A video has been published that appears to show a great white shark bumping into a spearfisherman.
Ash Gibb heard that a great white shark had been sighted off Lucky Bay, which is east of Esperance in Western Australia. The Kalgoorlie-based filmmaker decided to take a peek and shoot a few fish at the same time.
Gibb dove down to film a fish at about 16-feet-deep (5m). As he followed the fish, a slight thump can be heard on the footage. Then, the great white shark comes into frame after having bumped the filmmaker from behind. That’s when he first saw the great white shark. The shark, which Gibb estimated to be around 13 to 16 feet in length (4-5m), swims past Gibbs’ left side, then returns to face him directly.
The shark appears to be only a few feet away as it eyes Gibb.
The shark circled Gibb and came so close to the lens that its iris is visible in the footage.
Gibb remained calm.
“The biggest thing for me was just focusing on my breathing. I didn’t want to show that I was scared,” he told ABC news.
“I reminded myself of my belief about sharks, which is the fact that they don’t eat humans on purpose. We’re not their food.
“I think that’s sort of what got me through a lot of nerves, because it was very intense. “Even though I wanted to go and do that, it was a very testing situation.” He added.
The shark circled Gibb several times, swimming directly toward the free diver on multiple occasions. Eventually Gibbs headed toward the shallows and sought safety onto some rocks.
“I went there to show people that they [sharks] are beautiful creatures, so there was no chance of me fleeing that situation,” he said.
“I was there to film. I got the opportunity. The chances of that actually happening are one in a million, so I took that opportunity and did my best to keep my hand steady, and capture it on film.” After exiting the water, the footage appears to show the shark munching on a fish previously speared by Gibbs.
The adventurer, who works with Side Tracked TV and has over 300 skydives, plans to take SCUBA lessons in a few weeks. “I want to continue on filming. I’d love to see another great white. The bigger, the better,” he said.
