If you’re enjoying time in and around the ocean, there’s a good chance you’re not far from some sea life. You’re in their home, after all. But how close is too close? Recently, a wildlife photographer captured an incredible, yet slightly scary, video of a man swimming just feet away from a young great white shark.
Here is the video:
The video comes from a well-known West Coast photographer and drone operator known as “The Malibu Artist.” Outdoors.com has featured the photographer, whose real name is Carlos Guana, before. Many of his videos do an amazing job of capturing wildlife along the coast. That includes many great white sharks that spend their time off the coast of Southern California.
In the video, you can see a boat with one person fishing. Next to the boat is a man floating in the water, and just feet from him is a great white shark silently making its way toward the boat.
“This fisherman got a close-up experience with a fairly large juvenile white shark,” said Guana with his post. “Notice the thumbs up and ‘thank you’ this fisherman gave me after realizing he was that close to a white shark.”
Getting Close to Great White Sharks
Fortunately, the man was safe, but what’s more surprising is probably how often this happens in the area. However, there isn’t always someone there to film it.
Juvenile great white sharks are especially fond of the area. In 2023, a new study found that these sharks are more common off the coasts of Santa Barbara and San Diego than previously thought.
According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, people were swimming with sharks in those areas about 97% of the time.
The study also found that, more often than not, the sharks seem to ignore the people. Basically, there’s not always a reason for alarm.