Kayaker Andy Burnell encounters great white shark while filming at Grange Beach

A marine enthusiast has captured his unbelievable close encounter with a juvenile great white off Grange Beach. Watch the video.

An Adelaide marine enthusiast has captured an incredible close encounter off Grange Beach, completely unaware he was sharing the waters with a juvenile great white.

Andy Burnell, a passionate fisherman, regularly drops a baited GoPro off his kayak “to get a glimpse into the underwater world”.

On Sunday afternoon he headed about 1.5km offshore at Grange Beach and dropped a line, paddling around for about half an hour.

But it was only once he returned to the safety of his couch that he discovered he had not been alone.

“I downloaded my footage to the computer and was just skimming through it quickly, and then I was like, ‘whoah, what’s that?’,” Mr Burnell said.

“For at least 10 minutes, she (the shark) was right under my kayak just following the camera along. It was just luck, but it was really cool.”

When Mr Burnell reviewed the footage, he discovered that he had company. Picture: Facebook/Crab.e.cam

The passionate fisherman says the encounter won’t keep him out of the water. Picture: Russell Millard

Mr Burnell shares his marine highlights through Crab.e.cam on Facebook and YouTube, describing them as “little bits of theatre, just a minute or two long, little bits of drama”, which have been viewed all over the world.

The Department of Environment and Water employee said the shark, which was between 150cm-200cm long, was most likely a “really, really young” great white.

With her size and distinctive markings, including a large injury on her right fin, Mr Burnell believed it could have been the first time she was sighted.

“I’m hoping that I can name her and she’ll go into the (Fox Shark Research Foundation) database, then in a few years’ time when she’s really big and she rocks up at Neptune Island that I can hear about it,” he said.

Mr Burnell said the “mind-blowing” encounter was a timely reminder to beachgoers that we share our waters with other animals, but said it would not keep him out of the ocean.

“It wasn’t a scary or dangerous thing, it was just awesome. She was right near my kayak for 10 minutes but she never did anything to upset me, all she was doing was being curious about the camera,” he said.

“They’re there all the time, you just don’t usually see them.”

There were 155 shark sightings at metropolitan South Australian beaches between October to January 2021/22, with most between the Somerton to Grange area.

But Surf Life Saving SA at the time reminded swimmers that beaches remained safe and the risk of being bitten was low.