Eyes Out for Great Whites Off Capitola Coast

A day on the water has become a marine life mystery, of sorts, in Capitola.

Fishermen told Capitola cops on Tuesday that they spotted two great white sharks swimming around their boat just past the kelp line, according to police Sgt. Darrell Harrison.

One of the sharks was about 20-feet long, according to the fishermen, the other was a bit smaller.

The owner of a Capitola bait shop told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that shark sightings were also reported on Friday or Saturday.

Shark sightings are not uncommon in that area, according to great white expert Sean Van Sommeran. But normally, a smaller great white would not travel with a larger one because of fears the smaller one would become prey, according to Sommeran.

It's basking shark season, Van Sommeran said, and basking sharks are often mistaken for great whites.

The reports are still unconfirmed and the beach will stay open for now. Lifeguards have been warned to keep an eye out upon news of the shark sightings.

In October 2009, Van Sommeran spotted a great white off Manresa Beach in the Capitola area. He estimated the shark to be about 16-feet long. A Capitola man captured video of a great white off Seacliff Pier the day before Van Sommeran's sighting. Van Sommeran said at that time that he didn't think the two sightings were of the same great white.

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