Capturing the Moment

  What a week for sharks here in Hawaii! On our first snorkel at Shark Fin Rock, our small boat noticed a dolphin about 30ft away from me at the surface. So I quickly headed that way. I caught a glimpse of it as it swam away, but then was happy to see another headed my way. However, I quickly realized it was not another dolphin, it was a big pelagic shark! It looked like a sandbar shark while I was in the water, but after looking at the photos I'm not quite sure.  I followed it for a minute, then it turned right towards me. I snagged a couple of photos with my little olympus tough waterproof point and shoot camera. Rare encounter with a large shark off in the blue. This was a about a six to seven foot shark swimming with me. Seeing white tip reef sharks is much more common for snorkelers around Hawaii. We saw six of them at our snorkel spots this week! It is still rare to find even white tips, I was pretty excited. I've been checking under this ledge at Kealakekua Bay all seas...

This is my first time seeing a sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus , in the wild. It is a type of requiem shark distinguished by its very tall dorsal fin. This morning there were two swimming by the fuel dock just inside Lahaina Harbor. I imagine it is fish parts tossed over by the fishing boats that must have brought them in. I have snorkeled all over this island and have never seen them. I have heard stories about people seeing sandbar shark during blue water swims while in hundreds of feet of water. As you can imagine I was very surprised but figured it was a good way to start the day!