A heart stopping moment was caught on cam, while a snorkeler on a turtle-watching trip swims for his life after a nurse shark decides to chase him in Virgin Islands, USA.

The images of the incident were shared by Dan Aquino.

Dan says he was on a turtle-watching trip 200 yards away from the shore of the Maho Bay when the shark gave him a chase.

Dan immodestly started to swim away after he saw the nurse shark approaching him.

During an interview, Dan said, “I know that nurse sharks are usually friendly and do not bother swimmers. While watching a turtle at Maho approximately 200 yards from shore, this nurse shark found me very interesting and swam right at my face.”

Dan added, “I had to use my go pro to bop him on the head once and then my foot to kick at him. I have no idea why this nurse shark would do this.  We swam by many of them and everyone of them ignored us and swam on; not this guy.”

The nurse shark is often found in the Bahamas.

It is reported that nurse sharks can grow up to 14 feet.

Luckily, when the shark approached Dan, he used his GoPro to hit it on the head and started to kick while swimming.

This tactic is known to scare off the shark, and luckily, it worked.