A 17-Year-Old Teenager Has an Unforgettable Encounter with Two Great White Sharks in Florida.
A teenager from Florida had two close encounters with great white sharks while diving.
Nick Bailey swimming behind the shark and touching its tail fin.
Nick Bailey, 17 years old, posted a video on his personal Instagram showing his close encounter with a great white shark.
The incident occurred in the waters near Stuart Inlet, Florida. Nick Bailey shared that he was just over an arm’s length away from the ocean predator.
On the second day, Nick Bailey went diving again and encountered another shark. The video footage shows the 17-year-old swimming behind the shark and touching its tail fin.
Nick Bailey said: “It was the craziest thing ever. I encountered two sharks in two days. Today I touched a great white shark. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, an unforgettable two days for me.”
Nick Bailey is a passionate free diver, having learned to dive at the age of three under his father’s guidance. He has been exposed to many swimming pools, learning to dive in pools and later in the ocean.
Experts advise that regardless of how fascinating they may be, humans should not touch or provoke great white sharks as Nick Bailey did. The 17-year-old mentioned that the two great white sharks he encountered over the two days were different. The shark he met on the first day was longer and had a broken dorsal fin.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, sharks are quite common near the state’s coast.
According to the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, there were approximately 57 recorded shark attacks worldwide in 2020. The average from 2015 to 2019 was 80 incidents per year. Great white sharks are responsible for the highest number of attacks, followed by tiger sharks.
However, it is important to remember that the likelihood of a person being struck by lightning is higher than being attacked by a shark. Nevertheless, humans should not be complacent; while rare and with a low probability, it does not mean that shark bites will never happen.
