Tourists were left shocked after a black bear emerged from the sea onto a packed beach, stunning swimmers and beach-goers alike.

A video shows the beast enjoying a dip shortly before it made its shock entrance onto the shore.

While some appear apprehensive of the animal, others can be heard cracking jokes – like Steffani Sadler, 37, who shot the clip, saying the bear is simply “on vacation”.

Taking a dip in the Gulf of Mexico on 11 June, the bear splashes around in the ocean and at one point, only its head pokes out of the water.

The animal then runs out at speed onto the shore.

Steffani, who was on a boat for a scuba diving trip at the time, says: “We have a bear in the water, how crazy.

“There’s a bear in the water. Wow, I guess he’s on vacation too.”

Surprisingly, tourists appear unfazed by potential dangers, with most just staring at the creature in amazement.

“On the way back in from a dive trip, there was something we noticed in the water that was off in the distance,” Steffani, a design consultant, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.

“We couldn’t exactly tell what It was, we thought maybe it was a dog because we could see the ears.

“We turned the boat around to go investigate and as we approached that’s when we realised it was a black bear.

“It just seemed to be hanging out, once it spotted us it headed to shore where it made it safely.

“We have a ton of black bears in the area but have never seen one swimming in the Gulf.”

ENDS

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