We had an interesting fishing experiance a month ago. 5 km out of the shore on the Coromandel peninsula in a Southern Cross 3.75 m inflatable boat  (about 12 feet).

I had a nice fiercly fighting Kawai on when my partner saw a big shadow pass about 4 m under the boat and said: "Look, a shark!" I was sure it was just a dolphin, but then it came back like in the film "Jaws". You saw the dorsal fin come towards the boat and then it went under the boat and reappeared on the other side, turned back and swam just beside the boat. Very clear, wonderful fish, as long as the boat. The shark had two hooks in it's mouth and the lines had been cut about 1.5 m above since the lucky fishermen did not want to come too near to the mouth. The shark swam around the boat, almost touching it, and was very interested in the propeller. Lloyd, the owner of the boat and me got quite concerned. Sometimes these sharks, either a Mako or a blue shark, chew the propeller or the boat itself. Not a pleasant idea in an inflatable. And look what the lady on board did. She got her mobile out and started to film the shark swimming around the boat.

Lloyd then hurried up to start the engine and get away before the sharki could have the idea to see if there was something edible in such a boat and chew it up a little bit. The pics turned out really nice!

It is most certainly a mako. the big black eye and very pointy nose gives it away. Wonderful creatures. The water seems to distort the shape of the fish into a slimmer profile in the photo. thats why it may be confused with a blue shark.