Drone footage has captured the moment a large shark was seen swimming in the shallows at a busy swimming spot in the Coromandel.
Kiwi man Jeff Ah Koy was heading to Otama Beach for a dip earlier this week when he noticed a family running out of the shallows in a panic.
"We got there at about 2:30pm, and we were just carrying our stuff to the beach, about to swim, and we were wondering why they ran out," he told Newshub.
"So I quickly launched my drone and sent it out, and that's when I spotted the shark.
"The shark was just swimming around right in the shallows."
Ah Koy said the family wasn't sure what it was, so he showed them the footage.
"They were really surprised and quite amazed the shark had come right into the shallow part," Ah Koy said.
"I don't think everyone along the beach realised there was a shark since we had walked down away from everyone, but the family next to us knew.
"I've been there a few times and never seen a shark before but apparently there's a well-known shark in the area called Bruce... that's what people have been telling me."
He said despite the presence of a shark, his plans of going for a swim were not ruined.
"I still went swimming, I followed it with my drone and then saw that it went to the end by the rocks so we were a couple hundred metres away from it," he said.
"It would be quite scary if I had just bumped into it in the ocean. I'd probably swim as fast as I can to the beach," he laughed.
Ah Koy admitted he was shocked to see a shark at that particular beach.
"The water is so nice and it feels safe, so that's quite scary," he said. "It's calm waters to the point where you feel really safe to swim out as far as you want."
He said it's not the only time he's spotted a shark this summer.
"We were at the New Chums lookout just a day before that, and we saw a hammerhead shark in the water," he said.
"We walked up to the lookout and then someone said 'Look a hammerhead shark'.
"It was pretty amazing to see."
