Gulf Coast beachgoers got a surprise when sharks and a bear showed up for some fun in the sun
That's not something you see every day!
Beachgoers got a surprise when sharks and a bear showed up.
It's finally summertime. Kids are out of school and family vacations are underway, so beaches are packed with locals and tourists. But there are a few tourists no one expects to see as they turn themselves like a rotisserie chickens while they soak up the sun, and one of them is a bear.
That's right, beachgoers got a pretty big surprise while enjoying the sun in Destin, Florida. There were families playing in the water and hanging out on the sand when a black bear swam out of the gulf and ran across the beach. It's not clear where the bear came from or how it got in the water unnoticed. From the video, it seems like the bear just sort of emerged with no explanation as to how it got there in the first place.
Thankfully, no one was hurt and the black bear scurried off uninterested in the people around him. But a bear wasn't the only unusual sighting at the beaches on the Gulf Coast. Just about two hours away in Orange Beach, Alabama, people were also met with surprise visitors.
People hanging out near boats in shallow water got a view of marine life that you don't usually see that close to shore. A school of hammerhead sharks decided they wanted to swim in warmer water and maybe see what people looked like up close. Who knows, maybe they were having a field trip to the surface after bumping into Ariel and Sebastian.
"There were four to six of them and they were kinda just thrashing around in the water chasing bait fish, so I just kinda stayed there and watched them," Paul Hubbell told WWLTV.
But seriously, this should go without saying, if you run into a group of sharks hanging out by boats, don't bother them. As with any unexpected encounter with wildlife, experts suggest never approaching wild animals—don't feed them or attempt to interact with them in any way. So while hammerhead sharks are generally disinterested in humans, you shouldn't go try to pet them.
Not sure what's in the water on the Gulf Coast, but if you plan to vacation there for their white sand beaches and crystal clear water, you might want to bring a set of binoculars to keep an extra eye out for bears and sharks.