It was a fight between the bites.
Tourists on an excursion boat in the Bahamas were surprised to see a hammerhead shark in the water as they passed a private island. They were even more surprised when a brave dog jumped into the water to face the huge shark.
“Whether he wanted to protect his island or just play with what looked to him like a really big fish in the water, he just went after it,” Rebecca Lightbourn, reservation manager at boat-operator Exuma Water Sports, told The Post.
The puppy paddled around for about two and a half to three minutes and scared the shark away. Lightbourn said the shark didn’t know what was attacking him and didn’t know what was coming at him.
The tour company posted a video of what happened on February 15, in which people can be heard screaming and begging the dog to turn around.
Hammerhead sharks can be anywhere from 12 to 18 feet long and weigh about 180 pounds.
The caretaker of the private island 20 minutes north of Great Exuma keeps the dog as a pet. It is a stray Bahamian Potcake that has been trained to behave.
The property is owned by a single person, but Lightbourn wouldn’t say who it is.
Since the four-legged creature always waves to the tour boats as they pass, he is now part of the tours.
Lightbourn said, “The dog always runs out to chase the boat and say hello.” “And waving to the dog as we go by has kind of become a part of the tour.”
On Wednesday, however, when they saw the shark in the water, it added to the fun for the 30 guests and two crew members on board.
“We had slowed down so that the guests could see, and the shark was slowly making its way to the shore. While we were all looking at the shark, the dog also saw it,” she said.
The “rich and famous” live in the tropical area around the private island. Johnny Depp, Tyler Perry, and David Copperfield all have homes there.
She said that the company always makes it a point to “slow down as part of the excursion, just to point out and talk about private islands that are owned by celebrities.”
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