Dolphins VS. Great Whites

[LuckySharkBite]

I went surfing in Pismo Beach, South of the pier by the second parkinglot on Sunday, the day right after the GW shark attack had happened. Appearently I had missed the shark warning signs, because I, my bro, and friend all went into the water not aware of what happened the day before.
While we were out there we seen a dolphin, and it made me feel pretty safe. I've heard dolphins will kill sharks.
I can believe dolphins can kill younger or smaller sharks, but can they kill biggens? or at least ward them off.
I'm pretty scared to go back to pismo, at least for a while. lol, and one of the reasons I liked going there was because I read on a surfing website that it only had a shark warning of 2/10 , plus we see always see dolphins in the water down there.
I've only seen one shark, up close in person in my life, while body boarding with my buddy in moro bay. It was only about 5-6 feet, but it scared heck out of us both.

[Greatwhite70]

Hi Stomp,

Thanks for posting your question.

Great Whites are visitors to our coastal shores here in CA through out the year. They are at there greatest abundance from September through to January. Many Great Whites migrate every year to the Farallon Isles to feed upon seals.

Attacks on Humans are very rare and there are things you can do to minimize an encounter.
Staying out of the ocean at dawn and dusk, these are times GW will be active from a hunting and feeding point of view.
Staying away from rocky out crops and also seals.
As GW consume seals being in the water with them present is not advised. GW also feed on smaller Dolphins so seeing Dolphins is not a guarantee of the waters being GW free.

While nobody can guarantee that nothing will ever happen to anyone in the water, the odds are incredibly low.
As an example only one attack took place last year in CA, when you look at how many people go in the water. GW do not feed upon humans and now and again we see bites where curiosity led the GW to mouth the person to see what it is!
For the state CA has seen over 80 attacks since 1923 with 7 fatalalities since 1923.

That averages out at just over 1 attack a year for the whole state.
I understand your fear, the chances of being attacked are very very low. More people die from falling coconuts and attacks by dogs. Avoid Seals, Avoid Dawn and Dusk for surfing. The area you reference has seen very little GW activitiy up until now.

Enjoy your time in the water with your friends.
If you want to see a GW, Monterey Bay Aquarium has a young GW on display.

Feel free to ask me any questions.
Your pretty safe where you are, typically GW will stay around for a day or 2 after sightings and occasionally attacks. Which is why to be safe the beaches remain closed for several days.