This is the moment one fearless swimmer directly approached a great white shark off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.

Unnerving drone footage from August 16 shows the close encounter.

The filmer, Carlos (@themalibuartist), told Newsflare: "I filmed this as part of a beach monitoring program. Because of the large amount of great white sharks in the area, I've been monitoring various shark encounters this summer.

"In this clip, the swimmer encounters a great white shark and inexplicably starts swimming towards the shark. The shark circles back before two folks on paddleboards come into the picture, scaring the shark away.

"It is highly recommended not to swim in the direction of a shark when encountered. This is a juvenile great white shark. However, it can still easily cover a great distance very fast.

"The swimmer did react correctly at first, maintained sight, and didn't splash around. However, instead of swimming away slowly, he swam towards the shark. Shark sightings in Southern California are much higher this year. Proper shark education is important as more people interact with sharks."