[imagesource:youtube/Hawaii Nearshore Fishing]

Scott Haraguchi was peacefully pulling in his line in calm waters just three kilometres off Hawaii’s O’ahu island when a large tiger shark lunged for him.

The last time I spoke about lunging was in high school when the boys from St Andrew’s College spoke about kissing girls, “Ja bru, I just lunged her”. Sies. It’s shark-infested waters out there.

With a camera attached to his fishing kayak set-up, Scott managed to capture the wild moment the toothy creature unexpectedly bit into the side of the kayak, making him scream in panic.

He said he “heard a ‘whooshing’ sound, looked up and saw a wide brown thing on the side of the kayak” and thought it was a turtle at first, per Yahoo! News, until he realised exactly what kind of encounter he’d just been a part of:

Mr Haraguchi said it wasn’t until he got home that he realised he’d pushed the shark’s head away with his foot. “I actually only thought the shark rammed the kayak,” he said.

Scott absolutely got out of that one alive, and he knows it. Watch the quick clip that he posted to YouTube:

Scott told local news that the encounter was a reminder to make the most of his life; “I realise that life is short, time is short on earth,” he said.

Humane Society International shark expert Lawrence Chlebeck believes the shark didn’t continue its attack because it realised it had bitten into a kayak:

“A tiger shark has a very keen sense of taste. Within moments of sinking its teeth into something that wasn’t fleshy, and tasting the very bland plastic, it would understand very quickly it wasn’t a prey item,” he told Yahoo News Australia.

“That’s why there was no follow-up video of the shark coming back for a second chance. The shark would have realised this is not worth spending energy on.”

The same is usually true if a shark takes a young nibble on a human, except that the first bite will likely leave you bleeding out or worse.

Dr Gavin Naylor, a shark expert in Florida, says the sharks like to taste things, adding that he’s seen and heard of sharks in the area with “a licence plate, a suit of armour or even a cannonball” in their tummies.

At least Scott’s arm is safe from their digestive enzymes this time.

[source:yahoo!news]