A Venice charter captain and his wife experienced an incredible moment while out on the water filming dolphins – they encountered a great white shark just off the coast. Captain Brad Clark and his wife Yvette took their children on a boat trip about 20 minutes from Venice Beach, where they were delighted to watch a pod of dolphins.
While Yvette was filming and explaining the dolphins’ behavior to the kids, she suddenly spotted the imposing marine predator. Her astonished reaction was captured on video as she exclaimed, “Oh, my gosh, look at that great white.” The shark momentarily surfaced near their boat, bumping into it before disappearing below the waves.
“I knew that there were a couple that had been pinged off of the coast,” Yvette reflected, noting how unusual it was to see such a sight so close to the surface. Their brief encounter with the great white left a memorable impression, as Brad shared, “That was just crazy.”
Renowned shark researcher Dr. Bob Hueter, a senior advisor for Ocearch, emphasized that while sightings of great whites near shore are rare, they aren’t entirely unheard of. “This is a legitimate sighting. Having one 27 miles offshore here is a little bit unusual, but it’s not unprecedented,” he explained, reassuring the public that these sharks rarely venture close to the beach, so there is no immediate danger to swimmers.
According to Hueter, there are currently about a dozen sharks swimming in the Gulf. As the water temperatures decrease, these sharks tend to migrate southward, with many spending time off the coast of Florida and Louisiana, primarily in deeper waters.
The Clark family left the encounter with a remarkable story to share, with Brad adding, “I mean, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing to happen.” After their initial sighting of the shark, they circled the area to ensure it was not injured but did not see it resurface, leaving an air of mystery to their unforgettable experience.