I thought I’d share one of the more memorable encounters I’ve had while filming underwater here on Vancouver Island. I was diving at around 100 feet, originally looking for giant Pacific octopus to film, when I turned away from an octopus den and saw a large bluntnose sixgill shark emerging from the darkness and coming directly toward me.

My first few seconds of footage are a little chaotic as the shark came extremely close, but once I got myself sorted out I was able to spend roughly three minutes filming it as it slowly cruised alongside me and over the bottom. I estimate it was around 10–12 feet long and believe it may have been female.

The conditions made it an interesting filming challenge. At that depth it was extremely dark, visibility was very good though, and I obviously had no opportunity to plan the encounter or how I wanted to shoot it. I basically had to work with what I had and try not to waste the opportunity.

The footage ended up getting picked up by CBC National News, Global, CTV and CHEK, which was a pretty unexpected outcome from a dive where I was just hoping to come home with some decent octopus footage.

Wow a really good job!

One single very long tracking shot, you never lost focus or shook during the shooting. Bravo!

P.S.

At first glance, getting that close would have scared the crap out of me 😱

Serendipity. Nothing is better. Amazing footage and great patience letting her relax and the encounter happen. And your breathing rate stayed steady.... makes everyone smile who is lucky enough to see this. Thank you.

Definitely a “code brown” moment at first, but a very cool encounter. I’m amazed that the shark was so chill with you swimming alongside with lights. Thanks for sharing!

On 8/28/2026 at 7:03 AM, tiger said:

Serendipity. Nothing is better. Amazing footage and great patience letting her relax and the encounter happen. And your breathing rate stayed steady.... makes everyone smile who is lucky enough to see this. Thank you.

lol, thank you very much!

20 hours ago, Troporobo said:

Definitely a “code brown” moment at first, but a very cool encounter. I’m amazed that the shark was so chill with you swimming alongside with lights. Thanks for sharing!

I was able to keep it together and not crap my suit, lol.

On 8/28/2026 at 12:27 AM, Davide DB said:

Wow a really good job!

One single very long tracking shot, you never lost focus or shook during the shooting. Bravo!

P.S.

At first glance, getting that close would have scared the crap out of me 😱

Thank you!

Congradulations that's some beautiful Six Gill footage. Well done!

On 9/12/2026 at 2:02 PM, PeterN said:

Congradulations that's some beautiful Six Gill footage. Well done!

Thank you very much!

What an outstanding encounter! Thank you for sharing it - I'd still be buzzing!!

Amazing encounter, and awesome video. Thanks for sharing. I applaud how you can keep calm and breath normally during the entire video. Me, I already double my breathing rate if I see a blue ring octopus..🤦‍♂️

Ajay

WOW! Just came across this post. Saw video like three times now. I absolutely admire readiness and then concentration to stay calm and make the best out of this encounter. For half of video I was debating was it slowed down or not but then look at the eyes and it wasn't but then look at the grass and maybe it was I just dont know! A stability of a hand glider! Amazing. Would you share equipment used, frame rates and such... To me only gyroflow can do this level of stabilization in post but IDK.