# Shark Story



## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

Surf was up on the 3rd of July on a sunny day just south of Crescent Head in the Point Plomer area. I could go to 
Crescent Head for a surf or go for a free-dive and perhaps a spearfish at a semi sheltered headland. As 
soon as i swam out the back I'd seen some schools of Salmon swirling around and schools of luderick intermittently 
appear then disappear. The luderick have probably seen spearos before since they were so flighty and nervous with a 
diver in the water. I'd video a weird catfish in the shallow water. Despite the swell the water was pretty clear. I swam 
back to shore.

I'd left the water and went into Crescent Head to pick up some supplies and decided to go back and have a crack at 
the luderick and salmon. Just as I'd entered the water I'd flicked on the Go-Pro but unfortunately it got locked on boot 
up. This happens about 20% of the time with this camera. I would normally open the housing and pull the battery out 
and put it back in to reset the camera. Since i was at the waters edge with wet hands Id just left it there with my 
dry gear. Anyhow,as I swam, the water was crystal clear but no signs of the salmon or the luderick or any other schooling 
fish. This fact concentrated my efforts on the headland area to get some benthic fish living around the rocks. 
Right on the headland a weak to medium rip was pulling the water parallel with the cliffs out to sea. I'd waited for the sets 
to subside then freedived down to the bottom of the cliff underneath the white sheet of bubbling foam on-top. Though 
it was dark underneath I'd found a car size rock with 3 Drummer fish but the gun wouldn't fit to get off a clean shot. 
Several wave sets came though and I'd tried a couple of time til i realized a shorter pneumatic gun in the car would 
be a better weapon for a later dive. So i swam out through the curtain of bubbles into clearer water. I'd thought I would 
wait for a few minutes and hedge my bet on a school of salmon that I'd seen there in the morning to swing by. Out 
over the clean white sand about 20 metres away, swims a shark in my direction. My first thoughts was excitement since 
a grey nurse always turns a dull dive into an excellent dive. I was thinking at the time ,hmmm looks about 6 ft or 
so from here...as it got closer i realized that the shark was alot bigger than 6ft, more like 10 feet and was not a Grey 
Nurse!

It had a pure white bottom half and in the sunlight a silver top with a large dorsal fin. The shark was still 
swimming in my direction and about 10 metres away. I was still excited to see it but i was maintaining a low heart 
rate. As it came closer,the shark was around 14 foot. It was a monster. It pulled up along side of 
me and stopped dead in front of me. My vibe was still pretty optimistic as my brain was still ticking over trying to 
categorize this shark. Its skin was perfect. There were no scars marks or scraps anywhere on it. This sharks doesn't 
make mistakes! The sun was getting lower on the horizon but refracting threads of light flickered all over its back. Silver 
flash reflections from a top of the predominantly white shark dazzled. We were both locked in an eyeball to eyeball 
scenario. I was thinking at the time that the vibe from the shark was not hostile just inquisitive. It was still 
hanging in the clear water stationary almost defying gravity in front of me.I know that sharks do not have a swim 
bladder but this whopper was completely neutrally buoyant. By this stage i must have floated up vertically and was 
at the surface breathing through my snorkel. Another 30 seconds had gone by and the shark was still there. I'd 
refused to take my eyes off its eyes as the vibe from the shark went from mutual curiosity to an uglier mood. As i 
was maintaining eye contact with it I'm sure it must have been observing all my vital signs with its toolkit of 
senses. I momentarily looked at the size of the mouth and estimated in situ that two bites would do it. He began to 
gnaw its teeth slightly and he was subtly showing me the enormous bulk of its body.I had sensed a frustration from 
him. He wanted me to run. He wanted me to run so he could slot into predator mode. You run, i will chase.Then 
finally i sensed that I was being sized up and within 20 seconds or less, its all over.These could be my last moments.
So I raised the speargun to the level of his eye and we floated there for another 20 to 30 seconds. At the time I 
was thinking that if he takes one step closer i will pull the trigger. My finger was already applying pressure on 
the trigger when I thought.....crikey.....this 1 metre steel spear will not stop this shark. In fact if I release 
the spear into the shark, in its rage, it will swim off...... pass me and tear off a limb on his way out. I would 
bleed out before i could get to shore, and the Shark will be damaged permanently. This is what was going through my mind 
so i lowered the spear from aim. The shark was doing its own sums. He seemed so alert, so aware of everything. The 
shark then twisted its spine and awkwardly flicked its huge tail in my direction. A pressure wave hit my thorax 
creating a shock of some sort. It swam off. At the time the pulse felt part pressure part electrical. I'm not sure 
if Sharks are capable of this but it was a face slap. I was relieved to see it hit 40 km/hr in only a second or two 
and it was gone. I'd thought of leaving my dive buoy and lead weight anchor behind and just get out of there but i 
knew that i had a long swim back to the beach any way. The shark has got plenty of time for a change of heart. I'd swam to to 
bouy gathered the rope and swam back toward the shore largely underwater so i could scan the underwater horizon for a unwelcomed return visit. As i swam I'd tangled the rope into a messy network into the clear water providing a distraction for the shark if it did return and a new conundrum.
That night i was sleeping in the Camper-van down a bush track and woke around 3:30am feeling a bit disoriented as my 
subconscious making sense of what just happened. 
The next day i drove to Crescent Head and paddled out with the 
full-on surf crowd into some great 5 foot surf. One young heavily tattooed flat top surf nazi was swearing his head off at 
a elderly heavily bearded 60+ surf hippy for dropping in on him. It looked comical. All is right again in the universe. Hehe. :lol:


