The surfer who had a frightening run-in with a great white shark at Newport Beach said she didn’t realize it was the feared predator circling her surfboard until it was only inches away.
“The shark was three inches from my ankle when I noticed it,” Vivian Phong-Ngo told The Post.
“I believe I hit it with my board when I was surfing in.”
She initially thought the animal was a dolphin, but as it got closer “it clicked to me that it was a great white.”
She joked about the sighting in an Instagram post, saying the shark “was surfing” with her. Instagram/@vivianphongngo
It was an 8-foot-long juvenile great white shark. Getty Images/Image SourcePhong-Ngo told KTLA that she has been going to Newport beach her “whole life” and had “never seen anything bigger than a stingray.”
When the shark’s fin emerged from the water, she began yelling “shark” as the approximately 8-foot- juvenile great white closed in.
Phong-Ngo was about 20 to 30 feet away from shore at the time and scrambled to the beach to report the sighting to lifeguards — who didn’t believe her at first, she told KTLA.
Officials ultimately took the encounter seriously, evacuating the water one mile east and west of the shark’s last known location. Newport Beach remained closed for about four hours as authorities investigated.
“We deemed that it was a credible shark sighting,” Newport Beach Lifeguards Captain Gavin Wright told KTLA.
The shore was 20 to 30 feet away from Phong-Ngo, leaving her a short distance away from safety.
The shark was never found, despite surveyors in the water and air. Newport Beach Lifeguards maintain they took Phong-Ngo’s report seriously.
The horrifying encounter with the apex predator has taught Phong-Ngo to respect mother nature. Instagram/@vivianphongngoThe shark was never found, despite surveillance in the water and air.
Phong-Ngo later joked about the sighting in an Instagram post, saying the shark was simply “surfing” with her.
“Also.. the shark sighting was not a publicity stunt , nor did I pay the shark to come, I was just surfing at my fav spot and well… the shark was also surfing w me,” she wrote.
The experience taught Phong-Ngo to respect mother nature.
“I just kind of looked out in the ocean and I was like, yeah, I got to respect, respect Mother Nature,” she told KTLA.
The Newport Beach Fire Department advised Thursday that shark sightings are rare and the animals are usually transiting through the area.
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