Video from Panama City Beach (FL) beachfront high-rise shows large shark investigating swimmer (1 Viewer)

[superchuck500]

Definitely creeps you out for a second there when it turns and makes a straight line. But it also doesn't appear that the shark ever had any intent of attacking the swimmer.

They're out there, it's their house. But given how few shark bites there are relative to the numbers of Americans going into the water on beaches every day, it seems obvious that they're really not that interested in us.

Battles had just spent the better part of the morning watching the shark loop in figure 8′s through the muck and sea grass for about two hours. It mostly stayed hidden, he said, darting back into the cloudy water if it ventured into the clearer space.

Until the woman swam by.

“The woman swims directly over this thing,” Battles said. “Directly over it.”

And that’s when Battles started recording. The video shows the woman swimming along, blissfully unaware that she’s picked up a follower. The shark breaks its pattern and takes a wide circle to check her out, staying a good distance away but definitely curious. At one point, about midway through the video, the shark swims too far ahead and then turns back heading directly for her, lazily snaking through the water.

“It was just kind of crazy,” Battles said. “Everyone on the beach, in the water, they had no clue.”

About two minutes into the video, though, someone else sees the shark. A chorus of calls break out, trying to get the woman’s attention and let her know there’s a shark nearby. Once she realizes they’re calling to her, she startles, then heads, rather quickly, back in to shore.

Battles said he rushed down to the beach to find the woman. He talked to her a little bit about it, then showed her the video.

“She never saw it,” he said. “She was just like, ‘I think I’m done with the ocean.’”

Video shows shark checking out swimmer in PCB

A viral video shot in Panama City Beach shows a shark checking out a swimmer in the Gulf of Mexico along Panama City Beach.

www.newsherald.com

 

[efil4stnias]

wife showed me this last night...you can actually see his "trail" in the sand on his approach.

Cant really tell if the swimmer realized and calmly swam toward shore or if never even knew it was present.

either way, pretty remarkable video.


per the article...swimmer had no idea....blind luck and a not-so-hungry predator.

 

[dgrant]

That one was interested. I am glad people started yelling at the swimmer. Just because attacks don't happen much, doesn't mean they won't. Nature is unpredictable. I have been battling a coyote coming into my yard. He is dangerous, and will come in and attack in the middle of the day. All i can think about is "A dingo ate my baby!"

 

[Devildog]

I wonder what kind of shark it was.

 

[superchuck500]

wife showed me this last night...you can actually see his "trail" in the sand on his approach.

Cant really tell if the swimmer realized and calmly swam toward shore or if never even knew it was present.

either way, pretty remarkable video.


per the article...swimmer had no idea....blind luck and a not-so-hungry predator.

At some point, people start yelling. I think she eventually hears them and then turns to swim directly to the beach, as the shark then turns away.

 

[superchuck500]

I wonder what kind of shark it was.

Hard to tell, but at least the Gulf coast doesn't have to deal much with white sharks. The explosion of seal populations near Cape Cod has resulted in beachgoers now getting these kinds of warnings. Yikes! The first fatal shark attack in 80 years happened last summer and given the growing aggregation of sharks there, more incidents are likely.



Others are trying various methods to detect and deter sharks there. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2019/05/29/cape-cod-shark-attack-prevention/

One plan even includes giving seals birth control.

 

[antipop]

i was near Panama City Beach last year....decided to kayak and ended up going a little further out than i really wanted to...i ended up falling off the kayak and couldn't get my fat arse back on so i had to swim about 200 yards back to shore with the kayak....the only thing i was scared of was getting eaten by a shark....

no more kayaks for me

 

[St. Widge]

i was near Panama City Beach last year....decided to kayak and ended up going a little further out than i really wanted to...i ended up falling off the kayak and couldn't get my fat arse back on so i had to swim about 200 yards back to shore with the kayak....the only thing i was scared of was getting eaten by a shark....

no more kayaks for me

This is why I no longer have any desire to swim in the Gulf or the ocean. I know sharks don't hunt people and we are not on the top of their lists of things to eat, but they do bite, kill, and eat people sometimes. So, I'm not going someplace where there are things that might try to eat me unless I have to.

 

[Tapxe]

Geez are people still using portrait? That needed a landscape view if ever anything did.

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attacks/

 

[Tapxe]

This is why I no longer have any desire to swim in the Gulf or the ocean. I know sharks don't hunt people and we are not on the top of their lists of things to eat, but they do bite, kill, and eat people sometimes. So, I'm not going someplace where there are things that might try to eat me unless I have to.

I hear the most danger is when you are on a surfboard or float. You appear much more like a seal to the shark with the solid body and flailing small appendages. Usually they just take a nibble and let go, but a shark nibble is enough to kill ya.

 

[efil4stnias]

i was near Panama City Beach last year....decided to kayak and ended up going a little further out than i really wanted to...i ended up falling off the kayak and couldn't get my fat arse back on so i had to swim about 200 yards back to shore with the kayak....the only thing i was scared of was getting eaten by a shark....

no more kayaks for me

its why i stopped surf fishing.
Granted, its mostly 3-4ft sand sharks that come feast on your stringer of trout, but the first time i pulled up my stringer with nothing but heads, was the last time i got off a boat to wade fish the Gulf. I will stay on the boat tuvm. if i can reach the school with my cast, then they get to swim on.

 

[superchuck500]

I hear the most danger is when you are on a surfboard or float. You appear much more like a seal to the shark with the solid body and flailing small appendages. Usually they just take a nibble and let go, but a shark nibble is enough to kill ya.

The most danger is in the car on the way to the beach.

 

[Tapxe]

The most danger is in the car on the way to the beach.

Agreed, but I meant specific to shark attack.

 

[FL_Saint]

Cocoa Beach closed the beach for a while this past weekend because of shark activity. I have caught small sharks while beach fishing a little bit north at Cape Canaveral National Seashore. But between the sharks and flesh eating bacteria, I have zero desire to go into any beach water. And freshwater lakes are out of the question here in Florida because of the amoeba dangers.