'America's stupidest swimmer' is spotted going for a dip with SEALS off Cape Cod, where hungry great white sharks lurk

By NATASHA ANDERSON, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:57, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 21:57, 14 July 2026 A man was spotted swimming with seals at a Cape Cod beach where great white sharks are known to lurk. The swimmer walked into the Atlantic Ocean off of Marconi Beach and approached the seal, a viral video captured by photographer Mark Filteau showed. He waved at the creature and bounced up and down in the water, before swimming even closer to it.  The seal then started to swim away, prompting the man to wade back to shore. Filteau posted the video to his Cape Cod, Massachusetts Facebook page on Saturday urging beachgoers: 'Please do not swim with the seals.' The swimmer's actions sparked harsh criticisms online, as well as a warning from Massachusetts shark researcher John Chisholm. 'This NOT being 'Shark Smart',' Crisholm warned in a Facebook post about the swimmer. 'This is the same beach where a seal carcass washed up this morning.' His remarks were echoed by social media users who have branded the swimmer as a 'stupid' tourist and even went as far as calling him 'shark bait.' 'If you're out there swimming near the seals you can't fix stupid,' one user wrote. 'This what we call natural selection,' one said. Another added: 'That's a Darwin award nominee right there.' A swimmer walked into the Atlantic Ocean from Marconi Beach after spotting a seal in the water, video captured by photographer Mark Filteau showed He tried to approach the seal, sparking criticisms from experts and social media users alike Other users suggested the swimmer was an uneducated tourist. 'Must not be a native. We all know that seals are often closely followed by sharks,' one wrote. 'So he hasn't noticed he's the only one out there on this entire stretch of beach? There's a reason for that buddy!' said another.  One sarcastically said: 'How do you say I'm from CT without saying it.' 'Save a seal, feed a shark!' another added.  Crisholm, in his post, urged swimmers to avoid waters where seals and schools of fish are present, as well as murky or low-visibility waters.  'Be aware sharks hunt for seals in shallow water,' the scientist wrote. 'Stay close to shore where rescuers can reach you.' He added that swimming, paddling, kayaking and surfing should be done in groups, and that beachgoers should follow all signage and flag warnings at beaches. Crisholm, an adjunct scientist in the New England Aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, has been researching white sharks for nearly 40 years. He also confirms shark sightings for the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy's Sharktivity app. He waved at the creature and bounced up and down in the water, before swimming even closer to the seal The seal then started to swim away, prompting the man to wade back to shore Facebook users have have branded the swimmer as a 'stupid' tourist and even went as far as calling him 'shark bait' The scientist's warning comes as hundreds of killer sharks are reported to be lurking in a stretch of the Atlantic off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, known as 'Shark Alley.' OCEARCH, a non-profit focused on shark research and ocean conservation, has tagged and tracked at least nine great whites in Shark Alley since June. Overall, researchers discovered that hundreds, and by some estimates, thousands, of great whites have returned to the waters near Cape Cod since 2015. Despite growing concerns along the East Coast that sharks are moving closer to crowded shores, there have been no shark attack incidents reported around Cape Cod in the last five years. Only one person was killed by a shark in the Northeast, dying off the coast of Maine in 2020.