A Hawaii man is counting his lucky stars after narrowly escaping a tiger shark that chomped onto the angler’s kayak instead of his body, KITV reported.
“Dunno how I did that, but my foot actually pushes the shark off near its vulnerable eye. Thank you Jesus!” a message within the YouTube video says.
“I realize that life is short, time is short on Earth, so make the most of it,” fisherman Scott Haraguchi told KITV.
The 42-second video quickly went viral on social media, and it’s easy to understand why.
The video opens with a school bus-yellow kayak filled with gear gently making its way through the calm, crystal blue waters on the windward side of Oahu. A quiet breeze and the sound of a crinkling wrapper can be heard. All seems to be well.
The serene scene lasted all of about nine seconds before a tiger shark came barreling toward the front of kayak, ramming it on the side. At the ten-second mark, the beast latches onto the craft, leaving minor teeth marks in it. The shark clamped on for a couple of seconds, and Haraguchi can be heard screaming.
“Tiger shark rammed me!” the angler yelled, adding an expletive in the heat of the moment.
Though you might have to pause the video and squint to see it, at about the 11-second mark, Haraguchi’s black, white-soled shoe connects with the shark’s eye region. He gave it a shove, and the mammoth macropredator disengaged.
“Happened so fast. Didn’t realize I took my left foot out of the water to brace myself from impact and actually pushed the shark’s head off with it. If you asked me to do that again, even without the shark, I don’t think I’d have that flexibility,” text accompanying the video says.
Haraguchi reportedly went on fishing after the shark swam away and didn’t fully appreciate the depth of the encounter until watching the video later at home. The wild video was caught on a GoPro he had accidentally left on after catching a fish, KITV reported.
“I heard a whooshing sound that sounded like a boat heading towards me without the motor, and I looked up and I saw this big brown thing. My brain thought it was a turtle, but then I got slammed by it and realized that it was a tiger shark,” Haraguchi told the outlet.
The wise fisherman told KITV that he is counting his blessings and that he will be bringing a partner along the next time he hits the water.
Watch the viral video from Hawaii Nearshore Fishing’s YouTube channel that shows fisherman Scott Haraguchi’s too-close-for-comfort encounter with a tiger shark about a mile offshore from windward Oahu.