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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Lucy Williamson

Paddleboarder films ‘unmistakable’ shadow of great white shark lurking below him

A paddleboarder off the coast of San Diego had a spine-tingling encounter when he spotted the unmistakable shadow of a great white shark lurking just beneath him.

Bill Clements, an avid paddleboarder, captured the thrilling moment on video when he was out paddleboarding last week off the coast of San Diego.

He swiftly pulled out his phone and started recording when he noticed the dark shadow moving beneath his board.

In the video, which Bill posted to his Instagram account @paddlegoat the greenish water shows a fleeting glimpse of the shark as it swims just below the surface.

“Oh, there he is. Oh!” Bill said in the video, laughing to himself.

Reflecting on the encounter, Bill described it as a "thrilling and unexpected encounter," although not without some apprehension.

"I'll admit it was a bit spooky to see the dark unmistakable shadow of a great white beneath the surface," he wrote.

A paddleboarder spotted a shark in the water off of San Diego last week (paddlegoat/Instagram)
A dark shape can be seen in the water (paddlegoat/Instagram)

Bill revealed that he had previously traveled to South Africa in search of a wild great white shark sighting but was thwarted by adverse weather conditions. Little did he know that he would encounter one right in his own backyard.

It comes as, last Monday (10 July) someone had a more terrifying encounter with a shark. Video footage captured the moment a man was bitten by a shark which refused to let go for 15 minutes as he swam at the beach, leaving him needing stitches.

The incident happened in Key Largo, Florida, when Andres Garcia was swimming in the water. While enjoying a dip, Andres felt something grab his foot which later turned out to be a nurse shark.

Bill Clements points at the shark (paddlegoat/Instagram)
Bill described it as a 'thrilling and unexpected encounter' (paddlegoat/Instagram)

Andres' friend videoed the shocking experience, which has now gone viral, as they attempted to get the shark to release Andres' foot. Throughout the whole ordeal, Andres appears remarkably calm and unaffected by the situation - despite a shark refusing to let go of his foot.

The video shows one of his friends seemingly tapping the shark with a hammer lightly in an attempt to get it to unlock its jaws. Andres said he wasn't sure if he accidentally stepped on the shark by accident or had just got too close to its space.

Andres' co-workers tried to pry the shark's jaw from his foot, but Andres just said it held on tighter. Eventually, he had to get out of the water with the shark still attached to his foot until it finally let him go.

In the end, the shark had hold of Andres' foot for a full 15 minutes before eventually letting go and swimming off. Andres required 16 stitches in the hospital thanks to the animal.

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