Upon seeing a great white shark while spearfishing with friends Sunday off Florida, Tommy Allore excitedly surfaced and called to his wife to jump in and swim his underwater camera to him.
“You want me to jump off the boat knowing there is a great white shark under us?” Amber replied as reported by TCPalm.com.
As it turned out, Amber, who had always expressed a desire to one day go cage diving with a great white shark, jumped into the water and delivered the camera to her husband.
Allore wound up getting photos of the shark and giving FTW Outdoors permission to use them. He also captured video (above) of the moment his friend got close to the great white as it circled a shipwreck located three miles off Jupiter.
Little did Allore know it at the time that this great white shark had a history. In fact, it actually had a name.
“I think everyone was just excited,” Allore told the SunSentinel. “We knew how special that moment was. It’s not common to see them, especially out of a cage, underwater. I knew I wanted to get down there and get a photo with it. Luckily, it stayed around long enough to capture that…
“I probably got about 20 feet away. It was just awesome. Making eye contact with a great white shark is just a unique situation. It was just beautiful.”
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Once his posted photos and video reached Massachusetts shark experts, Allore learned more about the shark, and its name.
MA Sharks and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy identified it as Salty, first tagged off Cape Cod by Capt. Bill Chaprales on Aug. 8, 2012, according to AWSC.
The tag had long since fallen off, but researchers were able to identify it from its markings.
“OMG!” Allore posted on Facebook upon learning the news. “I just had a guy that keeps a database of white sharks up north send me this video! It’s the same shark! Very distinct markings!”
Now, as TCPalm.com reported, the Allores can cross off diving with a great white shark from their bucket list.
Photos courtesy of Tommy Allore.
