Who's spotted a shark from a SUP?

I've seen plenty of stingrays and flathead...

Around Christmas time we had our SUP lesson (beach break) cut short as instructor had a shark swim under the board

I reckon he did the right thing cutting the lesson short and asking us to paddle calmly back to the beach. He didn't tell us what he saw until we were on the sand...

cheers frog

Best experience is a toss up between paddling out to the shark nets and watching a breaching whale about 50m away or following a dolphin around Currumbin estuary for about 20 minutes with it looping etc.

The scariest, in the interests of DW paddling I cannot say.

CMC said...

Best experience is a toss up between paddling out to the shark nets and watching a breaching whale about 50m away or following a dolphin around Currumbin estuary for about 20 minutes with it looping etc.

The scariest, in the interests of DW paddling I cannot say.

We wanna know!

In Brisbane's Moreton Bay I see plenty of turtles and rays, have had a few dolphin encounters up close and personal, but the fave is the dugong encounters, although usually brief as they are quite skittish.

Haven't spotted anything nasty although happening upon turtle pieces walking out for a dawn session is a little disconcerting.

Followed a Dolphin out to the mouth of Tallebudgera Creek - it was swimming around in the creek next to the swimmers. Suddenly it started motoring towards me, went under my SUP then lept out of the water just as a fish lept out.

Missed the first time, then lept out again and caught it mid air about 5 meters from me. Bloody amazing - I have never seen a dolphin catch a fish like that - especially with such a great view standing up

just nabbed a new 9'6" Naish Nalu went for a paddle with Sam Parker at Long Reef, only to be buzzed by two dolphins all the way down to poles and no mans.

A good omen methinks.

the Nalu range rips well done to the Naish Crew!

Well i/we have seen plenty of ocean critters, from nearly always seeing mud crabs, trevally/queenfish/macks rays, mantas crocs dolphins hanging in close, to the terminators lurking out back, black tips bull and tigers. This happens daily up here.
Just after Xmas two tigers came straight at us only to split and head deep and shallow and lurk out the back,
.

a wonderfully large manta ray flying past me at watagoes, beautiful. envy.

h.p

I saw a Bronzie (think it was a bronzie anyway) headed for the estuary mouth whilst suppin at Mangawhai Heads, it wasn't all that big thankfully. It checked me, I checked it then it went about its day..and I got out the water. I see heaps of rays but the largest one was at Mt Maunganui a couple of months ago. I wouldn't like to guess at its size suffice to say It was fricken huge, what a wonderful sight. Also we get a few baby hammerheads washed up on our beach, they must come in to seek protection in the mangroves in the nearby estuary?.

My best experience is being surrounded by dolphins mothers and calves at Fingal headland early morning and paddling with two big mantas at Kingscliff

Swanie said...

Casso, on closer inspection: Did you loose a friend that day. Looks like a paddle handle next to the whale in the white section.

Ha, it looks like that hey? Dale Chapman was out there with me but I don't think that was his paddle handle getting sucked down with the big girl.

emmmm, does paddling with the Torquay crew count[}:)]

Almost somewhat off the topic but have never heard of pseudo killer whales before
tvnz.co.nz/national-news/killer-whales-flip-pseudo-orcas-meal-3435027

I don't know if anyone else from Adelaide on here went out on Thursday evening last week (about the only time I didn't see any other SUPs!), but it was the most amazing day out on the Metro coastline I have ever had.

The wind and water were perfectly clear and still, a sunny, nice and warm 32deg C evening. I paddled out about 600m off Grange and could still see the bottom perfectly (triffids!). Rays everywhere, not scared at all until you go right over the top of them then they skit away.

About a dozen bottlenose dolphins were feeding off the end of Henley Jetty about 500m out so I paddled out towards them, got within about 100m when some SLS louts in an inflatable went right over the top of them twice, and I thought they had gone. They they suddenly appeared all around me and bumped my paddle. Love the way they lazily glided past or under, rolled on one side and glared at me! Amazing experience and they are suprisingly noisy creatures, with twelve of them puffing through their blow holes within a couple of metres. They were mucking around with each other, one would stick his tail out the water and another dolphin would ram him! They were a lot bigger close up that I was expecing...

Then I headed a few km south down to the River Torrens outlet, off shore there I would never have believed how many Blue Swimmer Crabs were just wandering around down there on the sand - hundreds and hundreds of legal size in about 5m of water! If the board's shadow went over the top both big claws go up, as if to say "f@ck off, I'll kill you".

Have seen another bloke on a SUP with a crab pot off Henley South - if you a reading this - mate you missed out last week!! Could have dropped pot on any crab you wanted

That big guy's often there.. There's a bloke that snorkels along the pier and he told me how he'd be down there on a sunny day and suddenly it would go dark.. because he's swum over the top of him and blocked the sunlight.. He says it scares the hell outa him. It least if you wet yourself no one would know..

DJ

Dolphin encounters are amazing, we get some pods down here fairly often but I was coming round the back of the island the other day on the way home and I had a large shark swim under me. I was on my 11" board and I could see the pectoral fins out each side and when it turned it was longer then my board.......I was just standing there going a little jelly legged thinking " stay calm, breath deep, stay calm, breath deep" Anyway, it swam in the opposite direction and I stayed in very shallow water once I got into the lake entrance the whole way home. Intense experience but wow, what an incredible fish!