The enormous form glided silently beneath the boat ...

Sorry for the tease.  Years ago, my brother was casting for silvers from a rock ledge on the shore of an island near Wrangell, Alaska, when he became aware of a large form gliding just below the surface under his feet. He guessed it to be a six-foot halibut. This reminded me of a passage in one of the Victorian adventurer Samuel Baker's books, in which he described an experience on the upper Nile. While exploring the river in a large steam launch, the boat coasted alongside a slightly submerged sand bar the length of the vessel -- about 30 feet. It was with considerable awe that the company aboard ship realized that when the sandbar suddenly sank from view, they had been with a few feet of an enormous Nile crocodile.
I would love to hear experiences from kayakers here who have encountered large fishes and sea mammals while in their boats near shore. Any great whites, for example?

I was once fishing for rockfish/lings just outside a kelp bed in about 50 ft of water.  I already had a nice lingcod and because it was sunny and warm that day, I decided to let my catch hang in the water on a stringer to keep fresh rather that dry out in my tank well.  Suddenly, my kayak jarred a bit and it almost felt like something was trying to pull my kayak underwater.  After a few shakes, I looked down to see a fairly large gray shape pass about 5 ft below me... Oh Crap!  With my adrenaline rushing to every pore of my body I quickly pulled my lingcod up out of the water and got ready to paddle.  I noticed that the ling cod only had a few scratches on it's tail and wasn't chopped in half like I expected it to me.  Huh?  Then finally, about 10 ft in front of me a gray harbor seal popped up as if to say "Hey, I wasn't done with that!".  I now try to keep my catch in my tank well under a burlap sack.

Brian

Here's a pic one of the guys I used to work with down in San Diego took...

I've had the pleasure of a humpback whale visiting me about 10 feet away ... got some video somewhere that I'll have to dig up.  I was filming a feeding pod about 100 yards away.  I guess one got curious.

Have also had killer whales maybe 50-70 feet away.  They did swim under us so they could have been closer.  The bull sat of the surface eying us until his family got to the other side.

Last year I had quite the thrill up in Alaska with a grizzly encounter.  I kid you not ... 2 year old swimming out in the middle of Prince William Sound.  I got within 20 feet of it to take pics, then it started swimming towards me.  I slapped my paddle on the water and it started swimming faster.  It was about 10 feet from me when I threw it into gear and got the hell away.

-Allen

Polepole,

   When I get home, I will post my picture of your encounter with the Humpy!

Like Polepole, I have had Humpback whales with a few feet of my yak...  What allen, about 30 feet for me?

I have also had Dolphins here in the Lowcountry par right under my kayak and bump me in passing....

Also has a Manatee in Florida pass under my kayak in about 8 feet of water in Tampa.

Finally, I have had a huge Loggerhead Turtle come up less than 3 feet from me while fishing in the Broad River here in Beaufort, and watch me for several minutes...  I didn;t grab my camera, for fear that the movements to do so, would cause him to leave.

My most frequent encounter in a kayak though are encounters with large Bull Sharks (6-8') and HUGE Stingrays (Over 100 lbs) in the flats I fish...  The latter scare you the most, as they usually erupt when they realize you are right on top of them.  I have had their wings splash up on each side of my kayak, drenching me...

Polepole, we also had those Sea Otters and Harbor Seals within about 50 feet of us in Alaska, remember...

YotF

I posted this about a year ago.  But since you asked....

Well beyond the last glimpses of urban sprawl, beneath a towering headland, afloat on a grey sea, echoing grey sky I sat fishing.  Ordinarily, this would be nirvana. 

Kykfshr must not have gotten my 5:00AM message.  Can't blame him.  Heck, nothing wrong with fishing alone... ordinarily. 

Since I'd launched, I'd covered a couple of zigzaggy miles.  This was my 1st trip since installing a fish finder and I was having a great time marking all the structure I'd only found by brail on past trips. 

Drifting across an underwater point I knew well by feel and by fish, my stomach tightened.  “Relax” I told myself, “It doesn’t get any better than this”.  But the unheard voice spoke louder.  I could feel my skin shrink and bristle.

You know that voice.  The one that tells you to stop as you step from a curb.  The one that makes you pause before vaulting thru a fresh green light.  The one that tells you you’re in the wrong neighborhood or the wrong bar or the wrong spot.

“Eh, there are fish around the boulders next to shore too.”  And without hesitation I move in amongst them.  But that feeling, like being watched, doesn’t fade.

“OK dude, you’re being stupid”  I do my best to ignore it.  I face shore and finess a black scampi thru the cobblestone and battered tectonic holdouts.   As the reverberation of lead on rock reaches my hand yet again, there is an explosion of air and sound and vaporized water not a rod’s length away.  Panic rocks my bones and I swing around to face my terrible fate.

 To my great relief, I find that my stalker is merely a curious baby whale.  Maybe 15 feet from stem to stern.  He’s paused, half emerged, eyeballing me like a toddler examining a colorful bug.  I laugh nervously and offer a greeting.  He draws a deep breath I take for a return and, with his curiosity satisfied, moves on.

 Serious Puckker factor!!!

Here is that picture of Allen and the Humpback Whale in August 2007:



Allen immediately paddled to shore and cleaned out his dry suit!      

During the Pacific City tournament last September, my first time fishing in the big blue, I was very fortunate to experience one of our friends from the deep. As I was lazily drifting along, I was awakened by a big WHOOSH! I turned and looked behind me just in time to see a giant head falling back into the sea, probably 20 feet off of my stern. I grabbed my camera and was able to get this shot as the whale surfaced again off of my bow. This was the icing on the cake to a wonderful day at sea!

Great posts, guys. No shark or sea lion encounters? I can imagine one of the latter big stinkos flopping onto the yak for a sun 'n' snooze ...

I have had seals and sea lions around my yak many many times, sometimes very close, I  had a curious seal in netarts bay at less than paddle length checking me out for at least 5 minutes. We both floated along with the tide staring at each other, close enough I could have touched him with the tip of my paddle , very cool experience.  I think it was a juvenile.   Only real scary thing about them is when they pop up behind you and blow air when you don't expect them.  I keep my fish in a "dry bag" type fish sack so I am not leaving a tasty chum slick of scent around my boat, I don't want them associating me and my yak with the smells of food.  Have seen many whales like golden dog's experience.  Yet to see a shark (knock on wood )

I've had a ton of "encounters".  Mostly while surfing.

From the yak I've have a baby whale come close enough to touch with my paddle.  Porpoises dancing all around me while fishing Coho.  A harbor seal once stopped by in the Trask slew to show me a salmon it had caught.  He hung around just feet from my yak for about 5min until I drew my camera out (of course).

From a surfboard:
-F'in Huge Great White just passing by
-Watched a sealion eaten by a Great White
-Had a pod of Killer Whales come flying up to me only to stop and slowly swim away
-Met more Grey whales than I can remember
-Had a salmon land on my board
-Hit in the chest by a flying fish (Hawaii)
-Been chased out of breaks by too many Sea lions
-Had a seal spend hours playing tag, sneaking belly scratches (while I paddled) and surfing along side/underneath me
-Had crabs try to board