As a surfer, you know that sharks are in the ocean. “Aren’t you afraid of sharks?” is a question often posed by non-surfers. And you very well might be, but you definitely don’t need to be. Great white sharks are in the ocean, and the vast majority of the time, they’re not going to do anything except ignore you.
They are, however, curious animals, and it’s strange to think how many times we could have been right on top of one without ever knowing it. Such was the case in mid-April for one California surfer who got very close to a great white shark… and he didn’t even know it.
Carlos Gauna, a man who spends a lot of time flying his drone above the California coastline looking for sharks, captured the stunning footage of a few shark encounters that you see above. “One of those encounters leaves me lost for words,” Gauna wrote on YouTube, “as the shark gets incredibly close to surfer unaware the shark is there.”
Learn more about sharks in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