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

Here are some of the spots featured in the vid over july....fish rock, southwest rocks, Congo and Point Plomer.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Beautiful footage again Mark, and an 'interesting encounter.'

I think you were borne in the sea.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Update the firmware on your gopro to get rid of the freezing problem.


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

thanks sam....gave it an update but slotted back into the old pattern soon enough.


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## TheFishinMusician (Feb 5, 2007)

The look on your face in that picture tells it all Mat
Bravo


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## Geoffw (Jan 23, 2011)

That's some account. I would agree that you were born in the sea but if you were the white would have eaten you. Will have to go with big balls.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Cool story bro


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

matcoburn said:


> thanks sam....gave it an update but slotted back into the old pattern soon enough.


That's a bugger. I had the problem when I first got mine but it's worked flawlessly since the update.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Amazing account told really well.

I'm sure I would have had a heart attack in the same situation..... :shock:


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

kayakone said:


> Beautiful footage again Mark, and an 'interesting encounter.'
> 
> I think you were borne in the sea.


Its Capt Coburn not the fishin Musican! We are both devishly handsome and own a red Adventure Island as Ive said before Trev!


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

Thanx Lazy, Trev,Sam,Digger,Mark, Geoff, Kev Greg, Marty and Mike for your comments....very pleasing to read. thanx again.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Matt, what a fantastic turn of phrase you have. Had to change my shorts after reading. I have never struck one that big or that interested in me on a dive, free or scuba.
Found too low a speed card caused those problems on a 3 of mine. Bought the fastest and they went away.


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

paulo said:


> Matt, what a fantastic turn of phrase you have. Had to change my shorts after reading. I have never struck one that big or that interested in me on a dive, free or scuba.
> Found too low a speed card caused those problems on a 3 of mine. Bought the fastest and they went away.


Thanx Paulo.......Ive been very close to Nurse, Tigers, Hammerheads, blue, Bronze, White tips oceanic and reef, 7 gilled shark, etc bigger than me BUT this one was physically the most magnificent confident massive and intelligent thing in the ocean!

ive got a series 10 card......i might try a new on....fault could be the card....hmmmm....taaah


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

eric said:


> matcoburn said:
> 
> 
> > Its Capt Coburn not the fishin Musican! We are both devishly handsome and own a red Adventure Island as Ive said before Trev!
> ...


Took a while....i get it now!


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Matt there is a list of gopro approved cards in this post. 
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=64156


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## cruiser (Dec 19, 2007)

W


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## matcoburn (Feb 6, 2009)

cruiser said:


> Wow you have guts buddy and that's a great story as well,I take it that it was a great white


I'm not fully convinced. It looked the part with its dental config. and the snow white blemish free bottom half but the upper half was not gun grey but more like a silver that did interact with the sunlight. Its silly to say this ...but it looked more "pelagic' than GWS ive seen in vids. 
Its intentions were made quite clear to me.


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## 3rdGen (May 27, 2014)

I second painting the sea board Brown. Guys I used to dive with had a system of shoot first ask questions later, don't care if it's a great white, bull or saw fish, I never agreed with that, stopped diving with them when one shot an eagle ray.

Just a question though, what if he would've gone for a bite?


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Love the bid too. Like watching Nat Geo.

Cherish this shark moment, something special.


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## Louis (Jan 10, 2013)

great tale! well recounted. some great fish to be found in that area!

cheers


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