A Florida father who brought his family to the beach decided to use a drone to snap a few fun family photos, but he wasn't ready for what was in the water.
Dan Watson, 35, told Buzzfeed News that within 30 seconds of launching his drone, he immediately spotted the shark's shadow moving through the water, just a few feet away from where five kids, including three of his own, were swimming.
Watson's wife, Sally, told WOFL-TV in Orlando that she was standing on the water's edge screaming at their kids to get out of the water.
"There would have been no way to have known or seen about this from any way, except that I happened to fly the drone at that moment in time," Watson told BuzzFeed News.
Watson shared the images from the drone to his Instagram page, with one image showing the shark swimming close to a group of people. A second photo shows the people running for the shore as the shark swims away.
"See that dark shadow making its way straight for the shore & those people?" Watson wrote in his Instagram post. "That was my view this weekend while flying my Mavic 2 Pro… and oh, 3 of those people are my kids!"
“It was a God moment, because he was just going to fly the drone for fun, and it was just for a fun picture," Sally said about the seashore incident. "But to see that my children were in knee-deep water and you see this big shark approaching them, it’s humbling to know that, and I’m thankful he put that drone up at that moment."
The shark was spotted by Watson at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, the same area where an 18-year-old surfer suffered minor lacerations after he was bitten by a shark.
Watson said after seeing the shark show up, he may start rethinking how their family spends their time at the beach.
“It makes me a little wary of the water for now," he said. "I think we’re going to practice building some sandcastles next time we go.”