Watch moment apex predator circles divers off Australia. ‘Completely ran out of air’
What is scarier than being trapped on the seafloor as a great white shark circles above you? Being in that same situation but your oxygen tank is slowly running out of air.
This is what divers Tim Ryan and Andy Nelson experienced during a trip below the waves on Oct. 31.
The two experienced divers were on the hunt for crayfish off the western coast of Australia when Ryan saw a dark shape emerge from the water behind Nelson, the two told Perth Now.
“He’s giving me the shark signal quite enthusiastically, I’ve turned around and still have that image of a head of a very large shark above me,” Nelson told 9News.
Ryan was wearing a Go-Pro video recorder and captured the entire terrifying encounter. He posted the video Oct. 31 on YouTube.
The footage begins when Ryan first notices the shark, then continues for just over 8 minutes as the shark circles overhead. Around the five-minute mark, Nelson’s head pops up from behind the rocks and sea plants and Ryan frantically gestures for him to get down with the shadow of the shark behind Nelson.
“So Andy popped up, and the shark came up behind him, and then basically there were now two lots of bubbles in the water and two big black bodies,” Ryan told Perth Now. “And sharks are sneaky attack hunters. They’ll never attack you when you’re looking at them. They’ll always just sneak up behind something that looks like a soft target. So, two of us in the water was all of sudden, enough, for it to say, ‘Nah, this is no good, I can’t do sneaky,’ and it took off.”
The divers estimate the great white shark was more than 12 feet long, and it got close enough to touch, 9News reported.
“It came straight over my head… with its mouth a little bit open, I could have reached up and touched it,” Ryan told the outlet. “I was definitely like yeah, we were a bit concerned.”
If the proximity of the shark wasn’t scary enough, it stuck around long enough for Ryan to notice his oxygen supply dwindling, he told outlets.
Needing to find the dive boat, Nelson risked his safety to swim toward the surface even as the shark was still in the area, the divers said. Then, Ryan said he “completely ran out of air.”
Ryan first started singing the “Jaws” theme song in his head before his shock turned to fear and his heart rate and breathing increased, blowing through oxygen, he told Perth Now.
“It was just a funny moment for me, like it straight away, went from — oh ****, I’m in big trouble here, to right, I’ve got to deal with this, all in the space of a few seconds,” he told the outlet. “I had to cycle through those emotions, and then it was on to my right, and I’ve got to slow my breathing down, I’ve got to slow my heart rate down, I’ve got to keep an eye on the shark the whole time.”
Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist, told 9News the two divers could credit their experience and calm demeanor for their survival.
“There’s safety in numbers, always keep an eye out and face the animal and try to stay calm and avoid any erratic movements,” Guida told the outlet.
When Ryan posted the video online, commenters said the changing angles of the shark’s fins throughout the video show it was in attack mode and would have taken the divers as a meal if given the chance, Ryan told Perth Now.
Both divers told outlets they feel lucky to be alive.
And, even after dodging death twice in one dive, Ryan brought home 6 crayfish, he said in comments on his Facebook post.
“My mate, Andy, he’s done 2,000 dives over 30 years and has never been confronted with an apex predator like a white shark,” Ryan told Perth Now. “And then yesterday was my 82nd dive, and I have one circled with(in) five minutes. It’s a pretty, pretty rare occurrence that somebody not only gets footage but experiences this and doesn’t get eaten.”
The divers were off the coast of Shoalwater Marine Park, just south of Perth on the southwestern coast of Australia.
This story was originally published November 1, 2024 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Watch moment apex predator circles divers off Australia. ‘Completely ran out of air’."
