- Tourist Jessica Kenny was paddling in the sea at Playa Arenal d’en Castell
- He quickly realized the shark was following his father Darren, 57, near some buoys.
A British family was left “terrified” after being surrounded by a shark just off a beach at a popular holiday resort in Spain.
Tourist Jessica Kenny, 27, was paddling in the sea at Playa Arenal d’en Castell, Menorca, with her four-year-old son when she saw a shark approaching “in a zigzag” towards them.
He quickly realized he was following his father, Darren, 57, as he swam toward some buoys on Monday.
Passersby began shouting and calling for the lifeguard, who called for backup and turned off the red flags.
The children were hastily evacuated from the sea, but others were allowed to get close enough to film the shark.
A British family was left “terrified” after being surrounded by a shark just off a beach in a popular Spanish resort.
Passersby began shouting and calling for the lifeguard, who called for backup and turned off the red flags.
Jessica, a receptionist at a Liverpool GP, said: “I was only waist-deep in my little one, while my dad swam ahead.”
‘We were laughing and joking because it was cold.
“Then we saw something strange sticking out of the water; we were joking and saying it must be a shark.
“But we didn’t really believe it.
“It was quite strange, zigzagging around us.
‘As it got closer, we realized that what was sticking out of the water was a fin.
“We thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s a shark.'”
The mother of two ran out of the water with her son, while others on the beach laughed.
But Jessica realized the shark, believed to be a blue shark, was heading towards Darren, who had started swimming back to the beach.
She said: ‘We lost sight of him after we turned around.
“But then we saw that he was following my father back to the beach. He was circling him, but he wasn’t going towards him, if that makes sense.
‘Honestly, it was very scary, but my dad loves everything to do with the sea.
“When we got back to the beach, I was so excited.”
Sharks are a fairly common sighting in the region and often come close to shore.
Arenal d’en Castell beach in Menorca, a popular destination that is also home to sharks
Jessica and Darren tried to calm their son, who was “a little upset and worried” after the ordeal.
“My dad told him how lucky he was to have seen a shark when he was four years old,” he added. ‘In all his 57 years, he had never seen one.
“They decided to call him Freddie.”
The family left the beach at 4:35 p.m., an hour after the shark was first seen, and lifeguards were still trying to chase it away.
Darren, a truck driver, said: “It was such a surreal experience.
‘I always wanted to see a shark, I even snorkeled in Jamaica and Cuba to spot one.
“I can’t believe I swam with one in Menorca, with my daughter and my grandson.”
The shark sighting is believed to be the first so far this year near a beach on the Coast.
A shark was spotted on the same beach in June 2018, when swimmers were also banned from entering the water for the entire afternoon.
