In an incident that will be a delight for tabloid press the world over, a UK doctor had a close encounter with a breaching shark while surfing off Australia and punched it on the nose.
Dr Charlie Fry, who only arrived in Australia two months ago, was surfing off Avoca Beach north of Sydney on Monday when the two-metre shark – suspected of being a bronze whaler – jumped out of the water and hit him on his right shoulder, causing scratches and a small puncture wound on his arm. The 25-year-old said he remembered what star surfer Mick Fanning did during a competition back in 2015, when he punched an over-inquisitive shark, and did the same with his fish before climbing back on his board and surfing into shore.
Great white sighted off Key West
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a magnificent great white shark was seen in the waters off Key West by the crew of Wrecked Charters, who managed to snap a video of the apex predator cruising around their boat. Great whites are occasionally seen in the waters off the Keys, probably heading to their more-usual haunts.
