Huge shark spotted off coast of St Ives in Cornwall: Footage captures basking shark ‘longer than some boats’

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A huge basking shark has been captured in camera off coast of St Ives in Cornwall with tourist claiming it was ‘longer than some of the boats’

A tourist has released footage of their encounter with a "huge" shark swimming around a harbour in UK waters. The astonished bystander claimed the ocean’s predator ‘was longer than some of the boats’.

Olga Bates, 46, was visiting St Ives in Cornwall with family when they saw the large sea beast near boats. The group spotted the shark at 6.26am on Wednesday (March 23) during high tide.

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According to experts, the tourists had spotted a basking shark, which is the second largest type behind the whale shark and can grow up to 45ft. Olga from Knighton, Wales, said minutes before the encounter, they saw a group of seals ‘’hiding’’ from the shark.

She said: "We had been very lucky. We woke up so early to watch the sunrise and spotted seals hiding under the bridge and then we saw what they were hiding from - the shark.

"It was amazing to see and it was so close to the beach. It was an amazing surprise for us, we have never seen one that close before,” she added. "We were enjoying the views and the sunshine, we were overwhelmed."

Basking Sharks can be found all over the world and often arrive in large numbers between May and October, according to RSPB. Despite being labelled the ‘gentle giant’, the magnificent beasts can stretch their mouths to almost a metre wide.

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A tourist has released footage of their encounter with a "huge" shark swimming around a harbour in UK waters.A tourist has released footage of their encounter with a "huge" shark swimming around a harbour in UK waters.
A tourist has released footage of their encounter with a "huge" shark swimming around a harbour in UK waters. | Olga Bates / SWNS

Olga said: "It circled around the harbour a couple of times, we estimate it was around 10ft, it was longer than some of the boats. We were down there for around an hour and a half until the water started to go down.

‘’It was amazing to see it so close, I was so lucky and my grandson was very excited."

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