If you are like me, the "Jaws" movies infused an incredible fear of sharks into your psyche at a young age. Even though I know most of that fear is completely unwarranted because shark attacks are exceedingly rare. Still, one cannot help but get chills when they see something like the drone footage that 14-year-old Zachary Berman captured in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
The teenager was flying his drone over the bay specifically looking for sharks with his father. That is when he noticed the large group of surfers and a massive great white shark or "white pointer" that started to slowly circle the unsuspecting humans.
What follows is some incredible footage as the massive shark passes within mere feet of the surfers, many of them do not even realize how close they are to one of the ocean's most feared predators.
"At first, I was struggling to comprehend what I was seeing," Berman told ABC News.
This is some of the most spectacular shark footage we have ever seen here at Wide Open Spaces. There was no doubt about it, that shark was at the very least, investigating the splashing those surfers were making. Fortunately, the big fish seemed to realize these were not natural prey items and moved off. It is a good thing, because there is no doubt this animal had the size to easily kill a human.
According to ABC News, several bystanders tried to get the attention of the people in the water. As you can see in the video, eventually it worked because the group started paddling like crazy to get out of the water. It is mind-blowing to think that those two surfers who were looking right at the shark never saw it until watching the footage later. We are amazed some of this group returned to the water after this incident.
We are glad the situation worked itself out with both humans and sharks unharmed in the encounter. Thanks Zach for sharing your incredible footage with the world!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
