A surfer has recalled the moment he was circled by a huge great white shark near a popular tourist beach weeks out from the start of summer
Kye Wilkinson, 23, felt a disturbing nudge from the deep during an afternoon surf at Coffs Harbours Shelly Beach on the NSW north coast last week.
He had no idea that the 3-4m long shark was lurking below him until the predator suddenly swam right up beneath him.
I had paddled out and was sitting on my board for roughly two to three minutes when I felt something hit the bottom of my board; I looked underneath me to see a big black shadow, Mr Wilkinson told news.com.au.
I froze for a second, not really knowing what way to paddle.
Mr Wilkinson then regained his composure and flicked on his GoPro to capture the monster shark as he made his way towards larger group of surfers in the water nearby to warn them of the lurking danger.
It circled around and [went] back under me as I was paddling over, he previously told Nine.
The surfers stuck tight together, appearing bigger to the shark, before making a dash for the shore
A 4-5m long great white shark gave surfers the fright of their lives near a Coffs Harbour beach
Im sitting there discussing it [when] again a third time it came back.
Hes heard on the GoPro footage recalling his close encounter.
Holy s***, one of the surfers responded.
Stay together boys, stay together, dont paddle! another surfer yelled out.
The shark hung around the group for quite some time before they could make the wild dash to shore.
Its not the first time Mr Wilkinson has encountered a great white shark while surfing.
Kye Wilkinson, 23, felt the shark before he saw it as it swam beneath his surfboard
You see them every now and then but they usually take off pretty quickly. Ive never had one that close and to have it circling three times was very scary, he said a week on from the incident.
Mr Wilkinson appreciated the mateship of the other surfers during the ordeal.
The surfers huddled on the shore and reviewed the video from Mr Wilkinsons GoPro.
We didnt realise how big it was until we actually saw it on the footage, he said.