Tiger Sharks and Albatross Chicks

Today we were slated to take down the turtle camp on East Island so 4 of us were at the dock about 8:30 a.m. to get the boat in the water and go out to East. While loading the boat I looked out across the channel to see the fledgling albatross and spotted a Tiger Shark making passes at an Albatross chick. The shark would lunge at the chick and the bow wave from the shark's move would wash the albatross out of harms way. This happened 3 or 4 times as we watched from 150 feet away and then the shark found its range and the albatross disappeared in one gulp. This is a bird with a wingspan of more than 6 feet. The shark was probably 10 feet long or a little more. The seal researchers saw a repeat of this predation about 2 hours later in nearly the same spot. Our swimming beach is about 100 yards away from this action so it will probably not have many bathers for awhile!