A Great White Shark swims past a diving cage off Gansbaai about 200 kilometres east of Cape Town
A Great White Shark swims past a diving cage off Gansbaai about 200 kilometres east of Cape Town. Hunted to the brink of extinction in the 1970's and 1980's, the Great White is now a protected specis in many parts of the world. In South Africa shark cage diving forms a growing business in the eco- and adventure tourism industries. Reuters/Ho New

Two Newcastle fishermen are lucky to be alive as a five-metre shark circled the men's tiny tinny on Saturday. The giant creature head butted the engine when they tried getting away.

It was 24-year-old Belmont resident Tim Watson who was at the boat with his 23-year-old friend Allan de Sylva. According to them, the shark was around one metre longer than their boat and around "half a foot" narrower than it. The incident, which took place about half an hour off shore from Blacksmiths beach, was captured on camera by Watson. According to Watson, the experience felt like getting trapped in a room with an angry pit bull. He said that the shark had not left them alone. "You almost wanted to stop and admire it but it was being pretty aggressive," The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Watson, "It was as big as a wagon car - that's what it felt like looking at it."

The 24-year-old fisherman further said that they had caught only a few fish for around two hours when the shark came near their boat at 10:30 a.m. He said that there was some blood in the boat which was getting washed in and out. When the shark rose up, the fishermen realised how large it was. Then the shark started nudging the boat. However, the nudge was not that hard as the boat "would have taken a bit of water otherwise," he said. Watson also said that the giant beast had started bringing its face out of the water while rubbing it along the boat. When Watson tried to pull start the engine, the shark went right underneath the boat and head butted the engine. It also tried opening its mouth, Watson said. The incident left Watson "quite nervous" and "shaken." However, he said that it would not stop him from going to the water again. He, on the other hand, said that he would not go far in a small boat again.

In the meantime, lifesavers at Sydney's Manly Beach asked swimmers to get out of the water after another shark sighting. One of the swimmers saw a shark at Manly to NSW Surf Lifesavers, which prompted the search crews to erect a bright yellow sign warning the swimmers to enter water at their own risk. The Australian reports that swimmers swam anyway.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au

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