A group of fishermen encountered a great white shark off the coast of La Jolla over the weekend.
Dustin Sergent, a fly fishing captain, sent a video he recorded on his cell phone to FOX 5/KUSI, showing how close the shark was to his boat in La Jolla Canyon. According to Sergent, the sighting happened Saturday, June 28.
Sergent said the great white, which was about 16 to 18 feet long, approached the boat carrying him and his crew while one of them had a blue shark hooked to a line.
“We did not hook or harass the white shark,” Sergent said. “To top it off, we had a sea lion come in and bully the great white! Very cool thing to see.”
As seen in the video, the great white passed by the side of the boat before a sea lion seemingly chased it away. No one was harmed during the rare encounter.
Sharks are common along the coast of California. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, white sharks are commonly seen near the surface of the ocean but are known to swim as deep at least 6,000 feet underwater.
Juvenile white sharks are usually seen in shallow waters near the Southern California shoreline during the summer months and during warm water periods, the department said.
Last year, a swimmer in Del Mar was bitten by a shark that was later confirmed to be a great white.