A tourist spotted a "huge" shark swimming around a harbour during high tide as a group of seals cowered away from the beast.
Olga Bates, 46, was visiting St Ives in Cornwall with family when they saw the large shark near boats at 6:26am on Wednesday (March 23) during high tide.
Experts say it was a basking shark – the second largest type behind the whale shark – that can grow up to 45ft long and weigh up to six tonnes.
READ MORE: Woman who thinks she's Madeleine McCann will have DNA matched against missing child
Olga from Knighton, Wales, said minutes before they saw a group of seals ''hiding'' from the shark.
She said: "We had been very lucky. We woke up so early to watch the sunrise and spotted seals hiding under the bridge and then we saw what they were hiding from – the shark.
"It was amazing to see and it was so close to the beach. I was an amazing surprise for us, we have never seen one that close before.
"We were enjoying the views and the sunshine, we were overwhelmed."
Olga added: "It circled around the harbour a couple of times, we estimate it was around 10ft, it was longer than some of the boats.
"We were down there for around an hour and a half until the water started to do down.
US veteran fighting in Ukraine 'exposed as fraud' over claims he joined ZSU army
"As soon as the water started to go down we knew it would be gone already. 'It was amazing to see it so close, I was so lucky and my grandson was very excited."
The Wildlife Trust describes the basking shark as a "gentle giant", and while they are not aggressive towards humans, they can still be intimidating because of their size.
Mentioning their size, the trust said: "There's no need to fear them though, they only eat plankton!"
They are most commonly seen in the summer, when they arrive in British waters. Cornwall, the Isle of Man and the Inner Hebrides are hotspots for the giant sea creatures.
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
READ NEXT:
OnlyFans 'goddess' who fled home to avoid tax asks fans to choose between her or car
OnlyFans model earns fortune from 'unsexy' requests – like brushing teeth and vacuuming
Controversial singer filmed getting oral sex on-stage says sorry – but not for that
Source: Read Full Article
