Tales from the sea

After the recent story about great white sharks in late winter and spring at the reefs at Bean Hollow, Pigeon Point and Año Nuevo on the San Mateo County coast, several letters came in from divers with their own provocative accounts: Orca ride: “I used to abalone dive at Whaler’s Cove (at Pigeon Point) back in the ’60s and ’70s. Around 1970, my buddy and I headed to the cove for a great minus tide. When we got there, there were a lot of people with a sheriff and ambulance. In the middle of all the people was this diver. A killer whale had come into the cove and picked him up and carried him out a few hundred yards then dropped him. He wasn’t hurt bad at all, but to say the least, all shook up.” —Van Sanderson Yes, the same attack: “I surfed Pigeon Point throughout my 20s until an abalone diver was killed there by a shark in the late 1980s. Probably the same incident you referenced. I suspect the thrill of catching a wave at the time was too alluring since I foolishly continued to surf the waters of Año Nuevo and Gazos Creek, just a mile south.” — Michael Malekos Bean Hollow fish bucket: “You are indeed correct ‘Sir’ in every aspect of your column. I have fished that very beach and outcrop many, many times over my 73 years and caught every kind of fish mentioned other than a great white shark. While fishing a tide pool, I did, in fact, see one great white shark casually cruising through the abundant reeds and foliage. Approximately a 9-footer, just below the water surface. Harbor seals had already beached themselves on the outcrop I was fishing.” — Robert Boyle