A surfer’s close encounter with a shark off California’s Central Coast is drawing attention after footage shared online showed the predator circling the unsuspecting surfer.
The video, filmed near Seascape Beach in Aptos on June 10, was originally shared by drone operator and photographer Nick Bertocchini, whose footage has since gone viral after it was shared widely on social media.
In the video shared by Bertocchini, a shark can be seen repeatedly circling a surfer who is seated on his board in the water.
Bertocchini identified the surfer as Rex in his Instagram post.
In the video, Rex is seen enjoying the view and the water when a shark approaches him and begins to swim dangerously close to him.
The camera then drops down to the side where the shark is swimming, possibly in an attempt to alert Rex of the marine animal’s alarming proximity to him. Although Rex looks up into the drone, he does not seem to notice the shark next to him.
A few seconds later, Rex seems to have noticed the shark and immediately gets up on his board and begins to swim away from it.
The shark follows him for some time, but eventually seems to lose interest and swim away from Rex.
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Bertocchini said he tried to alert the surfer by revving his drone’s motors and positioning the aircraft to the side of the shark. This tactic has worked in his previous encounters with sharks and surfers on his drone camera, he said.
Rex got out of the water after the tense encounter with the shark, according to a KSBW8 news report.
Typically, sharks are curious creatures and swim away quickly. However, the shark that approached Rex seemed “a little more investigative than usual,” Bertocchini wrote.
“Glad no bites were exchanged!” he wrote lightheartedly.
Bertocchini pushed back against commenters who dismissed the footage as just another example of a shark in its natural habitat.
“I’ve spent a lot of time flying my drone watching sharks around surfers, and this was one of the only times I was actually nervous,” he wrote.
Growing Incidents of Encounters With Sharks
The incident adds to growing instances of remarkable shark encounters along California’s coastline.
Earlier this year, a dramatic video filmed off the Santa Barbara coast showed a shark trailing a foil surfer for miles.
The surfer, who was unaware of the animal’s presence at the time, later described the footage as both unsettling and fascinating.
In April, the popular Sunset Beach at Huntington Beach was closed for 48 hours after a white shark was seen feeding on a sea lion near the shore and showing aggressive behavior.
That same month, a shark sighting in Huntington Beach resulted in a surf competition being temporarily paused, according to an ABC7 report.
While unsettling, shark sightings in the Southern California waters are, in fact, a positive sign.
Marine scientists have noted that nursery habitats along the Southern California coast have become increasingly active in recent years, with juvenile sharks frequently spotted near popular beaches.
Scientists say that the frequent sightings are a positive sign for the species’ recovery and do not necessarily indicate an increased risk to swimmers.
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