Incredible photos show great white shark breaching metres away from surfer
Jaw-dropping photographs have emerged of a surfer’s close call with a great white shark near Newcastle, as only a single wave separates the man and the breaching predator.
Daniel Caban, 20, was blissfully unaware of the 3.5 metre shark jumping out of the water behind him as he surfed the waves at Caves Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
Just moments before Nathan McClaren took the photo, Daniel was paddling through the spot where the shark had surfaced.
Nathan said: "As soon as I've seen it, it was a bit of a jaw drop obviously one in a million photo."
Shark experts are surprised too, as great whites have only ever been known to breach like this in deep waters off the coast of South Africa.
Daniel was only 50 metres off shore.
Amy McLukie, a marine biologist from SeaLife Aquarium, said: "It is surprising that the shark would be able to achieve this breaching behaviour in that particular area so I think that would definitely be worth investigating a bit more."
Nathan and Daniel say they're extremely disappointed their photograph has triggered a debate about culling sharks.
They say their image isn't something to be scared of, it's something to be admired.
"It's the ocean, it's full of sharks. You know basically if you went camping and you've seen a snake, you're still going to go camping," Daniel said.
"It's a risk you take. It's their home. I think shark culling is an absolute disgrace to be honest," Nathan added.
Prior to Tuesday’s sighting, Daniel had never encountered a shark while surfing.
“I’ve never seen a shark in the water before. Everyone else around here has their shark stories, but I’d never seen one. I guess I still haven’t, but I’ve definitely got a story now," he told News Corp.
He said he only knew of the shark’s presence because of bystanders on the beach, who started yelling and waving for him to come to shore.
Daniel said several people had witnessed a shark breaching offshore on Tuesday morning.
He added that although the experience was nerve-wracking it was not enough to keep him off his board.
