Yakked & Swam with a 25 ft Basking Shark- Panama City Beach

YakManJosh · 2011-03-17T18:37:26Z

I was out fishing on the kayak this morn and had paddled to the county pier to meet up with my wife and son. when I got there I decided to beach the yak and fish off the pier while they played on the beach. No sooner did I get set up on the pier than a lady walked by me and said "Is that a whale?" I looked and about 300 yds off the pier was a huge dorsal and tail sticking out of the water. I thought it was a whale shark at first so I grabbed my rods and tackle box and hauled ass back to my yak. Thankfully I had my wetsuit, mask and fins in my car so I grabbed those and put the wetsuit on as quick as I could. I saw a parasail boat and a couple of jet skis heading towards it and figured they would spook him off before I could get there, but by the time I got back out everybody on the pier had seen it and were pointing me to it. When I caught up with it I saw it wasn't a whale shark but a huge basking shark Long story short I was able to paddle around him for like a half an hour. I even managed to get the yak anchored and swam with him for about 10 min touching it and even grabbing his tail for a minute. This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. Several of the locals on the pier got pics and I will post them when I get 'em