Diver's spine-chilling face-off with five-metre great white: 'Time slowed down'
'Complete shock' was just one of the emotions a group of divers felt when a five-metre-long great white shark eyed them in waters off the coast of Bali.
Video of the encounter shows the lone predator swimming passively beside the group 22 metres below the surface. But it suddenly becomes curious and swims directly at the camera.
The GoPro was attached to divemaster Fabian Clinton, who was part of a group led by Scuba Junkie Penida this week which conducts tours to see marine life including sunfish, manta rays and turtles.
They were exploring deep blue waters off Penida island, when he first spotted a dark shadow in the great blue expanse of the ocean. Initially he wasn't sure what it was, only that it was big, and so he began to follow it.
Immediately after realising it was a great white, Clinton began making noise and gesturing to the others to take a look. Then it swam towards him, time slowed down, and he rapidly became aware of his mortality.
'My first thought was oh f***, sorry mum, I shouldn't be here,' the 31-year-old Swede told Yahoo News.
Related: Sharks found bitten in half close to popular Aussie beaches
Dutch national Amber Doornekamp was swimming close by and feared for her life when the animal turned. 'The size of the shark was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It reminds you of how small people are,' she said.
What happened next shifted the entire group's feelings from fear to an even stronger emotion.
Dive leader Reynold Kaheming from Scuba Junkie Penida had never seen a great white shark in the wild before, and said it didn't seem real. 'I recognised that this was the shark from the movie. I was pretty nervous as it got closer to me and then turned to [Clinton],' he said.
Related: Angler reveals major detail missed in jaw-dropping video of 'legendary' predator
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A post shared by Fabian Clinton (@foffo4)
Over the next 20 seconds Clinton and the shark calmly faced off. Then, his diving training kicked in, helping him hold his nerve.
'I swam backwards slowly and kept eye contact with it. I tried to have an upright upper body position,' he said. 'The last thought I had was I might have to put my fin on the nose to make it go away. But then just before that I had a crazy relief and it turned.'
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If you listen closely while watching the video, you can hear the group's excited screams as the shark swims away. Photos taken after the group returned to their boat highlight their excitement at the encounter, with everyone beaming from ear to ear. Most divers only experience seeing great whites from inside protective cages — seeing one up close was a thrilling experience, Kaheming said.
He called it the 'perfect dive'. 'It was the most amazing dive of my life. Everyone is going to be jealous,' he said. Doornekamp, who had only seen great whites in documentaries, described the thrill of seeing one in person as 'exciting'.
'After this experience I don't think anything is going to top it… I am super impressed by nature,' she said.
Clinton's video has been viewed thousands of times since he uploaded it to his @foffo4 Instagram account. In his accompanying post he described the encounter as 'beyond the holy grail of diving.'
The shark appears to be a pregnant female, and her scar-covered body indicates she's lived a long life. People watching the video at home were thrilled by Clinton's video, which shows her in close-up detail.
'Wow, beautiful. You must have been in shock,' one person wrote. 'I don't know what you felt when he turned his face towards you, but now you are the happiest guy in the world,' another said.
When Clinton spoke to Yahoo on Friday, two days after seeing the shark, he confessed he's still struggling to keep his "feet on the ground" and "be humble" after having such a rare experience.
'I'm still shaking as we're talking about it,' he said.
White sharks are listed globally as vulnerable to extinction, largely due to overfishing from trophy hunters who value their teeth and fins. Shark and ray numbers have dropped by a staggering 71 per cent over the last 50 years due to overfishing, and many species are seldom spotted in the wild.
'I've always had respect for sharks, and I've dived with other types of sharks. But this has to be the craziest experience of my career,' he said.
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