At Biel's house with a jaw taken from a Mallorquin Great White
My good friend and Mallorquin Biologist, Gabriel Morey and I, will often talk about Great Whites around the island, not only does he share my passion for the stories but he also happens to be one of Europe's leading authorities on Great White Sharks in the Med and is the go to guy for everything related to sharks around the Balearics.
One of the main topics which always arises is that of the gigantic Great White captured in El Delta in 1969, a 6.2m specimen captured close to shore, the primary reason being that El Delta is where we handle our work with the Stingrays featured in both A Ray of Light and A Ray of Light II. It's amazing when I dive that area to think that such a huge White Shark was once swimming around there and to be honest, I get a kick out of it.
Today, Anton at Shark Alley (Anton's a cool guy, go like them on Facebook) posted this video:
I have already seen this footage a few years ago but it has now found it's way online and I originally thought this was one of two sharks given the date, a 5.5m specimen taken from Alcudia by Oscar Pinet or the first shark (5.35m) caught by Xisco Perez, who would later catch the second biggest Great White captured anywhere on the planet (1976) and the final confirmed Great White caught around the island.
However, after checking with Biel it turns out the date on the footage is wrong and that this is actually the specimen caught by Guillem Farragut in El Delta in 1969, coming in at a whopping 6.2m! I never knew this was in fact the shark we have talked so much about. There is video footage of a few of the White Sharks taken around Mallorca but much of it is unavailable online but I have been fortunate enough to see it all and one thing which stands out about these sharks is that they are huge!
Not only that, but they are very much still there, only recently there was proof of this but I'm afraid I'm sworn to secrecy on that...
Anyway, if you want to see the area where this shark was caught, check out A Ray of Light II!
A Ray of Light II from Scarlet View Media on Vimeo.
5 comments:
Great blog. I am also a massive great white enthusiast and am currently staying on majorca so nice to read some history of the great around the balearics
I had a scary experience with some sharks swimming off Mallorca last year.A shark approached me and was very curious and as I held on to it going ever deeper,I thought I was done for.Miraculously,we crossed paths with a small submarine and the shark jerked away from me and I swam towards the sub and managed to get back to the surface in one piece.There was at least three white sharks illuminated by the subs lights that I recall.However,the subs crew did film this incident.Unfortunately,I only saw a clip when I was back on our boat.Does anyone else remember this?
Hello Guys,
I just wanted to ask you how likely are sharks to come over this area, I am wanting to book an open water swim holiday and this is the only sticking point in the list. I have no intention to play with nature at any level put it that way! A question from an ignorant individual in this area, are there specific areas/ depth variables related to this?
https://www.swimtrek.com/packages/introduction-to-open-water-mallorca
thank you for your reply!
Hello,
I am wondering whether you can help?
I would like to book a holidays to start diving in the open water swimming field as an enthusiast. The company holds training camps in Mallorca
https://www.swimtrek.com/packages/introduction-to-open-water-mallorca
and the only point that would put me off is the risks of sharks. As an ignorant on this fiedl, not sure if this is related with depth of water or areas but would greatly appreciate your opinion.
I have no intention to play with nature.
thank you!!!
Hi Selena
Although there are sharks in Mallorca, the chances of you encountering one are unbelievable small unfortunately. The Mediterranean's shark populations have been decimated so you can rest assured that you have little chance of seeing even the smallest and most harmless of sharks.
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