It was last Wednesday, just an hour before sunset, when Dusty was sitting on his board about half mile off Doheny State Beach near the harbor entrance.

He heard a ‘very large disturbance in water, something at least 12 ft,” he wrote to me in an e-mail. ”As I paddle in, a seal follows me in all the way to beach, and would not go back out.”

The freaky feeling came after hearing about other shark-related stories. One person in a fitness group he takes out at 6 a.m. every morning said they saw a shark at about 6:30 a.m. at Three Arch Bay, a 15-footer about 40 yards off shore swimming on the surface. 

Nearby was a “large seal on the beach(which we have never seen like this), exhausted so much that we could pet him, and he had thrown sand all over himself. Strange behavior,” Dusty wrote.

I got the e-mail from Dusty after my column ran this week showing all the recent sightings of great white sharks along OC’s coastline. Not trying to freak anyone out… but better people know about it, than ignore any warning signs that their behavior might be changing. I’ve covered the coast for years, and marine life have been known to do bizarre things. One year, blue whales came out in huge, never-before seen numbers. Another year, thousands of giant squid washed up on shore, and then hundreds of thousands of jellyfish.

“I am not going in water again for some time. There has to be something happening offshore that we are unaware of this to drive a shark like this in,” Dusty wrote.
 

There’s been a few theories of why sharks might be hanging out here more than usual. Perhap this year, we’re just noticing them.

Perhap it’s the colder-than-normal waters, still lingering at low 60s.

Or maybe it’s because sea lions have been protected - growing large in numbers - and the shark’s food source is abundant here.

Whatever it is, we wanted to make sure we were documenting any sightings. Check out the graphic we pulled together of recent sightings, many from a listing by the Shark Research Committee.

We also pulled together this Google maps, to keep a running tally of sightings. So if you see one out in the lineup or while enjoying a nice day out at sea, be sure to shoot me an e-mail at lconnelly@ocregister.com.

Keep your eyes open out there! Catch you later, I’m going for a surf…que Jaws music here.

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