It must be getting warmer

[Ian Austin]

Hi
I was taking a customers boat from Brixham to the river Dart tonight i spotted something in the water, so i went and investigated, sorry for the poor quality but i only had the camara that is in my phone to take these.

[Ian Austin]

[Ian Austin]

I was about 15 ft away when i took this.
A basking shark and a baby zig zagging closely behind.

[Rupert Bear]

Do you not get these in your area? We have lots of these basking sharks up here every summer by this. we can get very close to them with care, usually by going up in front of them and switching off the engine so they swim right past the boat. Once even right between two boats only 4 or 5 yards apart. If you make any noise or the engine is going they tend to turn away.
Are you sure it is not the dorsal and tail fin of one shark rather than two? Did you get close enough to make out the second one?

[Keith Hart]

Hi Ian

Yes it is getting a bit warmer and the Basking Shark sightings are on the increase. Lucky you had a phone camera with you. How long do you estimate the shark was?

Oh, yes, it was one shark by the way. The first bit was its nose, the second its dorsal fin and the third its tail fin. See attached picture. They swim along at a leisurely pace with their nose just poking out of the water.

You can report your sighting here: http://www.mcsuk.org/

You may be interested to take a look here as well: http://baskingsharks.wildlifetrusts.org/

Thanks again for the photos.

Keith Hart

[Rogue Wave]

Brilliant Ian it's always a magical moment when you observe a sea creature. I saw a Sunfish off Ireland once which was a very calming experience.

When I fist saw the dorsal fins I thought it was a boat broker and a trainee

[swginn]

Rogue, whereabouts in Ireland did you see the sun fish. I've seen several now just off Baltimore Harbour? Very relaxing to watch, especially when the sun is shining.

[Rogue Wave]

I love Baltimore and the coast around it.

I saw the Sunfish on the way round from Dublin (Dun Loaugharie) to Killmor Quay and it was about half way round so that must make it time to look at the chart!

I'll be back it was Wicklow/Arklow sort of Area. The Sunfish was so laid back ( laid out more like) we got to about three feet away from it in the rib and it didn't move

[Mark Halliday]

Ian
Met one about 10 years ago off Start Pt. Might have been the same one, they don't go very fast!
15-18 ft long at a guess. We were sailing at around 5 kts and passed 30 ft from it. There was a big swell running and at one point we were in a trough and the shark was above us at the crest. It was back lit then and you could really se the size of it. Fantastic. Right up there with the school of dolphins we saw half way to Ireland once.

[Ian Austin]

Hi all
R/Bear, only ever seen one other outside Plymouth breakwater, i was in the flybridge of a 37 ft er and looked right down on it, clear as a bell and that was nearly half the lengh of the boat.
Keith, i am thick as f### although it was calm i didn't want to get to close and disturb it, i was in a 30 ft er and no flybridge, can't think of any more excuses.
Rouge, if it was boat brokers out there, i think i could have walked to Dartmouth as there would be so many of them.
Mark, They don't go very fast at all even the 30 ft hard boat i was driving managed to over take it, ahhh Start point , thats got to be good on a windy day, still wet to try.