Mooloolaba family has ‘once in a lifetime’ encounter with great white shark

A Mooloolaba family has captured on video a ‘once in a lifetime’ encounter with a great white shark using their go pro. See their amazing footage.

A Mooloolaba family has had a ‘once in a lifetime’ encounter with a great white shark off the Sunshine Coast.

The Thomsen family were fishing off their boat at Barwon Banks, when a great white shark emerged from the depths and started circling. Louise Thomsen captured the encounter with her GoPro.

“We were out there fishing and I looked over the edge of the boat and it was directly within hands-reach next to me,” Mrs Thomsen said.

“I didn‘t recognise it as a great white straightaway, but my husband took one look at it and went, ‘Wow, that’s a great white.’

“My husband [Matthew] and I have been fishing for over 24 years, but never in that time, have we ever had a shark circling the boat. So I grabbed the GoPro and started filming,” she said.

(R to L) Matthew, Mason, and Mikayla Thomsen watching on as the great white shark circled their boat. Picture: Supplied

“We’ve never seen one off the coast here on the Sunshine Coast before, we‘ve always known that they were possibly out there, but yeah, it was a big surprise.

“It was incredible, it definitely felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Estimated to be about four metres in length, the shark circled the boat for 15 minutes, before the family made the decision to leave, with the giant fish taking great interest in the boat’s electric anchor.

“We were just surprised that it just kept circling the boat for about 15 minutes,”she said.

The great white shark as it circled the fishing family's boat off the coast of Mooloolaba. Picture: SuppliedÂ

“We have an electric anchor at the front of the boat and it kept getting closer to that, it was certainly interested in it, but we certainly weren’t willing to hang around for too much longer and find out.”

After having time to look at the footage, Mrs Thomsen has since shared it to social media, where it has collected more than 30k views.

“When I saw how amazing it was, I decided to share it on our blog page.”

“As you can see in the video, we‘re more excited than afraid. We love sharks, we have such a healthy respect for them, the ocean and we wanted to share our experience with others.”

The great white shark as it circled the fishing family's boat off the coast of Mooloolaba. Picture: SuppliedÂ

Mrs Thomsen said the sighting hasn’t deterred her two kids, 15-year-old Mikayla and 11-year-old Mason from venturing back into the ocean.

“My 11-year-old son was a little panicked at first, but my 15-year-old daughter, she was so excited.”

“Our kids are both Surf Lifesaving nippers at the Mooloolaba Surf Club and both have been happy back in the water swimming again and training.

“It was such a great experience for them and something I’m sure they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

It is not the first time that a Great White Shark has been spotted at Barwon Banks, with a four-metre specimen seen launching out of the water near Palmwood fisherman Keith Paxton’s boat in 2019.

Originally published as Mooloolaba family has ‘once in a lifetime’ encounter with great white shark