On June 25, paddleboarders experienced a close encounter with a hammerhead shark while crossing from the Bahamas to Florida.

Fort Marea Tribbles Lauderdale, Florida was participating cystic fibrosis crossroads, an annual charitable event to raise awareness for the cystic fibrosis community. During her crossing, her husband and relay partner Ricky spotted a shark dorsal fin coming up from behind Marea on her board. (Related: Wow! Sharks appear out of nowhere, attack humans, and drag them out of boats!)

According to The Crossing, their team had crossed almost halfway across the Gulf Stream, where no land was visible, when the shark appeared. Instagram post.

Both Ricky and Marea are experienced paddlers and official mentors of The Crossing For CF community. They responded calmly, despite only 16 documented accidents between humans and hammerhead sharks since 1900, according to the report. Worldwide shark attack files.

“None of us felt in danger. Our “why” for this event is the foundation itself. As a CF family, we always come back to that. This event is about “Being Bold in the Face of Fear”. Mother Nature made it a reality for me in a way I never imagined. I faced a lot of fear, but it turned out to be stronger than I expected and actually not as scary as I expected,” Marea said.

Travis Suits, Founder and Executive Director of The Crossing, wrote in an Instagram post, “We are grateful that Mr. Marea was not harmed and that Mr. and Mrs. Tribbles are doing well in this situation as paddle leaders at this event. I am proud of the calm and disciplined response I have shown.” A good example of how to deal with close encounters like this. It makes sense because when we are at sea, we are visitors and it is just their home. ”