When you go out to play in the ocean, sharks might not be the first thing on your mind — especially if you're close to the beach. But one boogie boarder got the surprise of her life when she almost collided with a shark that made itself present at the last minute.
Sara Oister, who's just 11, was vacationing with her family at Myrtle Beach in North Carolina when it happened. The shark started darting toward her in the shallow water. Luckily, she acted in time.
It turns out, Sara was already on the lookout for jellyfish. So her eyes were naturally on the water when it happened. Her mom, Nicole, actually got the entire encounter on video.
"I was taking a video of my daughter on her boogie board, and all of a sudden she started running out of the water," she told The Sun News. "I thought maybe she was stung by a jellyfish."
But no. Instead, she was distancing herself from a possible shark attack. It was enough to put a bit of a damper on the idea of hanging out in the ocean.
"The next day we just kept encouraging her that it doesn’t happen that often … She’s been going back in the water, just staying close to us and just continuing to be aware of her surroundings," Nicole explained.
Watch the video to see the shark in action — and to hear more from Sara about what it was like in the moment.
