Like something straight out of the Jaws franchise, an angler caught the wild moment a high-flying shark flew out of the water and landed on their boat. The moment took place last August off the coast of Maine. Check out the shark getting massive air in the clip below.
Before the apex predator boarded the vessel unannounced, Captain Dave Sinclair of Sea Ventures Charters took a group of anglers on a fishing trip roughly 15 to 20 miles from Monhegan Island. Then, their day went from ordinary to absolutely unreal when the massive Cobalt Blue Mako shark shot up out of the ocean and onto the boat.
According to Sinclair, he and his team tag and release sharks on a daily basis for research purposes. However, despite decades of experience and working with hundreds of sharks, getting the unexpected visit from the Mako made him feel like a fish out of water.
Captain’s grandson recalls near-death moment with shark: ‘You kind of feel like there’s no way this is happening’
Thankfully, one of Sinclair’s clients, Kris Kingsbury, just so happened to be filming when the underwater predator hit the deck with a loud thud.
“All of a sudden, here he was in my face,” said Sinclair’s 15-year-old grandson, Cameron. He’s been working with his grandfather on fishing charters since he was a boy.
“I feel him hit the side of my face with his tail, and then he lands by my right foot,” he added.
According to Cameron, the moment was extremely worthwhile because even though he had spent years working on his grandfather’s boat, this marked the first time he saw a Mako.
“You kind of feel like there’s no way this is happening,” he recalled the surreal moment. However, he and his grandfather were anything but excited when the creature landed on the boat. Instead, they were worried that the shark had hurt one of the clients.
“My first thoughts were injuries,” Sinclair noted. “We had a boat of young guys, one young gentleman was fighting the fish.”
Thankfully, although the shark’s fins were dangerously close to people’s faces, everyone came out unscathed. Sinclair and his team tagged the shark and put it back in the water.
However, they did walk off the boat with one heck of a story to tell. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be that surprised again,” Cameron said.
According to reports, Mako sharks are known for their ability to jump out of the water, also known as breaching. These sharks can shoot several feet out of the water. In addition, some believe they breach to remove parasites from their skin. However, others think it may be a predatory tactic.
