A large crowd congregated near the water’s edge at Navarre Beach in Florida on Tuesday, not daring to go into the water while a huge hammerhead shark swam just off the beach.
The Navarre Beach Fire Rescue captured photos of the sighting and posted them on Facebook, and estimated it to be a 13-foot hammerhead shark. Commenters were quick to point out the location was in a famous movie back in 1975.
Much of Steven Spielberg’s movie sequel “Jaws II” was filmed at Navarre Beach and nearby Destin and Okaloosa Island, according to Florida Memory. All are located just east of Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.
“Too close for comfort,” one commenter wrote.
“Such an amazing sight,” another wrote.
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Beach-goer Sammy Furlong took a lengthy video that shows the shark, and twice he panned the shoreline (at the three-minute mark and near the end), showing a crowd of beachgoers watching in amazement.
“Did you see how big that was? That was huge,” one woman can be heard saying in the video.
“That’s huge,” a child is heard saying not long after.
Furlong said it looked like the shark was feeding on something, “a big fish or another shark.”
Though there was a lot of fuss over this scary looking beast, according to National Geographic, hammerheads, though “consummate predators,” do not pose a major threat to swimmers.
“Most hammerhead species are fairly small and are considered harmless to humans,” reads the website. “However, the great hammerhead’s enormous size and fierceness make it potentially dangerous, though few attacks have been recorded.”
Photos courtesy of Navarre Beach Fire Rescue.
