A group of divers had a once in a lifetime experience when they encountered a huge great white shark while spearfishing off Alabama's Gulf coast.

Footage shows a great white shark, between 10 to 12 ft long according to the cameraman, swimming close to the divers about 30 miles off the shore of Orange Beach on June 1.

The filmer, Paul Decuir, told Newsflare: ''I was thinking about taking a snapper when the shark came straight towards me from the distance. The shark was about 30 ft from us during the encounter.

''At this point, I yelled to David my dive partner so he could see the awesome sight.

''We observed the shark until he left our view then headed up to the boat where our other dive partner Scott, who was operating the boat picked us up.

''Spearfishing in our area we routinely see bull and sandbar sharks but never a great white. We had the video reviewed by a marine biologist who confirmed what we saw was a great white.''

While hunting snapper and grouper 30 miles off the coast of Orange Beach, AL in 170 ft of water we came across a great white shark we estimate was between 10-12 ft long. I was thinking about taking a snapper when the shark came straight towards me from the distance. The shark was about 30 ft from us during the encounter. At this point I yelled to David my dive partner so he could see the awesome sight. His yelled back at me “great white”. We observed the shark until he left our view then headed up to the boat where our other dive partner Scott, who was operating the boat picked us up.

Spearfishing in our area we routinely see bull and sandbar sharks but never a great white. We had the video reviewed by a marine biologist who confirmed what we saw was a great white.