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Two divers had a lucky escape when a rescue helicopter plucked them from rocks in shark-infested waters near Mangawhai, south of Whangarei. Rescuers said looking down on the pair - who were stranded on a rock ready to be covered by a rising tide while sharks circled around them - was like watching a horror movie.
The men were perched on a rock about 200m offshore from Mangawhai at about 12.30pm on Monday. Beside them lay a dead three-metre-long shark that they had apparently speared and dragged out of the water. Other sharks circled the rock as the tide started to come in. The rock is fully submerged at high tide.
Advanced paramedic Mark Going said the men, who appeared to be in their late 20s, had speared the huge shark off Te Arai Pt, south of Mangawhai."
They dragged it up on the rocks that get covered at high tide, then they saw these other sharks circling," Mr Going said.
"So they waved and tried to get the attention of people on shore. They were expecting a boat to come out to get them."
Mr Going said those watching from the shore mistook the dead shark on the rock for a diver in distress and called emergency services. The Northland Electricity rescue helicopter arrived with two pilots, Mr Going and Whangarei water rescue team member Dean Walford on board.
Mr Walford, who was winched down on to the 3.5m by 3.5m rock, said the circling sharks were clearly visible.
"We could see them from the air. Their fins were going round (the rock). It was like something out of a horror movie," he said. Mr Walford put strops on the two men, and waited on the rock with the sharks still circling, and the tide rising, while they were lifted ashore. Mr Walford said the pair had done the right thing in seeking help: "Nobody would want to swim with sharks." They had about two hours left when they were rescued before the tide would have covered the rocks and left them at the mercy of the sharks.
He understood that once they were safe on shore they intended to get a boat, return to the rock and retrieve their gear which had become wrapped around the dead shark. It is understood the men might have speared the shark to stop it getting fish they were spearing. The two divers were not available for comment.
Divers
turn tables on 3m shark
25.03.2004
By CLAIRE TREVETT
 The
tale of Blair Fraser and Marc Fraser's latest fishing trip sounds more
like a horror flick than a spear-fishing jaunt.
The
Albany pair, not related to each other, found themselves fleeing and
then killing a 3m hungry shark before being marooned on a rock with it
while its mates circled nearby.
The pair, both in their
30s, went up to Te Arai Pt, south of Mangawhai Heads, on Monday and
ended up being carried off a rock by a rescue helicopter with one of
their more interesting fishing stories yet. Marc
was waiting in a school of fish for a likely kingfish to appear when he
was jerked backward through the water by the line attached to the buoy
above him.
On the surface, Blair was
wondering how he had performed such a feat. Ten
metres below, Marc was wondering the same thing. "I
looked back thinking it was Blair playing silly buggers because he is
petrified of sharks. But Blair was in front of me." A
bronze whaler shark had bitten the buoy he was attached to and was
pulling him backwards.
"I'm 6ft 5 and 112 kg
and it was dragging me back like a freight train." When
the line went slack, he tried to get to the rocks, yelling "shark,
shark". Blair at first thought he was
crying wolf. "All the way up he had been
hassling me about sharks because I hate seeing them. So I assumed he was
doing it to scare me. I turned around slowly, going 'ha, ha, very
funny'. Then I looked at his buoy and there was this massive fin
there."
He looked around and saw
another, bigger fin on his right, so he quickly made for the rocks,
about 20m away. Marc also made it to the rocks
and he looked around wondering where the shark had gone. "I
looked down and the shark was coming back up at us.
"I tried to poke it
with my spear but it didn't work so I shot it. By then it was right at
the end of my flippers." When Blair tried
to shoot it to finish it off, he either missed or it ricocheted off,
leaving his gear tangled about the shark. Marc
stabbed it twice and the second time the handle snapped off the knife,
leaving the blade in the shark's head.
The men found themselves
marooned on a rock, hoping help would arrive before the tide came in and
submerged the rock. They were later told by
rescuers that a third shark had also been around the rocks. When
people on the beach saw them waving for help, they mistook the body of
the shark for a human body, calling out ambulance and police.
The encounter left Blair
and Marc with bruises, battered equipment and the body of the shark,
which was taken to a taxidermist in Whangarei. However,
it has not put either of them off spearfishing again. Blair
planned to tackle the Rangitoto swim this weekend, but would be out
spearfishing again next Sunday.
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