Two Australian freedivers had hoped to spear some fish for dinner during a recent expedition near Drummond Cove, but a 12-foot great white shark changed their plans. Nathan Podmore and Dave Richards sensed danger soon after diving in, then the shark materialized and began to circle the pair.
"She was probably there 25 seconds before we even knew she was there — the video shows it," Prodmore told the West Australian.
Richards had a camera strapped to his head and filmed the frightening encounter.
Richards explained the beginning of the encounter to the newspaper:
"Nathan was on the top of the water getting ready to go down and I felt something moving behind me. I turned around and all I saw was the back section of the shark. Mate, it was a meter away. My heart sank and I just tried to get Nathan’s attention."
Said Prodmore: "As soon as Dave screamed my name out and I was face-to-face I knew it was a great white."
But the divers managed to remain calm, perhaps aware that panic might invite disaster. Instead of swimming toward their boat, which was 150 feet away, or shooting the shark, they stood their ground and merely poked at the shark when it swam too closely.
Ultimately, the shark swam off and the divers made a careful dash for the boat.
Prodmore recalled: “When we got to the boat I didn’t take my head out of the water until I knew I had a three or four seconds to get on to the boat."
-- Hat tip to SharkDiver
Credit to those guys for not automatically trying to harm the shark. Instead, remained calm and stood their ground to let the shark no they were not a meal.
Posted by: James | Jul 17, 2012 at 05:29 AM