Swimmers scramble out of water after shark chases fish into shallow waters off the Keys

Swimmers were forced to scramble out of the water after they spotted an apex predator on the hunt.

The 8-foot hammerhead was caught on camera chasing down a large fish at a sandbar in the Keys.

Some swimmers near their boat stopped to watch the shark thrashing through the water before it took a sudden turn in their direction.

“It didn’t get real weird until it took a hard right turn towards us and that’s when we all decided to scatter,” said Courtney Collins, a swimmer who spotted the shark.

“But as the tarpon and hammerhead got closer and closer, we said, ‘Well it might be a better idea to get up on the vessel,” said Chris Chiavarelli, a swimmer who spotted the shark.

The group of swimmers quickly hopped back onto their boat before the shark could get any closer. It darted off into deeper waters a short time later.

Experts say sharks often move into shallow waters to feed during the early summer.