Great White Shark Spotted 30 Miles Off Sarasota Coast: Watch

SARASOTA, FL — A boat captain was surprised to find a large great white shark swimming in waters off Sarasota on Tuesday.

Capt. RC Gilliland shared videos of his close encounter on social media. (Watch one of his videos below.)

The shark was spotted about 30 miles off the coast, he wrote in an Instagram post.

Gilliland also called seeing the great white shark one of the “top (five) coolest things I’ve ever seen.”

In a video posted on Instagram, he can be heard saying, “Holy, woohoohoohoo. Whoa, that’s a big dog. Holy crap.”

Gilliland can also be heard saying, in a separate video posted on Facebook, “Wow, incredible, wow. Big frickin’ white shark.”

Gilliland is a full-time fishing guide and owner of GForce Fishing Charters and Sarasota Fishing Camp.

Last spring, Scot, a great white shark measuring more than 12 feet long and weighing 1,600 pounds, was tracked to Gulf waters of Southwest Florida, according to OCEARCH data, CNN reported.

OCEARCH is a group that tags sharks and other sea life with electronic trackers and releases them back into the wild. They follow the animals’ movements throughout North America. Data on all the sharks they track can be found here.

On Tuesday night, another great white shark — Rose, who is 10.5 feet long and weighs 600 pounds — was tracked off Southwest Florida, according to data from the organization.

Keji, a 9-foot, 7-inch long great white shark weighing 578 pounds, was tracked in the waters off Sarasota on Feb. 28, according to OCEARCH.

Watch Gilliland’s video of his great white shark encounter below: