Shark Breaches Near Rocky Point

The Westerly from Long Beach Sportfishing was getting ready to anchor just inside the red buoy near Rocky Point off the Palos Verdes Peninsula on Sunday when a great white shark launched itself out of the water in front of a group of startled yet fascinated passengers.

"[The great white shark] was a 20 footer, and it jumped a good 12 to 15 feet out of the water," said Captain John Ackley. "About half of our passengers on board saw it; all I can saw is that they were in awe."

Ackley pointed out that there was lots of bait in 140 feet of water where the shark breached.

"We could see a huge bait ball of anchovies where the shark had been," said Ackley. "I saw a splash or what I thought might have been a whale spout out of the corner of my eye. As we got closer to the bait ball, the shark just launched itself out of the water.

"I have never seen anything like it before in my life.”

In addition to lots of bait swimming around the red buoy near Rocky Point, there were also a lot of divers hunting for lobster in the water.

"If [the divers] would have seen what we all just saw, they sure as hell wouldn't be in the water for much longer," Ackley said.

After the shark jumped out of the water, it causally swam at the Westerly before it turned slowly back towards the bait ball.