We were diving in Shell Beach (just north of Pismo) at around 5:00 in the afternoon. My dive buddy Eric and I dropped down to about 8 feet of water. Within 3 or 4 minutes underwater Eric grabbed my arm, I turned and saw the back half of the shark swimming away (it was about 6 ot 7 feet from us). We both signaled we were okay and Eric signaled to stay put for a moment so he could clear his head.
About 3 minutes later when we were moving forward again, this time in about 14 feet of water, I turned on my dive light and shined it on the ground first and then in front of us, as my light shined a head there was a 6 to 7 foot shark right in front of us (about 4 feet away) it was facing us then turned and looked at us with his eye then very slowly swam away.
We continued for about 2 or 3 minutes then signaled to each other to surface. We popped up on the edge of a kelp bed and talked about the sharks and made a few guess as to what species they were. As we talked about 10 feet from Eric a large black fin splashed in the water, Eric looked at me and asked if I had seen it too, I said I had and didn't know what it was. We brushed it off as maybe a sea lion or a comerant diving. Eric suggested we surface swim back to shore, but I told him I felt safer under water and we are much less likely to be attacked under there.
We dropped down to about 17 feet of water and slowly started making our way in. We had decided I would navigate so I was looking at my compass when Eric grabbed me again, this time I had almost swam into the shark. It was less then 3 feet away and came from left (Eric's side) to right my side, it swam slowly right in front of us. This was the largest one we saw and was between 8 to 10 feet long.
About 2 minutes later we saw are last shark of the dive, which circled us about 6 feet away. We swam a little more until we were in about 6 feet of water then popped back to the surface to swim the rest of the way in.
FAQ
1. Were you scared?
Yes, we both were but we stayed composed. Each sighting was no more or less frightening then the first one. We both stayed very calm and continued our planned dive. I was more in awe then scared in the water, after getting out I began thinking about it more and was a little jittery for the rest of the day. We wanted to get back in the water as soon as possible so our minds would not build it up and up as a fear that would make diving scary in the future.
2. Are these sharks dangerous?
Sevengills have had 2 recorded attacks on people and more then a dozen on dogs. I don't know why these sharks choose to swim to us, maybe to look at us, maybe they are territorial, we don't know. Sevengill sharks often hunt in large packs circleing sea lions and seals and then closing in for the kill. It is extremely rare to be attacked by a shark that you first saw. Most shark attacks happen without the victim every knowing the shark was coming. These sharks choose to show themselves to us, with there deliberate show swimming. I think they were probably just curious. The sharks you have to worry about are the ones you don’t see.
3. Is this area known for sharks?
Our dive friend Terry dives this location more then anybody. He sees sharks there all the time and said he has especially seen them recently. I also talked to a Kayaker who saw a 16-17 foot Great White there a few years ago. (Update added 12/21/05: Terry was diving at Shell Beach a few weeks ago and was approached by a Great White Shark underwater. He was hunting at the time and the shark probably wanted the fish he had killed. There are few divers in the entire world who have ever even seen a White Shark underwater).
We went out again this morning with a camera and dove about 1000 yards from where we dove yesterday. We were unable to find any large sharks, but did see 3 sting rays.
