(Editor’s note: The video above contains strong language.)
As they say: There are plenty of fish in the sea. But a group of people aboard a fishing charter boat off Ocean City, Maryland, this week never expected to get up close and personal with the most dangerous predator in the ocean.
Steven White, 48, of Frederick was aboard the “Fish Finder” charter boat with his son Monday, when they said a great white shark showed up.
White captured video of the encounter and posted it on YouTube, where it has hundreds of thousands of views.
“Everybody on the boat was like, ‘Wow, did that really just happen?’” White said.
White said his son just caught a hammerhead shark moments before they spotted the great white in the water.
“All we saw is this big fish coming up through the slick. We thought, at first, it might be a mako [shark] and then we’re like, ‘No that is a [great] white shark.’ That’s a really big [great] white shark.”
White said the boat’s captain estimated the shark was 15 to 18 feet long, weighing up to 3,000 pounds.
“I kind of felt for my son because he kind of became the sideshow as we’re watching the shark,” said White. “But he got to watch it because it swam right if front of him three times, so it was really cool.”
White didn’t express any fear while it passed by and does not have any apprehension about going back out there to fish, which he has done his whole life.
“I’ll be back. I’d go tomorrow if I could,” White said. “If it did anything, it made me more addicted to fishing.”
