When Erin King went to California’s Marina State Beach on October 17, she was expecting to have just another relaxing day at the beach. What happened instead, though, was a once-in-a-lifetime shot. As she was getting her picture taken, a massive great white shark leaped out of the water directly behind her, and the camera caught the whole thing.
King told reporters she saw a group of girls taking selfies on the shoreline. After taking their photo, they insisted on taking one of her, too. As they did, the shark breached in spectacular fashion.
“They were just really kind,” King explained. “They immediately insisted upon my taking photos of them that they take one of me.”
That’s when the great white shark decided to put on its aerial display.
“It happened so fast,” King continued. “It was just in an instant. It just so happened that we got to see that and I don’t think anybody else really did.”
When the footage hit the internet, it immediately went viral. Given the unlikeliness of the occurrence, many claimed it was fake. California State Parks officials, however, verified it. They followed protocol and issued a temporary shark advisory, as well as posting notices along Marina State Beach.
October is generally a relatively sharky month off the coast of California. Great whites are migrating back to the Central Coast.
“State Parks would like to remind visitors that sharks are an important part of the coastal ecosystem,” the Parks Department said in a statement to The Guardian, “and that interactions between people and sharks are rare.”
