As Keli Stevens steered the outrigger boat - with a blue-gray shark following close behind - she kept quiet and formulated a plan in her head.
If the big sucker shows his face, she’d jab him in the eye with the blade of her oar.
“It was gnarly,” she said. “I took a double take again. I thought, ‘oh man, he’s coming closer and he’s following me’.”
Stevens was on a six-crew outrigger boat about a mile and a half off the shore in Laguna Beach when one of the girls on the boat said she saw a shark fin.
They thought: no way.
Then, as they were headed back to Dana Point near Salt Creek beach, Stevens saw the fin sticking out of the water about 15 inches high, at a width of 10 inches. Stevens spent six years as a lifeguard, is an avid waterwoman, and used to go shark fishing with her husband, so she’s positive of what she saw.
For about half a mile, she stayed quiet so no one would panic and continued looking back at the fin, which stayed about 50 yards from the boat.
“When anxiety hits, people will panic and boats can flip… that’s when tragedy happens,” said Stevens, owner of Kelis Outrigger and Paddle Sports. “If you’re just cruising along, he’s going to follow. If you do (panic), he’s going to show his face.”
As soon as the crew slowed for a break, she gathered another six outrigger boats around.
“Do not get out of the boat,” she said. “Stay together, and hug the coast.”
They decided to skip out on rounding the red buoy on their regular 13-mile route, where sea lions are always hanging out.
“What was really interesting, there were no seals on the red buoy,” she said. “There’s always seals on the buoy. He ate them, or they went away.”
They headed back immediately, warning a surf-skier along the way to turn back to avoid the shark.
Stevens said she spends plenty of time in shark-filled waters, such as the Catalina channel and Hawaii. But she’s never seen a big great white this close to shore.
Another report just came in about a shark attack off Catalina over the weekend. The woman was knocked off her kayak, but not harmed. Read this detailed account.
Click here or on the map below for a listing of all OC’s shark sightings this year.
Laguna Beach Marine Safety Captain Kevin Snow said they received no reports of a great white, and there has never been an attack in Laguna.
“Obviously, there are sharks in the Pacific Ocean,” he said. “The ocean is an open environment and there’s dangers of going in the water.”
Snow said in the case of a shark sighting, the Coast Guard or Harbor Patrol would be notified to try to keep track of it. And if it came close to the coast, the beaches would be closed.
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