Too good to be true but excellent marketing play etc.

Just in from everyone-is-happy eco-paradise Byron Bay is the wildly comic photograph of a man riding in the mouth of a Humpback whale.

Every year, from May to November, the animals, which can hit fifty feet and then some, migrate five thousand clicks from their Antarctic hunting grounds to tropical waters in north Queensland where their babies are spat out.

And, earlier today, according to a local sunglass manufacturer, one lucky tourist got a ride inside the jaws of one of the happy mammals.

Per their IG Account,

WOW! Today in the bay… One minute you’re out for your morning swim, the next you’re inside a whale!

Before he realised what was happening, he’d been scooped up by the Humpback while another emerged in the back. Luckily for the swimmer, the whole thing was over quickly and he was freed.

He seemingly didn’t sustain any injuries nevertheless, it must have been a terrifying experience! He managed to make it back to shore, where he walked toward main beach. If anyone has any other photos, videos or further details about the swimmer, please get in touch!

Do you think true?

(When I contacted Grown Designs they said, yeah, all true, and were setting up interviews with a few TV channels and trying to source other photos and maybe vids.)

More as the story unfurls.

(Update: And unfurl it did, a French reporter, Vincent Girard from The Rider Post, finding the original photo, minus jaw rider, here.)

A very good marketing play by sunglass company etc.

"It feels like the ultimate form of betrayal to fall victim to the one thing a surfer recognizes and fears as a possibility."

An autopsy on Santa Cruz shaper Ben Kelly, who was killed by a shark while surfing Sand Dollar beach aka Shark Park on Saturday, May 9, has revealed the animal to be a ten-foot plus Great White.

Sean Van Sommeran, the founder and director of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation which was created in 1990 to push for the protection Great Whites in California and whose own story is worth your time reading, attended the autopsy.

He posted his findings on the PSRF Facebook page.

I attended the autopsy yesterday, the shark is almost certainly to be subadult white shark estimated to be 10′ plus.

Mr Kelly was on the inside of his friend while surfing on a short board.

Kelly was seen by his companion to be pulled underwater amid commotion at Kelly’s board.

Kelly surfaced and immediately exited the water with companion however the bleeding could not be stopped.

DNA and Xray will be used in attempts to recover potential teeth frags or shark tissue and pending final report.

It is most likely that a subadult shark 10’ft or over was cause of the tragic mortality and the juvenile and yearling sharks not at all likely to be implicated.

The shark most likely responsible for the fatality is of the generational category that has always been known to frequent that particular location prior to 2015 arrival of yearling and juvenile shark pups. Test results and lab report still pending.

As these sharks mature from subadult 10′-14′ to adult (14.5’ft and over) they change course and migration routes and begin to circuit the open ocean and deep sea and return seasonally to large seal colonies such as the Big Sur, ANI, SEFI and other well known seal and shark associated sites and seasonal way points.

It should not be presumed that the younger and smaller sharks we see in the Shark Park and La Selva areas will continue to hang out at these locations until they are 20 foot long massive dangerous sharks.
They rotate out as they mature and graduate to wide migratory routes mostly associated with pelagic offshores or coastal seal colonies that can support their energetic requirements.

The Mercury News spoke to witnesses and reports, 

“Kelly was…bitten on the leg and knocked off his board. He quickly got back on and began paddling to shore — as did his friend who was surfing further outside. Once they got to shore, they used a surf leash from one of their boards as a tourniquet but couldn’t stop the bleeding in time.”

Leashes ain’t tourniquets, however, although surfing doc John Cohen has created a sixty-dollar device all surfers in Santa Cruz, WA, Byron Bay, South Africa, Reunion, should use.

“In thirty seconds, using a tourniquet, you’ve saved a friend’s life,” says Cohen.

Want to help out Ben’s wife Katie? Funeral, living expenses etc? Donate here.

As his buddy Zachary Shull writes, “It feels like the ultimate form of betrayal to fall victim to the one thing a surfer recognizes and fears as a possibility. We sign the proverbial liability waiver every time we paddle out, but the thought of such a horrific event is dismissed as an extreme rarity. Those thoughts are quickly overshadowed by the joy and refreshment that comes from surfing and getting a good wave, and so we still choose to paddle out.”