Photos: A near-miss Great White encounter in Esperance

Here’s the creepiest thing you’ll see this week (and it’s Halloween!): Images have today surfaced of a near-miss that went down back in September, showing a gent named Andy Johnston being circled and tailed by a great white during a surf at West Beach, Esperance in Western Australia. After car horns from the carpark cleared the lineup, most surfers dry-docked themselves on the reef, but Andy decided to stay out and try not to be intimidated, which makes us feel some kind of way. “I’d rather try to hold my ground against it and not freak out and make a commotion,” he said. Yeah, that’s badass. But Andy’s nonchalance don’t finish there. “It seemed just curious and I didn’t want to give it a reason to chase me so I tried to behave casually and keep an eye on it. But I didn’t know it came up quite so close as I was paddling into the wave to come into the beach with the other lads.”

Andy mounted the reef for a minute before eventually jumping back in to keep surfing – alone. “It wasn’t that big, it looked smaller than a dolphin,” he said. While we don’t share his confidence in belittling any kinda great white, his justification sure is commendable: “I probably have a higher risk of breaking my neck on that reef than the shark causing me harm. If you’re going to get chomped then you’re going to get chomped – there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Sadly, encounters of this nature don’t always end happily.

Photos: Frits De Bruyn | (Story source: Esperance Express)