A Palm Bay man shot a video of a great white shark during a face-to-face encounter off the coast of Fort Pierce.

Eros Morales and his friends were spearfishing about 12 miles off the coast of Fort Pierce Saturday morning when he jumped into the water to untangle his spear gun from a float, according to one of Morales' friends.

That's when he came face-to-face with what he describes as a 12-14 foot shark.

"I could see its silhouette, the water was crystal clear," said Steve Maldanado, Morales' friend.

Once Morales was safely back in the boast, the fishermen used chum to lure the shark closer to the boat so they could capture the video. The fishermen say the shark then followed the boat for about 20 minutes.

Shark experts with the Florida Aquarium say the shark was a great white shark.

"I think he wanted to know how human tasted," said Maldanado. He said it should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who spends time in the ocean.

It is not uncommon to see other types of sharks off the Florida coast, but a great white is rare in the summer months. The last report of a great white was about a year ago near Sebastian.

Mia Engle said her family fishes in Brevard County weekly and that she's caught a few small sharks, but nothing as big as the great white.

"Surprising because we see sharks all the time but we didn't see anything like that," Engle said. "I think it'd be kind of a miracle to see as long as it went back out out into the ocean."

Experts say in the cooler months, great whites migrate south to warmer waters but by summer most have returned north. Experts attribute the unusual weather pattern over the winter to their migration pattern.