Sharks bite into whale ‘like hyenas’
Fisherman says sharks that devoured whale will migrate to Cape
‘Without a doubt, they’ll be moving up to the Cape. It’s all migrational. They’re snowbirds, coming down here in the winter and then back to the Cape in the summer.’
CHIP MICHALOVE charter fishing boat captain
The great white sharks that recently devoured a dead whale “like hyenas” will be migrating up to Cape Cod this summer, the South Carolina captain who tagged eight of the sharks told the Herald on Sunday.
Capt. Chip Michalove got a front-row seat earlier this month as he witnessed the shiver of sharks going to town on a whale carcass off Hilton Head Island, S.C.
“It was really a dream come true for anyone who loves sharks,” said Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing. “It was just a feeding frenzy. They were devouring it like hyenas.”
The charter fisherman — who works with shark researchers, including Massachusetts shark biologist Greg Skomal — ended up tagging eight of the sharks, which will be migrating up to the Cape this summer to feast on seals, he said.
“Without a doubt, they’ll be moving up to the Cape,” Michalove said. “It’s all migrational. They’re snowbirds, coming down here in the winter and then back to the Cape in the summer. A lot of my tags end up off Chatham.
“We have a pretty good run of white sharks that come down in the winter, and then Greg Skomal sees mine in the summer,” he said.
The North Atlantic right whale they were feeding on was initially found dead off Myrtle Beach, and then drifted down to near Hilton Head Island.
There were rumblings on social media about great white sharks circling the whale, so Michalove decided to go check it out.
“Within 30 minutes, we saw this huge great white come up and take a massive bite. Then another one, and another one,” the captain said. “Every time we thought we saw a crazy thing, it happened again.
“It was probably the best few days of my life,” he added. “The first day I went, it was so insane I couldn’t sleep. This is the type of stuff you only see on ‘Shark Week.’ ”
Michalove continued to go back to check out the feast for several days, and estimated there were 25 great white sharks and 15 tiger sharks enjoying the whale carcass.
“Every shark in the state swam away with a couple hundred pounds of blubber,” he said. “I’ve never seen a tiger shark and great white shark side-by-side chewing in unison.
“It was a lot of thrashing and a lot of mayhem.”
Of the eight sharks they tagged, one was a 16-footer that weighed more than 3,000 pounds.
It’s obviously sad the whale died, he said, but he added, “We got a lot of science done, and experienced something I’ll never see again.”
The photos and videos from the scene have gone viral on social media.
“We really hit a home run,” Michalove said. “It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My adrenaline was still running so hard every day when I got home. It was quite amazing.”