Breaching Basking Shark Adds to Dive Group's Encounter Off Irish Coast
As their name suggests, basking sharks are mostly thought of as gentle giants, lolling on the ocean’s surface as they feed on plankton, their huge mouths wide open.
A recent encounter off the Irish coast, however, was rather more action packed, as one of a group of the huge beasts breached the surface spectacularly.
Vanessa Boehm said she was diving with the Burren Sub Aqua Club, based in County Clare, when they were treated to a close encounter with about a dozen basking sharks.
Video by Boehm shows the slow-moving creatures, until one approaches at speed and leaps from the water.
“I didn’t count exactly how many there were, but there were definitely over a dozen. We were in the water several minutes, when this basking shark breached beside me,” she said. Credit: Vanessa Boehm via Storyful
