Hair-raising moment paddle boarder circled by 20ft basking sharks off coast of Cornwall
A PHOTOGRAPHER has captured an incredible sighting of basking sharks on the Cornish coast as they swam around a paddle boarder.
Michael Amos, 20, from Penryn, Cornwall, snapped the second largest living sharks as they swam below the cliffs at Porthcurno, Cornwall, alongside a paddleboarder.
Michael, a marine and natural history photography student, said: "I spent over an hour photographing them in perfect conditions.
"The clear water at Porthcurno allowed me to get great views of them swimming at the surface.
"In one of my photos, you can see one of the sharks swimming right next to a paddleboarder, which gives a sense of scale to show how big these sharks can be."
A basking shark sighting had been at the top of the student's bucket list for some time, so he says he was so excited to eventually experience a sighting of the amazing animals.
He added: "I have seen dolphins and seals down here, but I never thought I would get to see a basking shark. So seeing so many in one place at the same time was incredible.
"When looking back at my photos, I feel ecstatic that I had been able to photograph such an amazing sighting.
"Photographing marine life can be tricky if you are not underwater and have to rely on animals appearing at the surface, so I felt truly privileged to come away with these photos."
The basking shark sighting follows a similar spot in nearby Torquay, Devon, earlier this month when paddleboard tutor Owin Wong was out with four students in Torquay, Devon in April.
He said: “I told any who were worried to just take it in.
"What an amazing experience.”
He added: "It was very, very big.
"It was scary at first but I have had previous knowledge of basking shark and I know that they are not dangerous."
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As the waters warm up, The Sun revealed last week how a fisherman caught a 10ft shark off the coast of Cornwall after an hour long struggle to reel it into his 17ft long boat.
Kevin Finch, 30, who took up the sport to combat his anxiety, hooked the 500lbs fish just half a mile from Cornish beaches.
The large fish measured 10ft long and had a girth of 8ft, giving it a estimated weight of 500lbs or 35st.
The porbeagle shark, a relative of the great white, was one of the biggest ever caught in British waters.