Great white shark circles Whangārei kayaker

A Whangārei kayaker got the fright of his life when a great white shark began circling him during an early-morning paddle.

Oliver Hopwood was having his first fish of the year in his 3m kayak roughly 400m from the shoreline at Scott Rd in Tamaterau on Sunday.

He had released some undersized snapper back into the harbour and was thinking about re-baiting when he looked down and saw a “large, dark shape” about 4m deep that was drifting against the current.

“I thought man, is that a big patch of seaweed? But the lines were far too defined.”

He wondered if it was a reflection of a cloud before soon realising it was a shark.

“You don’t want to believe what you’re seeing at first,” Hopwood said.

“It came cruising down my right side and I thought, okay, that’s really not good.”

Hopwood spotted its dorsal fin and the top of its tail as the apex predator surfaced.

“I thought ‘holy s***.’ It was a massive great white.”

Hopwood believed the shark was at least 2m bigger than his kayak and the top of its dorsal fin was near the height of his shoulder.

He estimated its width – fins aside – to be about a metre.

“It was a monster,” Hopwood said.

On its third circle, the shark angled itself to look at Hopwood, who had taken his paddle out of the holder and had it sitting across his lap.

He gave the shark a nudge with the rounded corner of the paddle in the hopes it would move away.

“It was like touching a concrete wall.”

The shark turned away with a splash that soaked Hopwood completely.

He pulled up his anchor and paddled back to shore.

“I mean, this thing probably weighs almost one and a half tonne, that’s more than 10 times the weight of me and the kayak.”

Hopwood, a keen spear-fisherman, was used to seeing sharks but said the sheer size overwhelmed him.

He said the cliche of time slowing down rang true.

“That thing is gliding toward you ... it seems like an eternity. You imagine every single outcome.”

Shark sightings have been happening thick and fast across the country. Pictured here is Ōhope, which lifeguards evacuated after a shark was spotted on December 28. Photo / Alanah Eriksen

Hopwood said he touched the shark with the paddle as he wanted to avoid ending up in the water with it.

“Something that size only needs to give me a nudge and I’m over. I don’t want to be flailing around in the water beside it.

“It was like something within a Jaws movie,” he said.

A second shark sighting was reported in Northland over the weekend.

A shark was seen on Saturday at Whangaumu Bay on the Tūtūkākā Coast.

Department of Conservation [DoC] marine science adviser Karen Middlemiss said it was not unusual to see great whites in the Whangārei area, especially during summer.

The shark Hopwood encountered was not known to DoC and possibly a large female coming close to shore to pup, she said.

DoC had not received any other reported sightings.

Middlemiss said to prevent close encounters, remove burley and baited hooks and calmly paddle to shallow waters if a shark appears.

Anyone who has witnessed a shark should phone 0800 DOC HOT or email sharks@doc.govt.nz with photos for identification.

Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Northern Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.