When Life Gives You a Great White Shark, Play in the Sand

Lifeguards gave the all clear to go back into the waters at a Duxbury Beach late Monday afternoon after hundreds of people were ordered to come ashore when an on duty State Police helicopter spotted a shark lurking just beyond the roped off section where swimmers congregate.

State Police officials confirmed that a Great White, estimated to be approximately 14-feet long, was cutting through the waters 75 to 100 yards from the beach’s shoreline around 2 p.m. Images of the shark were captured by the State Police’s air wing unit, and later shared online.

“The air crew—Troopers Mark Spencer, Edward Mathurin, and Eric Fairchild—notified the Duxbury Police and Duxbury Harbormaster immediately. There were many beachgoers and people in the water on the Duxbury Beach,” police said in a statement. “As a precaution, the beach was closed for approximately one-hour. As more boats approached the area the shark was spotted in, the shark continued swimming Southeast into deeper water.”

The shark was tracked by the State Police helicopter as it roamed near the Powder Point Bridge, officials said on Twitter. After it left the area, police shared images they took from the air with an expert from the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries division, who confirmed the shark to be a Great White.

Swimmers were allowed to return to the ocean, with certain restrictions, just before 4 p.m.

Here’s video of the sighting from the helicopter:

There were no injuries reported during the evacuation of the beach or from the shark’s presence, police said in a statement, but some people did decide to take advantage of the moment and scrawl a message in the sand tipping their hat to the old classic movie, Jaws:

Written in the sand on Duxbury Beach: "you're gonna need a bigger boat." #shark #jaws #7news pic.twitter.com/prZzCx59TV

— Brad Tatum (@BradTatum) August 25, 2014