The summer of 2022 will mostly be remembered at the Jersey Shore for a nearly weightless bug, but a shark about 800 pounds heavier did make a close call visit this summer.

Photo by Laura College on Unsplash
Photo by Laura College on Unsplash
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That close call came the day before what is arguably the busiest day at Jersey Shore beaches, the 4th of July, and it was no spotted lantern fly.

While we were grilling, drinking, making sandcastles, and yes, even swimming, a nearly 900-pound female great white shark named Freya was making her presence known to Ocearch just off the Jersey Shore.

Photo by Francesco Califano on Unsplash
Photo by Francesco Califano on Unsplash
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We all know there are sharks in the ocean, but the "pinging" that these creatures do is an occasional reminder of something we really, deep down, don't want to know about.

Freya did not get exceptionally close to us, but it looks like it's the closest a great white has pinged this summer, at least so far.

Photo by Oleksandr Sushko on Unsplash
Photo by Oleksandr Sushko on Unsplash
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Here are some details on this magnificent, yet bone-chilling creature. She is a sub-adult great white shark weighing in at 887 pounds.

She is 11 feet 8 inches long. Now, just take a minute to picture that. If you laid two adult men across the floor head to toe, that's how long this creature is. Throw in 900 pounds of shark cartilage and body parts, and that's not a fish I want to stumble across.

Photo by Karen Zhang on Unsplash
Photo by Karen Zhang on Unsplash
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Freya's last ping was just this week, but it was what's known as a Z-ping, meaning the sensor surfaced but there is no information on where it surfaced. Let's hope it's in a lovely place that Freya loves that just happens to be far away from our shores.

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