When Rebecca stepped onto the beach in Pensacola, Florida, one early March morning, she was already buzzing about the marine life she’d see. The sunrise along the Gulf Coast promised to be beautiful, but as an ocean enthusiast, Rebecca was most excited
about the animals swimming by.
“[I’d] maybe see some rays or dolphins waking up,” Rebecca wrote on Instagram.
As she examined the waves from the shore, Rebecca suddenly saw a shark’s fin pop out of the water. She assumed it was a large hammerhead shark grazing along the surf and watched in awe for 15-20 minutes, until something unexpected happened that changed her mood entirely.
“[S]uddenly, this wave came, and he kind of flipped over,” Rebecca told The Dodo in a recent video. “He just got stuck in front of me.”
That’s when Rebecca realized that it wasn’t a hammerhead, but a great white shark. Beached on his side, the massive shark couldn’t move from the sandbar. And the waves continuously crashing in only made it harder for him to turn himself right-side up again.
Rebecca was suddenly frantic. She called out to her partner, Josh, and raced into the water to help the shark. Seconds later, the two began pushing the shark with all their might, trying to flip him over.
“You could see the suffering in the animal because the waves kept pushing him more and more backwards,” Rebecca said. “And it was so frustrating. Our brains were only focused on trying to save him and do something.”
After a few failed attempts, Rebecca and Josh called the North Florida Wildlife Center, who agreed to help but noted that it might take a while for them to arrive. Rebecca worried that time was running out, as the shark was already suffering in an increasingly dangerous situation.
“Sharks can die fast in situations like this,” Rebecca wrote on Instagram. “[On] one occasion, this shark entered [into] a kind of paralysis [from] being upside down from another wave …”
The rescue mission seemed impossible. Every time the couple made any progress reorienting the shark, a wave would come crashing in and leave him stranded on the sandbar again. Despite the challenges, Rebecca and Josh refused to give up on the poor guy.
“[T]his shark had no tag, looked strong and healthy, just a small patch of skin missing near the dorsal fin, no fishing hooks either. (Thank God!)” Rebecca wrote. “A true beast. And he wanted to live!”
As one hour of pushing turned to two, people started to notice Rebecca and Josh’s efforts. One biker riding along the beachside highway stopped to film the rescue efforts and happened to capture the moment two fishermen offered to help Rebecca and Josh.
“Between the four of us, we were able to push, and then that’s when the miracle happened,” Rebecca said. “Three bigger waves came, and the shark took the second wave. It was unbelievable.”
You can watch that triumphant moment here:
Rebecca dropped to her knees in tearful relief the minute the shark swam back into the ocean. She hadn’t planned on leading a desperate rescue when she went to see the sunrise. But watching the shark return safely to his home, she couldn’t have been happier to have been there that morning.
“That moment will live in my memory in slow motion forever,” Rebecca wrote. “One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.”
