A whale watching tour group in New Zealand were treated to a spectacular sight when a shark leapt completely out of the water like a dolphin – and one passenger managed to catch the exact moment on camera.
Andrew Williams was on the sightseeing trip with Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari on December 22 ahead of his wedding the next day when the tour operators were tipped off about the location of some bronze whaler sharks.
The school was swimming around a fishing boat near Waiheke Island off the Auckland coast and the tour group was able to get a peek at them beneath the surface – until one decided to get a little closer.
NZ tourist Andrew Williams caught the exact moment this bronze whaler shark leapt out of the water (pictured)
The image was shared to the tour group Facebook page this week captioned: ‘Breaching bronzie…This shark is a bronze whaler and is commonly seen around New Zealand by both boaties and divers.’
‘It is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN because it is late to mature and can take up to 20 years before it reproduces. Not a usual sighting on board Dolphin Explorer but a special one nonetheless.’
Mr Williams said he just happened to have his phone camera pointed in the right direction and, as a reflex, managed to snap the lens at exactly the right moment.
He added that some of the crew on the ship had never seen bronze whalers breaching before and a lot of the passengers initially though they were dolphins.
Mr Williams told Stuff the tour was a ‘perfect day’ but added he couldn’t say it was the highlight of his entire trip because he married his partner the next day.
‘It was the highlight of my life as an unmarried man,’ he joked.
The bronze whaler, also called a copper shark, is found in New Zealand waters, around southern Australia, Japan, South Africa, and small parts of the North and South American coast.
They can reach more than three metres in length, feed on small fish and while it is very rare for them to attack humans, there are recorded cases.
He said many of his fellow whale watchers assumed it was a dolphin leaping out of the water (file image)
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