A paddleboarder has shared breathtaking footage of the moment a rarely-spotted apex predator swam up beside him.
A little over two years ago, Jared, from Miami, was paddling off Haulover Beach at sunrise when he saw the unmistakable sight of a shark’s fin approaching him.
Jared had his camera with him and was able to capture the dramatic moment on video. It was only when the shark got closer, however, that he realized it was a hammerhead.
Scalloped hammerhead sharks occupy coastal warm temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Encounters have been known to occur anywhere along the northeast coast of the U.S., ranging from New Jersey to Florida.
However, hammerhead sightings are increasingly rare. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, they are a target for commercial fishing, due to the shark fin trade.
At present, two distinct population segments of the scalloped hammerhead shark are listed as endangered and two are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Jared said there was barely anyone on the beach when the hammerhead approached. Perhaps it being quiet was what convinced the shark to approach.
Jared knew it was “quite rare” to encounter a hammerhead at such close proximity. “I’ve paddled thousands of miles and spent hundreds of hours in the water and seen only them about 10 times,” he said.
Initially he thought the appearance of the shark would be fleeting. He might see the fin momentarily before it disappeared out of view. But this hammerhead was different. He stuck around, swimming in and around Jared as he continued to paddleboard.
Though he managed to get a few more clips of the shark on camera, it wasn’t easy. “I spent a good hour with the hammerhead but it was pretty elusive,” he said. “This was the first time I’d seen one in clear water and was able to get some video.”
It was a remarkable encounter, but the situation got all the more remarkable when, a day later, Jared encountered another hammerhead in the same spot.
Though it’s impossible to know for sure, he suspects it was the same shark. In any case, he returned again the day after that and was once again approached by the same familiar fin.
That would prove to be the last in this string of extraordinary encounters. In the years that followed, Jared would often revisit the videos he filmed from those extraordinary encounters.
An avid and regular paddleboarder, that encounter wasn’t the first or last time Jared would capture marine wildlife on camera, with his exploits earning him the nickname of “eagle eyes” among his fellow paddle friends.
However, it was only recently that he hit upon the idea of sharing some of the clips of his encounters to social media, posting footage under the handle @juha4709.
That’s when the videos of his encounter with the hammerhead finally garnered attention, with two clips from those magical few days earning over 500,000 views. In one of the videos, Jared can be seen paddling with the hammerhead swimming alongside him.
Views flocked to the comments section accompanying the clip, stunned at what they were witnessing. “So cool, but my soul would leave my body,” one user wrote. “This is so rare considering hammers are so shy of humans,” another said. A third added: “WOW!! Just wow!! That is so so epic.”
Though sightings are rare, last year a hammerhead shark nursery was discovered in Biscayne Bay. Scientists found juvenile hammerheads spending the first two years of their life in the region.
Hammerheads don’t pose any threat to humans, but Jared hopes that those watching his videos remember the importance of treating these remarkable animals with care.
“It’s really important to keep calm and give the shark respect and space,” he said.
It’s been a little while since that magical encounter, but Jared hasn’t given up hope of seeing another hammerhead again. Until then, he’ll be on his paddleboard and on the lookout.
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