann LeFlore
@poehere (15123)
French Polynesia
October 11, 2015 7:07pm CST
About a month ago my BF and I were out fishing in the lagoon. We had our lines in the water and were just dangling our feet in the water. I caught a nice size fish and was pulling in the nylon when my BF yelled at me to get my feet out of the water. Lucky for us the water is crystal clear here on the islands. We saw a giant lemon shark come in over the coral reef and start swimming around in the lagoon. When all of a sudden he knew I had a fish on my line and came charging at our kayak.
We always take a fish head and the bones from the fish with us when we go fishing. This doesn't happen a lot but it's good to be prepared. I sat there and watched that shark come so close to the kayak and was heading to ram our kayak to get at the fish we had. Lucky for us he finally smelled the fish head and some meat we threw into the water. Just before ramming into the kayak he took and turned away heading toward the smell of the fish head. That's what you call a close encounter.
6 people like this
6 responses
@Freelanzer (10782)
• Canada
12 Oct 15
That was indeed a close encounter, happy to hear you escaped any injury. No I never experienced such an encounter
2 people like this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
12 Oct 15
Thanks - yes it was a close encounter but it was also sort of exciting. I just pictured my self being dumped in the kayak and watching the shark eat all the fish we had caught. That's why we always take with us stuff to feed sharks with. This was actually the first time in over 21 years this one has happened. So it was sort of fun too.
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
13 Oct 15
scary and certainly not something I ever experienced as I never went kayaking - yet.
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
12 Oct 15
That's a cool picture of a blacktip reef shark. They can be aggressive too.
Species identification information for the blacktip reef shark
1 person likes this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
12 Oct 15
That's for sure especially if they are hungry. This one is rather small to the one that came charging at us. I took this picture when we were out for the day just swimming and running around in the kayak.
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
12 Oct 15
@poehere I like how the water is so clear. It's much better than murky waters of North Carolina! I swam into several sharks on the bottom because I couldn't see them. :P
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
12 Oct 15
@poehere I like my water fresh and shark-less, because it's more fun that way. Clear, rock-bottom mountain streams, where the only thing that gets people out of the water is when a snake appears! Harmless snakes though, I don't mind being in the water with them around. As I saw this summer, they are more interested in the fish than what we're doing!
1 person likes this
@Missmwngi (12915)
• Nairobi, Kenya
12 Oct 15
Ooh my that water is so clear. You must be living in a heaven on earth place
That was a close one for sure
2 people like this
@poehere (15123)
• French Polynesia
12 Oct 15
Yah that one was a little scary and sort of a close encounter. I know the sharks here don't really attack us they were just looking for food. Once we feed him he left and didn't come back. Yes this is our waters and this photo is taken from the kayak.
