Drone video catches shark swimming near Pismo Beach surfers: ‘A very spiritual experience’
The waves may have been sub-par, but Coco Fernandez still left a surf session in Pismo Beach last month with an unforgettable memory.
On July 26, the longtime surfer was coming in from the ocean a bit north of the Pismo Beach Pier with his friend, Chris Balsillie, when a photographer approached to show them a drone video he had just filmed.
There on the screen were Fernandez and Balsillie sitting on their surfboards — with what appeared to be a great white shark swimming lazily just a few feet away.
“We were like, ‘Wow!’ ” Fernandez said of the video. “That’s amazing that somebody filmed that in that moment, you know? Being in the right place at the right time.”
“I’ve seen quite a few sharks through my life,” he added. “But this was the first time that somebody filmed it like that. So it was pretty cool.”
The photographer, Nevada Summers, is no stranger to sharks.
He’s been filming sharks with his drone camera since spotting one in January 2022 while out surfing.
In August 2022, he even filmed a stretch of coast off Pismo Beach where 12 great white sharks could be seen, he said.
“I’ve always been interested in sharks,” he told The Tribune. “They are very interesting creatures that most people find terrifying.”
In the footage Summers shot in July, a shark could be seen swimming close to shore as beachgoers, swimmers and surfers frolicked in the waves — largely unaware of the predator in their midst.
Fernandez said he and his friend had thought there was a shark in the area after seeing a large dark shape in the face of a wave while paddling out, but in general they weren’t too concerned.
“It was a very spiritual experience,” he said. “I love the ocean ... and sharks are a big part of it. We’ve got to kind of learn how to live with them in harmony.”
Summers said his hobby has personally helped him when surfing because it gives him the opportunity to see how sharks interact when they are near people.
“(It) makes it a lot easier to be in the water knowing they are always there,” he said. “The ocean is their home.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
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