Photo: Matt Harris
Edhat readers share their below photos of sharks seen off the coast of Santa Claus Beach on Saturday
By Matt Harris
Here are some shark photos from Santa Claus Lane on Saturday. I took them from my phone while paddleboarding. I saw three great white sharks between 5-8 ft.
By an edhat reader
Shark sighting at Santa Claus Beach on Saturday.
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A shark fin goes straight up. A dolphin fin is curved. None the less when you are in the water and you see a fin, it does shake you up a bit.
NBC reports it is a shark: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/no-injuries-after-shark-spotted-at-carpinteria-beach/2352154/?_osource=db_npd_nbc_knbc_eml_shr
NBC: “A heatwave caused people across Southern California to flee to local beaches Saturday, but a shark sighting caused some visitors to flee.
No one was injured, though members of the United States Coast Guard spotted eight sharks from a helicopter at about 3:15 p.m., according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
After being notified by the Coast Guard, county law enforcement notified all of their parks and beaches about the spotting. However, the Carpinteria Beach was not closed.”
@:309 Well if NBC says it’s so… Pics aren’t great, but my many years of being in the water and worrying about sharks say its a dolphin. A shark by a populated COVID-19 beach gets more clicks though. That’s our new unbiased news these days.
Yes,there are sharks in the ocean.
I say its a kid with a shark fin on his back,….Or a Dolphin dorsal fin.
I don’t doubt that there are sharks off Santa Claus Lane, just as I suspect there are sharks up and down the coast. That being said, I don’t think that is a photo of a shark. Generally, when sharks swim at the surface, you can see both their dorsal and tail fins. If you only see one fin, odds are it is a dolphin.
It was a new species of great white dolphin shark! (Just kidding they are juvi great whites) . If someone can tell me how to post pictures I paddled out with phone and took a few photos of the smaller one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1gz-PrQpDo
email them to ed@edhat.com and reference the post. I’m sure there’s a more streamlined high-tech way, but this is the way I know.
I hate drones… but beautiful footage.
One way to tell is if you see only one dorsal fin. Dolphins swim as a group, submerge, then re-emerge, repeatedly. Has anyone here ever seen just one dolphin swimming offshore and all on its own?
Great whites are all over that area – you tube it. Plenty of drone footage of great whites there. Hold your comments until they are informed.
Years of footage of that area with GW sharks. Need to come out of your shell . It’s on youtube – we could help you learn to navigate youtube if you need it just ask.
Lots of great white shark footage on youtube from past years. Definitely a lot of them. Yes, there are dolphins too, but the GW’s are actually more prevalent out there than one might think.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=santa+claus+lane+great+white+shark
I can see it now.. governments filling skateparks with sand and chumming the waters at popular beaches
And cloud seeding.
that will keep people away from the beach, not a virus…. but a shark
oddly though, fin is a bit curved for a shark. looks more like a dolphin fin from the pics
Dolphin.
Great photos! But it is obvious the first set is a different animal than the spectacular pics from the paddle boarder. Plus there was a five hour difference in sightings.
Hmm. Just tuned in to this one. Photos the poster on the paddleboard took are clearly a shark. How could the question of whether something seen in the ocean is a shark or a dolphin possibly become a political question?
Sharks are out there ALL THE TIME.
They seem to like that area of coast when small. Be glad they are small or it would be a real problem.
Only see larger ones north of Conception or at the islands.
Great pics! (no pun intended) Very cool.
Do the armchair Shark Week experts still believe this is a dolphin?