great white shark
A family was planning to swim off their boat in Southern Australia this week, and then a great white shark arrived. Pictured: A great white shark near Dyer Island on July 8, 2010 in Gansbaai, South Africa. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

A great white shark put a serious damper on one family’s boating outing near Port Victoria in Southern Australia this week. Video footage shows a 16-foot shark swimming up to and then circling the family’s 19-foot fishing boat before the brood decides to end their little getaway.

“This is unreal,” Gemma Brown, the videographer can he heard saying in the three-minute clip as she films the shark. The other family members on the boat can be heard giving her instructions to “hold on” and stay away from the edge while she records.

“That’s it. We’re going!” one member of the party says after the shark continues to circle the boat. “We have to move.”

Jodie Brown, whose family is featured in the video, said they had been out on the water for hours before the shark arrived. Brown told The Advertiser the shark circled their boat for 20 minutes. At one point, she said the shark rubbed its stomach on the side of the boat but claims it “wasn’t at all aggressive.”

“We had to leave in the end to take two girls back to shore because they were freaked out, but the whole time it was just amazing,” she said.

“The girth of the shark just freaked us out as much as the length,” she added.

Gemma said on Australia’s news show “Sunrise” the family was in “shock” by the size of the creature. Fellow witness Chloe Brown said she was their original plan was to go swimming and they already had their bathing suits on.

“It’s not often that you’re in the presence of something just so much bigger and more powerful that yourself,” Gemma said. “In that sense, I supposed it is quite intimating, but it was just unbelievable to be able to experience.”

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