Here’s a picture of a great white shark surfacing near a surfer on Cape Cod that went viral. The surfer, Devon Zimmerman, from Brooklyn, New York, told the Daily News that when he saw the shark “I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ in my mind this thing’s real. And it’s between me and the beach.”
Fortunately, the encounter, off Nauset Beach in Orleans, had a happy ending. The great white slowly swam away and Zimmerman paddled nervously back to shore. But when his wife, Sarah McAteer, saw the picture, she said, “It made me nauseous. It made me sick to my stomach.”
Zimmerman, 30, has spent many years surfing in California without running into a great white shark. He went to the Cape to ride the waves left over from Hurricane Humberto. He got an early start, and at 7 in the morning had been in the water just a few minutes.
At that time, Joe Mault, who owns Orleans Camera nearby, was walking on the beach, hoping to get pictures of the waves. He saw the surfer and the shark instead. He posted his picture on the internet, and the Atlantic Shark Conservancy shared it, with the warning that “This is a good reminder that white shark activity is still at its peak off the coast of Cape Cod through October.” There have been some 150 great white shark sightings on the Cape this summer.
For his part, Zimmerman said “I probably will take a break from surfing on the Cape.” Read more: