Paddleboarders pass near massive hammerhead shark in drone video off Florida beach | Orlando Area News | Orlando

Flying over the beach is never a good idea if you’re uncomfortable about the presence of sharks in the ocean. That’s where they all are, and the vantage offered by a birds-eye-view of your average Florida beach will reveal that in short order. Take, for example, this recently shot drone video that shows a massive, hammerhead shark passing extremely close to a group of paddleboarders.

Unlike similar videos in the genre, it appears the Palm Beach paddleboarders can see the shark as it passes. The shark’s massive size is apparent next to the 10-foot-plus-long boards. The drone footage was shot by Evan Parness, who tracked the shark throughout the morning.

“This massive Hammer was around all morning hunting for blacktip sharks & these paddle boarders got the experience of a lifetime! This shark checked them out multiple times,” he wrote on Facebook. “It’s really amazing to see just how large that shark is next to the boards. I’m thrilled I was able to capture such an incredible moment between dinosaur & man.”

Shark encounters have gone up in Florida in recent years and the prevalence of drone photography has only made them more obvious. Videos of surfers unwittingly passing over sharks or swarms of sharks near swimmers are more and more common. Even so, a shark attack on a person is an incredible rarity. Last year, Florida was the world capital of shark bites with 28. That number includes both provoked and unprovoked bites.

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