After browsing for 34 years, David Steiner is aware of he’s not alone within the ocean.
The thought of creatures lurking beneath the waves used to freak him out. However now, the Arroyo Grande resident is a little bit of a shark fanatic — and he captures drone footage of the “king of the ocean” at any time when he can.
In April, he took movies of nice white sharks swimming close to Oceano and Pismo Seashore. He posted the movies on his Instagram @caveman_476.
One video exhibits a large shark slowly cruising via the shallow waters off Pismo Seashore as surfers wait to catch waves close by.
“They’re undoubtedly seasonal, and so they’re again on the town,” he stated.
A San Luis Obispo County surfer captured drone video of an excellent white shark swimming within the shallow waters off Pismo Seashore on April 21, 2025.
Seeing the sharks on video and understanding their habits eased his fears about encountering them.
“I began actually watching what they had been doing, and so they had been simply ignoring surfers utterly,” Steiner stated. “That type of helps my mentality with staying within the water.”
In 2022, he noticed an 8-foot-long shark and a 10-foot-long shark swimming collectively, and he sailed nearer to test them out.
“It’s type of surreal, as a result of, you already know you in all probability shouldn’t be tempting destiny,” Steiner stated. “But it surely’s too onerous to not take the chance to only have an extended look at them.”
Usually, he sees sharks swimming out previous the furthest waves. When the waves are tall, the sharks journey deeper into the ocean. When the surf is flat, sharks swim about 100 ft from shore, he stated.
“They’re similar to the right creature,” he stated. “They’re so nonetheless. Like, once I had one excellent subsequent to me, I didn’t comprehend it was there, after which I spotted, we by no means know they’re there.”
Nice white sharks patrol South County seashores
Again in April, Steiner stated his buddy was chased out of the water by an excellent white shark between Pier Avenue and Grand Avenue in Oceano.
So on April 16, Steiner packed up his drone and got down to discover the shark.
“I flew it up and instantly noticed it,” he stated.
For 3 days, the shark swam to the identical spot at 10:45 a.m. Steiner suspected that the shark was looking for fish within the rip present.
Steiner then took the drone to Pismo Seashore on his forty ninth birthday. On April 21, he noticed a 12-foot-long shark that he known as Huge Mama.
“I swear to God, this factor’s physique was so fats, I assumed it was any person’s boat. I assumed it was an orca. After which once I noticed it was an excellent white, I used to be trembling,” he stated.
The shark swam close to a bunch of surfers, and Steiner began to fret.
“I’ve tried flying my drone in individuals’s faces, and so they don’t react anyway,” he stated. “They wave you off, they don’t know what you’re attempting to inform them. There’s no speaker.”
Steiner moved his drone above the shark, and fortuitously, the surfers paddled to shore. When he later posted the video on Instagram, a surfer messaged him and stated when he noticed the drone, he determined to cease browsing for the day simply in case there was a shark close by.
Steiner had a message for swimmers on the Central Coast: “Don’t be afraid of the water,” he stated. “The dearth of incidents proves to me that they’re not .”
A San Luis Obispo County surfer captured drone video of an excellent white shark swimming within the shallow waters off Pismo Seashore on April 21, 2025.
Shark encounters and ‘tempting destiny’
Steiner recounted an incident in 2019, when a shark approached his paddle board within the water off Oceano.
He paddled out about 100 ft from shore, then noticed a 13-foot-long nice white shark beside him within the water.
“It popped up proper in entrance of me, and it was larger than my board,” he stated.
Then, the shark darted via the water — leaving not a ripple on the floor of the ocean.
“It turned, made a U-turn, and it got here to the opposite aspect of me and stopped,” he stated.
A San Luis Obispo County surfer captured drone video of an excellent white shark swimming within the shallow waters off Pismo Seashore on April 21, 2025.
A wave rocked the paddle board, and Steiner fell into the water, touchdown within the patch of ocean the place the shark had simply appeared.
“I used to be simply ready to get bit,” Steiner stated, however the shark swam away — bored with him.
To calm himself down, Steiner visualized the movies he’d seen of sharks swimming round surfers with out curiosity. He figured that sharks swim close to people every single day with out taking a chew.
San Luis Obispo County’s final recorded deadly great white shark attack occurred close to Morro Rock in 2021. Earlier than that, solely two fatal shark attacks had been recorded in latest historical past, one in Morro Bay in 1957 and one other in Avila Seashore in 2003.
Contemplating the variety of non-lethal shark encounters that happen repeatedly, Steiner doesn’t fear an excessive amount of in regards to the large fish. In reality, when he’s windsurfing, Steiner will generally strategy sharks to get a better look.
“You simply, type of, experience with them and watch them swim. They’re not involved with you,” he stated. “They’re simply, like, the king of the ocean.”
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