Terrifying GoPro footage shows diver fend off a great white shark with a spear

The sea has enough hidden dangers without sharks getting involved.

But when one great white shark did decide to get himself involved with a diver, he was forced to fend off the creature with a spear. Check out the incredible moment here:

Earlier this year, John Potgieter and his colleagues, Francois Smuts, Rene' Nel and Erik Fourie, were swimming on the bottom of the seabed in Arniston - 209 km east of Cape Town - when he encountered the great white, known by its scientific name Carcharodon carcharias.

In the video, the fisherman was diving 19 metres under the water in search of edible reef fish when the shark cropped up just one arm’s length away from Potgieter.

He then kept the giant sea creature - which can grow to more than 20 feet, according to National Geographic - at bay using the pointed tip of his spear.

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The clip shows the shark swimming away before turning back around and heading towards Potgieter, who screams (I mean, can you blame him?) before poking the beast once again with the speargun, which caused the creature to back away from the group.

Potgieter wrote in the YouTube video caption: “The shark was clearly now in attack mode. I had to show some dominance back to him to avoid being bitten.”

The diver then frantically swims upwards towards the surface of the water before shouting out to the group of divers to stay vigilant.

The video also shows a man sitting in a nearby boat, while another diver is located in the same body of water.

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After urging his fellow divers to get to safety, the fisherman dunks his head below the water and realises that the shark was now located just below his feet.

He said: “I could not believe this shark had followed me up to the surface.

"I have seen many great whites and never see aggressive behaviour like this. All I could think was get to the boat and get the heck out of the water."

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Their boat quickly travels over to collect Potgieter and Fourie, who made sure to safely stow away their spearguns into the boat before bringing themselves to the safety of the vessel.

However, the fisherman lost the third diver, Smuts, before rushing to pull him out of the water while the great white was still circling in the area.

Potgieter exclaimed to the rest of his team: “Did you see? It almost ate me!”