Monster crocodile spotted near Midge Point boat ramp on video

Two fishing buddies were searching for a spot to drop a line when they clocked a monster crocodile ‘sunbaking’ on a rocky outcrop. Watch the video.

Two fishing buddies were searching for a spot to drop a line when they clocked a monster crocodile ‘sunbaking’ on a rocky outcrop near Midge Point boat ramp.

Nathan Seeman, 20, and Shanelle Cunningham, 20, said they had been fishing for an hour and had not had many bites so they were looking for a new place to fish when they spotted the reptile they estimated was more than four metres long.

Blackwater's Nathan Seeman, 20, and his fishing buddy Shanelle Cunningham, 28, from Hydeaway Bay, spotted a 4m+ crocodile not far from the Midge Point boat ramp. Picture: Contributed

“We didn’t really see it at the start; we were just cruising over to anchor up next to a rocky beach,” he said.

“We just looked up on a little mount and it was sitting there sunbaking.

“We said ‘well shit, that’s a big croc’.”

Blackwater's Nathan Seeman, 20, and his fishing buddy Shanelle Cunningham, 28, from Hydeaway Bay, spotted a 4m+ crocodile not far from the Midge Point boat ramp. Picture: Contributed

Mr Seeman said they were in a 4.2m boat and it only started moving when they came closer.

“We were a good few metres off him so we weren’t worried,” he said.

Ms Cunningham said the crocodile just sat for a while before crawling into the water.

“We had been out for maybe almost an hour, just cruising around to find a spot to fish and came across him,” she said.

“It was just chilling out and then mosied on back into the water.”

Nathan Seeman estimates he saw the croc just 1km from the popular new Midge Point boat ramp. Picture: Contributed

Mr Seeman, who normally lives and works in Blackwater as a boiler maker at the mines, said the croc just “vanished” when it took off about 2pm on Friday.

He said it was not his first croc sighting but the first time he had seen one at Midge Point where he fished when he was visiting his in-laws.

Ms Cunningham, an underground miner at Broadmeadows Mine, said it was low tide when they spotted the croc but they kept on fishing without any qualms – though they took home “nothing at all”.

The pair, who are related by marriage, urged people to be careful when fishing at the new Midge Point boat ramp.

“Look around and be careful. We can actually see the spot from my in-law’s place from the verandah,” Ms Cunningham, from Hydeway Bay, said.

Nathan Seeman and Shanelle Cunningham can see the place they spotted a 4m croc from a relative’s home. Picture: Contributed

It comes after not long after a close encounter with a crocodile in Mackay’s Northern Beaches in suburbia.

The Bucasia trio never expected on a quick trip to the local supermarket they would see a crocodile crossing the road.

Clinton Barker and his two teen children were just ducking to the nearby IGA in January when they spotted something in the middle of Hennessy St near Bucasia Dump Rd.

Dayne, 14, took the 12-second clip of the croc as it sat by the side of the road before it again scampered off into the bushes.

“I thought it was a log,” the 38 year old said.

“(My son) was going to get out and actually move it, and it just ran off … into the grass.”

In December, a dead juvenile crocodile was found on Bucasia Beach.

A caravanner took to Facebook to warn the public to steer clear of Bucasia Beach, posting photographs of his discovery in the Crusader Caravan Owners of Australia group.

Authorities ruled out human intervention as the cause of the juvenile crocodile dying, suggesting it was possibly a shark attack.

The Bucasia Beach sighting followed another spotting inland of St Helens Beach on November 25 and also at Bloomsbury on December 6.

In 2019, a Northern Beaches resident reportedly spotted a crocodile swimming in the waters off Bucasia Beach, posting a warning in the Bucasia Beach and Shoal Point Community Group on Facebook.

In 2020, Dolphin Heads resident Louise Smith said she spotted a three-metre crocodile swimming 150m off the shoreline, making its way to nearby Eimeo.

In 2016, residents were asking authorities to remove a crocodile frequenting Eimeo Beach and Sunset Bay.

For more information on staying safe in crocodile country visit the Department of Environment and Science’s Crocwise website.