When it comes to humans, sharks, for the most part, are generally just curious. They’re not hellbent on tearing you limb from limb, leaving you thrashing in the depths with blood spouting from all or one of your extremities — they’re just swimming around looking for a meal because they, like us and every other thing on earth, need to eat. So when they come across humans in the ocean, they often take a cursory pass, just to make sure it’s not a wounded seal or some other easy prey. What isn’t often captured, however, is one of those cursory passes on camera.
Enter Carlos Gauna, a man who loves great white sharks. He spends a lot of time searching for them via drone off the coast of southern California, and all that searching pays off. Gauna, who runs a YouTube channel called The Malibu Artist, frequently posts footage of great white sharks that is either surprising, beautiful, or sometimes, even a little frightening. The most recent footage has a bit of all those elements.
“This is footage I captured recently of a nine-foot juvenile great white shark curiously lingering near a family, which included two kids,” he wrote. “This shark followed the yellow kayak for approximately 100 yards.”
The family, who was alerted to the shark by Guana’s drone, did a smart thing. They don’t appear to be frightened, but instead simply pause to enjoy the moment. “The family sees my drone above the shark and huddles together to appear larger,” Gauna continued. “After a couple passes, the shark eventually appears to lose interest and disappears into the deep. Unlike most encounters I’ve filmed, these folks did not pursue the shark after the initial encounter. Although the shark remained nearby for a few minutes, it never returned to the kayakers.”
See more from Carlos Gauna on YouTube and learn how to minimize chances of an adverse shark encounter as well as critical information about shark behavior, shark personalities, shark language, what to do in the unlikely event a shark bites you, and more in 20-plus video lessons in Ocean Ramsey’s Guide to Sharks and Safety.
