While trying to “push” a surfer to shore, dolphins protected him from a stalking massive 20-foot shark, while two “guardian angels” tipped him off.
On September 25, Australian surfer Bill Ballard noticed that the dolphins, which were nearby feeding on a swarm of salmon, started acting differently than usual.
He was surfing at Wallagoot Beach in New South Wales.
Ballard was familiar with dolphin behavior because he had previously encountered dolphins in the area.
He said that the dolphins kept coming up to the surface water to look at him and started swimming back and forth, getting closer and somewhat trying to push or force him towards the shore, but it was hard to describe.
A short while later, a plane that had been observing the feeding frenzy of the dolphins from above flew near Ballard to warn him that a gargantuan 20-foot shark was lurking in the nearby waters.
The two passengers shouted at Ballard and pointed at the shadow of something large swimming nearby as they hung out of the low-flying aircraft.
The plane ended up crashing into the water just yards from the beach after flying too low to climb again.
Ballard went to see how the passengers were doing and spoke to one of them after catching a wave that helped bring him to shore.
Ballard said that the female passenger on the plane kept mentioning that the shark was the biggest they had ever seen and that it was so close to Ballard.
It was probably about 20 feet long.
Ballard felt incredibly grateful to the passengers, who he compared to guardian angels who came to his rescue. Neither of the passengers was seriously hurt in the collision.