His spear became stuck under a rock and by the time he was able to get it out, the boat with his dive partner on board was like a dot on the horizon.
His dive partner was in their boat, but engine trouble saw it swept away while Mr Craig was underwater .
"I put my head in the water to check I was in the same place and suddenly saw a huge four-metre tiger shark approaching within arm's reach.
"Its head was nearly a metre wide, it was about three times the girth of me and it was just like a submarine just circling."
Mr Craig said the tiger shark began circling and making sudden darts towards him. He managed to keep his speargun between them, but after about two minutes of this dance I thought I have to get out of here and started swimming for shore."
"I thought I was gone — four nautical miles out to sea with a huge tiger shark following me —I thought this was it, this is how I'm going to die."
There are some wicked currents/tides in northern Washington State and being unwary could put you in that position in the water. He's fortunate that he lived to tell the tale. It's important to jettison the fish (your catch) right away. The blood trail is kryptonite to a shark. I'm guessing that's precisely what he did and why the shark stopped stalking him.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness he had the spear!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have tiger sharks in Washington state, at least that I'm aware of, and started diving and spearfishing here in the 80s. Western Australia, where the story takes place, does have tiger sharks. Other than that though this is a pretty amazing story.
ReplyDeleteAh, thanks for the correction. I'm shark ignorant
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