Sharing todays experience at 13th Beach --- magnificent day, tiny but fun peeling waves, water crystal clear at mid day. Standing on board about 10m further out from the 4 surfers on the peak.....out of nowhere a big black creature appears right next to me - strong beast right next next to me....the way it swims, it's huge girth and large dorsal fins and I know it's a shark....it passes me then turns back to come to me again, the whole time staying under water.....as it's coming back to me I know this is not good.....fortunately a wave comes which i just get onto......once on wave I look back and the shark was still following the wave...darts off as soon as it starts to get shallow.

Two of the surfers saw it clearly and we agreed it was about 3 m plus. 50 years surfing constantly and this was the first shark I've seen in this region....it shook me up!

I should have known my Seabreeze registration name of NoSharks when I registered to sell a few boards would come back to nearly bite me!

I've seen a few sharks around 13th over the years......I've lost count how many....

Never ounce felt threatend .........Have been buzzed by some solid ones when diving at Charlemont Reef,

but only when we had fish in our nets.....It goes with the territory ...Be it surfing,swimming or diving.

Sounds like you saw a White......I envy you.....Surf safe

Well thats an experience i dont want to have . Good that your safe . Take care .

STREUTH!!!
i was surfing 13th yesterday on my own...I'm glad I didn't see it!

There must have been a solid brown stain as well .....bloody hell

Well, I can;t say I'm surprised.

A few weeks ago I was surfing second reef Posso (that's partly my lack of participation on Breeze, I'm back surfing...) with a mate. Sitting about 1.5m apart, the water's pretty murky, can;t see your knees. It's about 2-3ft, low tide, sitting a fair way out. Something grazed along my leg. I thought it was my mate's foot for half a second then yelled "Faaaark!" and kicked hard as I could straight into something very solid. It then belted the bottom of my mate's board - needless to say he figured out pretty quickly why I was getting vocal and we both started to paddle flat knacker. The only problem was the damn thing was caught up in my leggie and I wasn;t going anywhere. Yes, the full Mick, but no cameras. First thing I thought of between visions of teeth. Then it started thrashing and freed itself, freeing me. As I paddled for what I seriously thought might well be my life, I saw a big fin come out of the water and back down real fast about 5-6ft behind me and straight on like a knife blade. It was about 600-800mm long, could;t see any kind of shoulder or tail cone, though I was hoping it was a seal. Then nothing, and we paddled for the whitewater like men possessed. Other blokes kept paddling past us, which was a bit odd, I thought. Wasn;t as if we didn;t make a scene about it.

So, I'm not surprised. And I'm told there have been several other sightings/encounters. Although it's not as bad as NSW where a mate told me today just about everyone is seeing them......

Tang can confirm from NSW that not everyone is seeing them constantly over here although the nsw government has approved a tag and release system off the coast to help tourist calm down over the huge numbers been seen off Tweed area and Gold coast. It has an app when a shark is on the drum line. Its a solution that stops nets and I am happy the councils are thinking outside the box.
So even sitting down in Vic you will be able to check the drum lines off any NSW beach.
Seriously though everyone knows 13th beach is the most renowned white pointer beach in Australia. You'd have to be nuts to surf there alone.
Ive decided next time I feel a surf at lighthouse or Yagan Im contacted you Antho as thats the sharkiest spot on the NSW coast I am aware of.
Also the north tip of fraser near Indian head might also be a spot to head if your up in QLD.
No sharks its the elevation, you can see them in the water from your SUP, Its disturbing how they dont show their dorsal fin, creepy. Its pretty hard to see what shark it is though, near impossible actually, from my experience.
Tang think you might have been lucky to get out of that one, although people think of Jaws when they here about shark attacks and this is not shark behaviour big sharks dont have tearing teeth like us mammals they need speed to lock onto the opponent. Whites attacks usually come from underneath, as well as bull sharks that need to ram their prey. hammer heads also ram their prey, not sure about tigers. Its all to do with jaw structures. Know your sharks and where they live. If you live in Vic near 13th beach its WHITES all the way, and big ones (This information is just heresay, Pumpjockey has heard while traveling in the Vic/SA area locals like Rabbs might actually know which sharks frequent 13th beach area).

I'm not sure what it was....water was too murky and didn;t get a good look at it (probably a good thing in some respects). The strange thing about down here is the few shark sightings there are considering the number of people in the water....or maybe they just prefer to give you a wee nudge. And scare the bejesus out of you.

G'Day Pumpjockey02,
i lived in Qld for 25 years and I reckon Double Island Point is up there for the title of the "Sharkiest" along with Seal Rocks and Green Island in NSW (around your neck of the woods). Over the years I've had REALLY close encounters on three occasions. The worst (meaning circling and big) was at South Narrabeen where I grew up. The second worst ( if there is such a thing ) was at Hawksnest on the NSW mid Coast and the third was at Mudjimba Qld where my family now lives.
I do really like surfing by myself sometimes so I guess there is always a chance of an encounter but I think it is worth the risk. I'm 58 and have been surfing since I was 8 years old so really it's all been pretty good on the Noah front.
stay safe
Anthony

Yeah I just got back from fraser Isl sharky as all get out, cant put pots out for blue swimmers or spanner crab they just get torn to shreds.
Even in clear water its very hard to see a shark unless they are in very shallow or the dorsal is breaching, for the one you see there must be alot you dont

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Antho said..
G'Day Pumpjockey02,
i lived in Qld for 25 years and I reckon Double Island Point is up there for the title of the "Sharkiest" along with Seal Rocks and Green Island in NSW (around your neck of the woods). Over the years I've had REALLY close encounters on three occasions. The worst (meaning circling and big) was at South Narrabeen where I grew up. The second worst ( if there is such a thing ) was at Hawksnest on the NSW mid Coast and the third was at Mudjimba Qld where my family now lives.
I do really like surfing by myself sometimes so I guess there is always a chance of an encounter but I think it is worth the risk. I'm 58 and have been surfing since I was 8 years old so really it's all been pretty good on the Noah front.
stay safe
Anthony

Anthony are you referring to Green Island on the South Coast near Manyana ?

