Real or hoax? Viral GoPro footage shows great white shark swimming around surfer

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Thursday, June 25, 2015
(Shutterstock)
Shutterstock

A surfer captured incredible GoPro footage of a great white shark circling around him. Or did he?

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Recorded on June 23, 2015, the video shows a surfer off the coast of Manly beach in Sydney, Australia. According to the the video's description, the shark had been circling the surfer for a couple of minutes before he decided to record it with his GoPro camera.

"The surfer tries to make his way around the shark back to more shallow water before it disappears," according to YouTube. The best thing he did was to remain calm while he was watching the sharks movements in case it would attack him."

The video has amassed over 500,000 views since being uploaded on June 23. But some YouTube users are questioning its authenticity.

"I couldn't see anything, the only indication that their [sic] might be a shark is his panicked breathing," wrote one YouTube user.

"It looks so out of focus that I think it's fake," wrote another.

Many YouTube users expressed the fear they would feel if they were in a similar situation.

"I would be paddling so fast people on the beach would think my board is jet powered," commented one YouTube user.

"And yet people say something like this won't stop them from going in the ocean," commented another.

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