20 Blue Sharks Spotted Circling Divers Off Cornwall Coast [Photos]

A pack of 20 sharks were seen swimming near a group of divers off the coast of Penzance, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom.

In some unbelievable photos taken by Charles Hood, who runs Blue Sharks Cornwall — an agency that allows people to experience the aquatic predators up close, without any cages or barriers — 20 sharks were seen circling a number of deep-water divers.

“There have always been blue sharks in Cornish waters but they’ve definitely increased in the past couple of years. We normally see ten when we go out, five on a poor day but around 20 on a good day. I would say there’s usually double the amount around that you see,” Hood said, whose company boasts of being the “ultimate shark adventure in Cornish water," Cornwall Live reported.

The waters near the coast of Cornwall are ideal for swimming near sharks as the waters are warm at this time of the year.

Hood added that the once-in-a-lifetime experience provided by his company has become an instant hit with photographers and scientists alike. The services provided by Blue Sharks Cornwall was also showcased in TV shows such as “The One Show,” and “Countryfile” after the shows’ presenter Steve Backshall took one of the company’s tours.

“These are specialist whole boat charter only full-day trips with us venturing quite some distance from shore. The blues can appear within minutes or up to a couple hours but once around the RIB they will often stay for a few hours at a time. Encounters are best photographed either using a pole-cam or snorkeling,” Hood said.

While Hood’s adventure company might take all the necessary precautions to ensure none of the thrill-seekers are injured during one of the close encounters with a shark, that is not the case with beachgoers and vacationers who happen to chance upon the dangerous beasts while kayaking or swimming in the waters.

A nine-feet-long shark was photographed inches away from the Cornish harbor a few days ago. The photo was taken by two teenage boys who were standing at the harbor slipway when they witnessed the shadow of the mammoth beast swimming under the surface of the water.

“It was swimming along for a good two to three minutes and went towards west pier before leaving the harbor,” Harry Hocking, 16, said, the Sun reported. “A lot of people noticed and by the time it left there were dozens of people watching from the harbor wall. People have already been saying they won’t be swimming now."

Experts thought the shark may have got lost while hunting and that is how it ended up so close to the harbor, because sharks normally avoid swimming in shallow waters.

“They are predominantly an oceanic, open water species, and not commonly found close to shore… We can only speculate on why this shark has come so close to shore. Possible explanations include injury or illness, or perhaps disorientation after following prey inshore. But this is speculation only,” John Richardson of the Shark Trust, a charitable foundation in the U.K. dedicated to promoting the study, management and conservation of sharks, said.