*Note: This post was updated Tuesday morning to include input from the diver, Jimmy Roseman
The water was murky and the situation tense. Jimmy Roseman was tucked amid Florida reefs using his speargun to repeatedly fend off a great white shark.
The 12- to 14-foot predator first announced its presence as Roseman approached the bottom, about 80 feet beneath the surface, off Bethel Shoals. His two dive mates, Brian Brumaster and Craig Goodwin, had remained on the boat.
Moments after Roseman switched on his GoPro camera he felt something shove him from behind, and could hear a pinging noise that “must have been the shark’s teeth hitting the tank.”
This was the beginning of a harrowing dive, last Tuesday, that Roseman will never forget. “The shark then shot out in front of me and swam away,” he recalled.
“Right away I got up against the reef and circled with it, keeping my eye and speargun on it,” he said. “As it circled it was only about seven feet away. When it would come in closer, I would poke it with my gun, but it didn’t seem to bother it to much.
“This is when I started to worry about how I could get it away because it seemed to be getting more aggressive . I poked it three or four times, then it turned and came straight at me.”
Roseman considered shooting the shark, as a last resort, but realized that his spear would not do much harm to a predator he estimated to weigh nearly 2,000 pounds.
“I was hoping it would swim away long enough for me to make a break to the surface,” he said.
The shark made another pass and Roseman tried something he hadn’t yet tried; he poked the shark much harder than before, on the side of the head, and the shark swam off.
“I waited for a few seconds and decided this was my chance to break for the surface–the part I was most worried about,” Roseman said. “But it all worked out after that last poke because I never saw the shark again.”
nce back on the boat Roseman shared his tale with Brumaster and Goodwin.
They were prepared to dive but first it was decided that a more suitable location was neeeded. They piloted the boat four miles to another system of reefs, and resumed the hunt for game fish.
“We dove the remainder of the day and did not see any more sharks,” Roseman said.
His friend, Chris Saunders, uploaded the video on Friday, inserting the sensational music “obviously as a joke to add some fun to the video.”
–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor
–Middle image shows Jimmy Roseman; second image is a video screen grab
Hmm.
What would the result be if the diver had no spear gun?
That White shark looks hungry.
"Listen. I just swam across the ocean."
Posted by: drudown | May 31, 2014 at 07:56 AM
Could you please remove the music? It's much more interesting to hear what the diver hears and the music is a total distraction from the experience.
Posted by: Kristin | May 15, 2014 at 09:53 AM