Young swimmers can be seen floating so close to a great white shark off the California coast in a new video that it might make your stomach drop.
“I don’t often get nervous but this was one of those rare instances where I did,” said Carlos Gauna, the photographer who captured the footage and posted it to Instagram Monday on his @malibuartist account. “The young swimmers had no idea,” he added in the caption.
KCRA identified the location of the incident as the coast “north of Los Angeles.”
Guana, who documents shark behavior, joined “Good Morning America” to discuss the video he took using a drone from more than a mile away. He said that the shark was much bigger than the unsuspecting swimmers nearby at an estimated 10 feet in length and that his heart was pounding as he watched.
These sharks tend to get close to people, Guana explained. Indeed, “Good Morning America” mentioned multiple recent incidents of sharks getting close to surfers and swimmers, including a hammerhead shark off the East Coast. It also noted that Guana said the shark in the latest footage appeared to have what could have been an injury from a boat, which would explain its defensive behavior.
“This particular shark has a very big boat prop strike wound across its back and dorsal fin. My observations showed the shark to be rather active,” he said on Instagram. “I watched it breach twice in one day (I assume that wound is itchy). And because of the injury I don't know if it’s searching for easier prey or if it’s more alert. Either way, this shark does approach humans at a higher frequency. At least by my observations.”
Shark “breaching” is when they forcefully launch themselves out of the water.
A Wednesday post from Discovery’s Shark Week said California is “notorious” for white shark attacks. According to the University of Florida’s Florida Museum, there were 105 shark bites reported worldwide last year, including 65 unprovoked attacks and 29 provoked attacks. In 2024, Audacy covered research that found white sharks had made a comeback, with sightings increasing near Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
