Stranded scuba diver circled by two sharks in Florida

A Florida man was circled by two sharks after he lost his boat while scuba diving.

Randy Fales, 68, was spearfishing on Sunday about 17 miles northeast of Sebastian Inlet while his family waited on a boat above.

See also: Great white shark attacks diver cage

See also: Shark knocks man off paddle board in Florida

However, his anchor line, which connected him both to the boat and to a floating jug meant to mark his location, separated and when he surfaced the boat was gone and the jug had been carried off in the wind.

When a six to eight foot shark started circling him about six minutes after being left stranded, he said scenes from the 2003 film Open Water started coming to mind.

According to UPI, he said: "The thought of the movie Open Water, you just think, wow, this is just like the movie.

"He [the shark] kept getting bolder, a little bolder, a little closer. ... The closest he got is he rubbed my leg with one of his pectoral fins.

"I would always go into a little bit of a defense mode and he would veer away."

Then, about an hour after he first got stranded, another shark started circling at a greater distance.

He was finally picked up almost two hours after getting lost.

His daughter posted a photo on Instagram of one of the sharks that had circled her dad, and explained the situation, writing: "Went 17 miles offshore today and the plan was for my dad to do a couple dives, then we would go trolling.

"We tossed out a marker on the reef and down my dad went. Thirty minutes quickly passed by and we were anticipating his arrival to the surface. Little did we know, the line to the marker snapped off on the reef, leaving the buoy floating... and we were following it.

"Long story short, we lost him and I had to radio out a distress call. But, our radio wasn't working. I finally got service and told @bobbyholsombach to call 911.

"Eventually, I got through to Coast Guard on the radio. Meanwhile, my dad was drifting three miles away from us and being circled by this bad boy.

"Fortunately, he got picked up by a nearby boat two hours later! Crazy day but so thankful that he was found ok! Boat safety is key."

Mr Fales said he was "happy to see the boat", according to the Daily Telegraph.

He added that he was not sure what species of shark had circled him, but that he did not believe it to be a tiger or a great white.