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Author:
Capt. Darren Mc Clave
Publication: Parrot Bay Village
March
8, 2004
On the first day of the second annual fireman's knockdown
IFF fishing tournament we spotted a two and one half
meter whale shark fining the surface 3 miles off the
Matapalo point on the Osa Peninsula Water temperature
83.6 Fahrenheit at 7:50AM The shark swam to the boat
as we coasted to a stop 5 or 6 meters away. The shark
rubbed its head on the boat bottom and proceeded to
swim under the boat and surface on the portside. We
photographed and gave the photos to George Burgess of
Florida Museum of Natural History with longitude and
latitude printed on the photographs.
March
15, 2004
Longitude 08 degrees 05 minutes latitude 83 degrees
20 minutes While offshore marlin and sail fishing we
spotted brown boobies and common terns diving into and
pecking at the surface in an area approximately 2 to
3 square meters. This is a common sight and often larger
predator fish have bait balled up and are striking through
the bait, the birds feed off the scraps and take advantage
of the disoriented bait fish forced to the surface.
As we came up with 4 teasers trolling behind the boat
with 3 live baits ready on deck rigged with circle hooks
we passed the birds and the dark cloud of bait balled
up just under the surface, was in the shape of a donut
about 4 meters across and in the center was a shark.
On our third pass we were sure it was a whale shark
about 2 _ meters in length.
April
18, 2004
Punto Blanco Southern Pacific CR Latitude 08 degrees
22 minutes and longitude 83 degrees 08 minutes, 84.6
degrees Fahrenheit While trolling for Wahoo and mackerel,
Darren McClave, Art Augustensen and Steve Petras spotted
2 large Whale Sharks fining on the surface about 200
meters apart. Art operated the boat and took photos
from the deck. Steve and I donned mask, snorkel and
fins and jumped in with an under water camera. The first
shark was 4 arms length (fathoms) and the same shark
was missing the top 10 centimeters of its upper tail
fin. My first guess by sight was boating accident. There
was a large remora (cleaning fish) attached to its tail.
The second shark was of the same length. We spent approximately
10 minutes with each shark as they did not mind being
touched but would not stand for having their dorsal
fin grabbed. With one strong thrust of their tail they
would quickly move forward 10 meters. Both sharks were
feeding on clouds of perfectly round fish eggs suspended
in the water from 0 to 3 meters. I suspect they were
flying fish eggs due to the many juvenile flying fish
in the area. The two sharks were swimming in tight circles
two to 3 times their body length with mouths open in
dense clouds if the circular fish eggs. When Steve and
I got back on board the boat we were covered with hundreds
of perfectly round clear fish eggs. The whale sharks
were observed for approximately 45 minutes. We left
to fish off shore as they were both swimming on the
surface in tight circles about 200 meters apart.
April
24, 2004
Longitude .08 degrees 22.5 minutes latitude 83 degrees
10 minutes 84.3 degrees Fahrenheit We were anchored
in 30 meters of water, bottom fishing with a 2 _ kilo
chum bag of thread herring, as a three and one half
meter whale shark swam up current in our chum slick
directly to the chum bag tied 10 centimeters under the
surface. The shark stemmed the 2-_ knot tide long enough
for myself to don mask, snorkel and fins (approx 3 minutes).
The whale shark was 3 full arm lengths from the crest
of its head to the cleft of the tail. I held onto the
dorsal fin as the shark swam off about 100 meters descending
down about 10 meters. I let go and swam to the boat.
Whale
shark sightings are always a special event, mainly during
the months of February, March and April and we at Parrot
Bay Village are excited to help with documenting these
tremendous creatures, the largest fish in the sea.
Sincerely
Capt. Darren McClave ~ Parrot Bay Village
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