Tourists in Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia, had a jaw dropping encounter when a great white shark surprised them on their scuba dive.
Around 10 minutes into their third and final dive of the day, the group – led by local dive instructor Reynold Kaheming and guide Julio Soba – saw a shadow in the distance.
“None of us knew what it was (we thought it was a whale shark),” says guest Sarah Taylor.
As the huge shape emerged from the gloom, the divers could clearly see this wasn’t a plankton-eating whale shark (Rhincodon typus). It was a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
"It would have been very entertaining if someone had been filming us as there was a huge amount of enthusiasm as we all swam towards this dark shadow out in the blue,” says guest Graham Dart. When they realised they were sharing the water with a white shark, they “very quickly skipped back!” adds Taylor.
The massive predator turned towards them, as if to check them out, before looping back and swimming away slowly.
“This is beyond the holy grail of diving,” says Swedish divemaster Fabian Clinton who captured the footage of the “amazing and scary” encounter from the “front seat with [his] shaky GoPro.”
Seeing white sharks in these waters is extremely rare, although there was a previous sighting in September 2019 at a nearby dive site called Crystal Bay.
“Everyone was so excited about the great white shark encounter,” says Dani from Scuba Junkie Penida. “It's certainly a rarity here!”
The divers won’t soon forget this unbelievable moment, says guest Amber Doornekamp: "I had the most incredible underwater encounter in my life so far (maybe even forever?!).”
Main image: white shark in Nusa Penida/Fabian Clinton diving with Scuba Junkie Penida.
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