VIDEO: ‘A gentle giant:’ diver captures rare shark encounter near Parksville

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Sorensen was able to follow the animal for around three minutes before it swam off and he completed his dive. (Image Credit: Carl Sorensen)

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VIDEO: 'A gentle giant:' diver captures rare shark encounter near Parksville

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Sorensen says he had around three seconds to react to the animal, between 10 and 12 feet in length, and instinctively hit record on his camera.

He described the animal as “a gentle giant,” saying it was just moving through and didn’t display any sort of aggression toward him.

“Very slow-moving, very methodical. When it had its mouth open initially, it wasn’t in an aggressive manner…it does this yawning, gulping thing, and it did that a few times. Once it came up really close and it kind of eyed me and it bounced its nose off my dome port, it just kind of went around me and down.”

Sorensen took the opportunity to follow the shark for around three minutes, getting some rare up-close footage of the animal.

While sixgill sharks are common in waters around Vancouver Island, they typically stay at depths well over 2,000 feet, meaning interactions with humans are rare.

A juvenile shark was caught by a Nanaimo fisherman in 2021 before being released.

The sharks can live upwards of 80 years, significantly more than some other shark species.

Sorensen suspects the shark he saw was the same one caught by another fisherman off French Creek earlier in the summer, as it had a healing sore around the same area the fisherman had hooked the animal.

Sorensen said the animal was between 10 and 12 feet long and was just slowly swimming through relatively shallow water. (Image Credit: Carl Sorensen)

He added the experience was one he’ll never forget, having previously dived with octopuses in various settings and being surrounded by sea lions.

“Once I get my camera on, my brain switches into a different mode, and I’m able to stay trim, and I’m able to calm down. I use my breath to move up and down with my camera and just continue to get a nice smooth shot.”

Sorensen runs Scuba Diving British Columbia, a website featuring underwater films shot around Vancouver Island.

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