The great white shark at Hilton Head dreamed of his life with days like Thursday – when he witnessed seven great white sharks chewing a 30-foot North Atlantic right whale off the coast of South Carolina.
“It was indescribable,” said Chip Michalove, captain of the Outcast Sport Fishing charter in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on Friday morning. “I feel strange at my home now, when something so incredible is happening right now on our coast.”
When Michalove first saw pictures of the dead whale floating off the coast of Myrtle Beach on Tuesday night, he knew he had to see it for himself.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Michalove.
Michalove captured, tagged and released more than 30 excellent white fish for scientific research. Each time he catches a great white shark – a feat – he does his best to put a tag on the fish so that scientists can track the shark’s movements in the Atlantic.
All week long, the Great White Shark Whisperer watched the weather, hoping the water would calm down for just a day so he could get to the whale. He spoke to experts who tracked the whale’s carcass as the winds pushed it south and closer to the coast.
Finally, on Thursday, a time window opened and Michalove’s fishing crew headed north.
“I left my dog at the Green Dog nursery on Wednesday and told them that I don’t know when I’ll be back or if I’m going home,” joked Michalove as he recalled the past 48 hours. “I was so excited.”
Michalove and his crew set sail for northern Charleston on Thursday morning. As usual, Michalove had little expectation.
“So many things had to work out,” he said. “You have to have the right climate. So, you have to find the whale and hope it doesn’t run aground on its own. We hoped other boats wouldn’t get there before us. “
Michalove said it was much more difficult to find the huge whale than people might think.
“You won’t see it unless you’re eight hundred meters from him,” said Michalove. “Most of it is underwater. It is moving at about 1-2 MPH. It is not easy to do. “
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But Michalove and his team of experts were determined and were lucky with Mother Nature on Thursday.
“As soon as we saw him from about eight hundred meters away, we slowed down,” said Michalove. “And then, when we got close to him, there were no sharks there. We thought it would be like shooting fish in a barrel and there was nothing. “
But the crew was patient and waited.
About 40 minutes later, they heard a big splash.
“We looked and there is a big 3.6 meter white shark chewing on the armpit of this right whale,” said Michalove. “That in itself was mind-blowing.”
The crew had to stay longer. They made sure to keep a good distance from the whale, as it is illegal to touch the endangered animal, even when it is dead.
The North Atlantic right whale is “among the rarest of all large species of whales and, in fact, of all species of marine mammals,” according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
In fact, a 2020 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that there were about 366 North Atlantic right whales still exist in the world.
“Then, 30 minutes later, another big white came out, and then we scored an even bigger one,” said Michalove. “The biggest one we saw all day was a 16-foot baseboard.”
Michalove said they knew they saw at least seven great white sharks, but the water was so murky that it was difficult to tell how many were feeding on the huge whale below the surface. He said there could have been 15.
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“The oil slick coming out of it was like a highway,” said Michalove.
They were able to score two of the great whites. Michalove places a SPOT tag (smart position or temperature transmission) on the fin so that scientists at Atlantic White Shark Conservancy – along with anyone who has the Sharktivity app – can track the shark’s movements in real time.
“At one point, a big (big white) grabbed the engine and shook it hard, so we had to get it out of the water,” said Michalove. “Another circled the boat several times. It was like being in a zoo with all the predators at the top. Simply unbelievable. “
Michalove said that great whites can smell the dead whale from miles away.
“It is a 50,000 pound friends distributor,” he said. “I could have stayed there all night. I didn’t want to leave. We stayed there for 8 hours and finally my team made me go home. “
Michalove said that at the rate at which great white sharks chewed the carcass, it would be totally consumed in the next few days.
“These sharks are putting 180 kilograms of meat in their belly,” said Michalove. “It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. – the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in the ocean. “
That means a lot coming from Michalove.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Mandy Matney is the news director at FITSNews. She is an award-winning Kansas journalist who worked for newspapers in Missouri, Illinois and South Carolina before moving to FITS. She currently lives on Hilton Head Island, where she enjoys life on the beach. Do you want to get in touch with Mandy? Send your story ideas, comments, suggestions and tips to [email protected].
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