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Anthony are you referring to Green Island on the South Coast near Manyana ?

I hope not

Antho you've been lucky to surf those great places all of your life, congrats on the 50 years in the water, I too have to thank my parents for being such beach people to introduce me to Mid north coast around 8-10 years of age and been coming up from Sydney ever since. Its funny how you say south Narabeen as its now become the go to spot for the SUP riders on the northern beaches.
Good old green island thats paradise up there, I have it been known that at more than three occasions on those peeling right handers around that area, I have been sitting on the grassy shore and heard shark!! Shark in the water at which all the short boarders paddled out and then the long boarders moved up the line up and continued to surf. Scotts, Hat and Crescent were just pumping too good to stop surfing.
How unbelievable is it around that area, I often tell groms and gen y brooders, to jump in the car and road trip up there to see what the newcastle (mid north coast) trip was like when we were young. Sleeping in the back of the 4WD outside the port macquarie, cop shop, scoring hidden gems, turning up to tuncurry break wall and scoring it all time for four days only stopping to eat sausage rolls from the bakery and sleep from fatigue from paddling.
Aracoon that place is paradise. At the gaol I had one of the best meal of my life.
I used to surf with the caravan park owners sons and get all the good info about spots around the seal rocks areas. Good times.
Actually according to river mouth data, Nelson Bay has almost double the number of shark numbers than any other recorded inlet in NSW. Hawks Nest second though. Since the 7 year restriction on all commercial fishing from seal rocks to hawks nest sharks are back in big numbers as the fish have returned in even bigger numbers. Whales are up by a truckload too, with calfing returning to the area.
New migration patterns are being discovered with more tagging of whites, which seem now to breed guess where? Good old hawks nest, Off the main beaches south of the island. Yep its pretty wild and murky down there on the best of days.
Seems they just travel from hawks nest to birth and then go up to tweed heads to feed on all the bull sharks that the QLD locals have been fattening up these last seven years. It used to be seals but I think bull sharks are now so abundant up there that its Bull shark over seal with a bit of whale for dessert. This migration corridor has been over fished for 70 odd years and you can see that the sharks moved elsewhere or were caught in nets. Now the whites are back and the northern nswelshman and southern qld are getting out of joint with their councils when its those pesky recreational fisherman who put all those commercial fisherman out of buisness who used to catch all those young sharks up and down the mid north coast before they could get up to Sunny QLD.
Here is an example of the craziness going on in the area. In September this year 3 days before school holidays a 10 tonne whale died off Port main beach. It washed ashore and the started to decompose. Now that thing was huge and smelly so the council tried to tractor it off the beach. Nope almost broke two tractors. So what could they do, it was only two days before the school holidays. They decided to bury it in the sand off the nippers beach right in the centre of the three town beaches. Well what happens when you bury a whale, all the fluids and internals leech out of the sand into the sea. Brings those Great whites into the shallows quicker than a fox to a henhouse. Had to close the town beaches for the first week of the holidays. It was kind of a bit like a modern jaws movie playing nightly on prime news.
Anyway sunny QLD looks like SUP heaven so enjoy the SUP life and always lend a good word to any poor local groms who are struggling, I was lucky to always have a helping hand from all the old timers and a few set waves after showing a little respect in the lineup. And always remind them to spread their wings. Did anyone say ROADTRIP!!!

Hi Gboots
yes unfortunately Green Island on the South Coast!

G'Day again Pumpjockey02,
Great post mate!
My current road trip involves driving from London later today to hire 3 tonnes of rubber and a surf sup to tick surfing in Cornwall off my bucket list. I don't think I will be in for a Cresent Head type experience though. Then I'm heading to Wales to hire even more rubber (the human comdon) and have a bash there...wahoo. Anyway, I really enjoyed your post...happy surfing

Bloody hell. I have spent a lot of time in the surf near there at Cunjarong Point . Always lots of dolphins. Probably bypassed some sharks .
Great Whites ?

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Gboots said..
Bloody hell. I have spent a lot of time in the surf near there at Cunjarong Point . Always lots of dolphins. Probably bypassed some sharks .
Great Whites ?

Definitely one of the scary varieties

I think I am just going to ignore this post and play head in the sand

Enjoy cornwall spent a bit of time there myself, Good Sup paddling down there, around st ives and penzance. Wales is also tops and a friendly bunch. I seem to remember a good surfing spot where you can catch a few in front of a medieval castle.
Best waves I saw in the UK were at Whitby of all places near Newcastle. Although there were many spots around wales.
Seem to have got my green islands mixed up, that area around South West Rocks is amazing and worth a trip down from QLD espically if you like the right handers. Bit scared of the noah situation down south coast NSW to check out that other green island.