Dramatic video caught a great white shark breaching a safety cage and thrashing around violently with a diver inside while his colleagues helplessly watched.
The video, posted on the “Gabe and Garrett” YouTube channel, was shot near Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Baja California, during a five-day shark cruise.
Huge chunks of tuna were left outside the cage as bait for sharks, with a diver supposed to be safely protected by the bars to observe.
But after one great white swooped in for a bite, the feeding is so frenzied that the surging shark breaks the cage bars and ends up inside.
“On a recent great white shark cage diving trip we experienced a very rare event, a shark breaching the side of the cage. What might appear to be an aggressive great white shark trying to attack the cage, this is not the case.”
“These awesome sharks are biting at large chunks of tuna tied to a rope. When a great white shark lunges and bites something, it is temporarily blinded.”
“They also cannot swim backwards. So this shark lunged at the bait, accidentally hit the side of the cage, was most likely confused and not able to swim backwards, it thrust forward and broke the metal rail of the cage.”
There was a single diver inside the cage. He ended up outside the bottom of the cage, looking down on two great white sharks. The diver is a very experienced dive instructor, remained calm, and when the shark thrashed back outside the cage, the diver calmly swam back up and climbed out completely uninjured.
“The boat crew did an outstanding job, lifting the top of the cage, analyzing the frenzied situation, and the shark was out after a few long seconds. Everyone on the boat returned to the cages the next day, realizing this was a very rare event.”
Watch the video here:
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