Well this is the stuff of nightmares. Two fisherman were followed by a hammerhead shark for nearly two miles.
According to WPTV, an NBC affiliate in Palm Beach, the 13-foot shark circled the two men as they were coming to shore. The shark even bumped their kayaks many times but eventually swam off.
“It’s not really a huge thing to see sharks,” kayaker Mark Naumovitz, of Port St. Lucie, told WPTV. “But when you have a dorsal fin trailing you like its Jaws, it’s a different story.”
“It freaked me out a little,” the second kayaker Brian Nelli, of Palm Beach Gardens, said.
But there’s a very good explanation as to why they were being stalked. They were hauling a 16-foot Mahi behind their kayaks.
George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, says the shark was likely following them because of the fish.
Hammerhead sharks “smell very well,” Burgess said. “They see very well. They are persistent. The fish that were caught by these guys was no doubt the important factor.”
Nelli says the two often see sharks while they’re out on the water, so they didn’t panic until it approached their kayak.
You really shouldn’t be scared of hammerheads though. According to the International Shark Attack File, 17 people have been attacked by hammerheads since 1580 and none of the attacks were fatal.
