A swimmer stayed in shallow coastal waters between Santa Barbara and Malibu as six juvenile great white sharks moved through the area, according to drone footage recorded by marine documentarian Carlos Gauna. Gauna said lifeguards attempted to alert the swimmer and one paddled out to him, but the man chose to remain in the ocean.
Swimmer remained in water as six great white sharks passed nearby off Southern California coast
A swimmer stayed in shallow coastal waters between Santa Barbara and Malibu as six juvenile great white sharks moved through the area, according to drone footage recorded by marine documentarian Carlos Gauna. Gauna said lifeguards attempted to alert the swimmer and one paddled out to him, but the man chose to remain in the ocean.
Gauna, who goes by The Malibu Artist online, regularly uses drones to observe sharks off the Southern California coast and has filmed multiple instances of sharks and beachgoers occupying the same waters. From his aerial vantage point, he said he could see sharks that may not have been visible to the swimmer below.
One juvenile shark eventually passed within roughly a body length of the swimmer before turning and making another close pass. Gauna posted the footage on Instagram with the caption: "One swimmer. Six great white sharks nearby."
Gauna told Surfer.com that one of the six juveniles was a shark he had previously observed and named "Tina." "Her comfort around people was visible," he said, describing the shark as increasingly accustomed to sharing coastal waters with humans without displaying aggressive behavior.
Gauna said Southern California's shallow coastline serves as important habitat for juvenile great white sharks, adding: "encounters between sharks and people probably happen far more often than we realize and almost always without incident." He also cautioned that adult sharks measuring 13 to 15 feet move through the same area on a weekly basis.
- The source does not state the exact date or location of the encounter beyond the stretch between Santa Barbara and Malibu.
- The source does not include any statement from the swimmer explaining why he remained in the water.
- The source does not include any statement from the lifeguards involved.
- The source does not state the approximate ages or sizes of the six juvenile sharks, apart from the general characterization as juveniles.
- The source does not identify which agency or jurisdiction the lifeguards belonged to.
- The source does not provide citation or data for the claim that shark bites remain exceptionally uncommon.
Read the original at New York Post