It could have caused the fright of his life, but after Chris Hurley came across a shark at Ōhope Beach, he felt pretty calm.
Hurley was swimming with son Jayden Hurley, 8, outside the patrolled area near the Ōhope Beach Top 10 Holiday Park about 11am on December 29.
"We had been in the water for half an hour and there were quite a few people in the patrolled area. It was busy," Hurley said.
He was walking into the ocean in thigh-deep water when things took a turn.
"Somebody yelled 'shark' and the lifeguards started to blow their whistles.