WATCH: Tiger Shark Charges Directly At Snorkeler In Underwater Attack

An Australian snorkeler tried to film a large tiger shark as it feasted on a turtle before it turned around and charged at him.

Snorkeler Tim Van Beelen of Coral Bay, Western Australia, posted a video of his close encounter with the sea predator to his Facebook page, which amassed over 2,000 views. The snorkeler noticed that nearby sharks had been behaving abnormally when he decided to take up a camera and investigate.

"I was aware of the situation I had put myself in and knew I had to keep my distance to avoid interfering with nature," Van Beelen said in a Facebook post. "What happened next I definitely did not expect and will never forget!!!"

Van Beelen swam to the top for air several times before he heading below the water's surface to position himself closer to the shark.

"This is nuts, man," Van Beelen yelled to a nearby boatful of snorkelers waiting to enter the water.

The scene escalated when the tiger shark turned and swam toward the snorkeler with its mouth wide open. Van Beelen claimed a fellow snorkeler gave him the camera he used and it was difficult to operate.

"I was aware of the situation I had put myself in," he wrote on Facebook. "I had to keep my distance to avoid interfering with nature, what happened next I definitely did not expect and will never forget."

Fortunately, the shark diverted at the last moment and avoided Van Beelen.

"I came away from this experience with a lot of thoughts but have not grown any fear, if anything a ton more respect for these amazing animals," Van Beelen wrote. "This was not an attack, it was simply a warning [for me] to get away from his food. You can see how slowly the shark swims up and doesn’t even attempt to bite me. If he wanted me, he would’ve had me plain and simple."

After his close encounter with the shark, Van Beelen warned that the predators often get misunderstood and pegged as dangerous.

"Tiger sharks are not hunters they are scavengers, basically the garbage truck of the ocean," Van Beelen said. "They only target sick or wounded prey, and as you can see here, do not attack with much aggression. They are not the sharks the media makes them out to be, they are very placid and generally avoid any contact with us.

"Please respect, not hate sharks. They cop way too much bad publicity but it's all from people who don't understand and probably have never even been snorkeling, let alone swam with a one."