A BASKING shark which decided to take a close-up look at the north 
west coast of the Isle of Man gave quite a surprise to a seal and a 
bunch of dogs when it passed only a few feet from the shore.

The shark, around 15 feet in length, was swimming fewer than 30 feet 
from the shore last night (Tuesday) at The Lhen, and was spotted by 
Beach Buddies organiser Bill Dale who was cleaning rubbish from the 
beach.

“It was a really beautiful evening, flat calm and not a ripple on the 
surface, when I looked up and saw the fin of the shark just a few feet 
away. Fortunately, I had my camera in the car so I ran back and 
collected it, and then ran alongside the shark for about 200 yards.

“The next thing a grey seal showed its face, and you could sense that 
it had been taken by surprise, because the shark was between itself 
and the shore.  The seal watched for ages, but the shark took no 
notice and just carried on cruising gently on its way.

“I had my dogs with me and you could see they were wondering what it 
was all about. I think they initially thought I was playing a game 
when I started running up the beach, but then they too spotted the 
shark and the seal, and it was just a brilliant moment as the dogs 
stopped and watched the shark swim past.

“I have never seen a basking shark so close to the shore. The water 
could have been no more than 10 ft deep, but the shark wasn’t the 
slightest bit bothered. It just silently cruised along, as they do, 
and then eventually slipped under the surface and re-appeared a good 
distance out to sea.

“It was a truly magical moment. Thank goodness I had the camera with 
me to prove it happened.”

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