Actor Zac Efron rides wild shark in Hawaii

Actor Zac Efron came face to face with a shark in Hawaii. Photo / Getty Images

Actor Zac Efron has had a Mick Fanning moment but instead of punching the shark, he decided to take a risk and hitch a ride on its back.

The 27-year-old took a break from filming Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates in Hawaii to participate in his second shark dive.

But he got more than he bargained for during the snorkelling expedition when he encountered a large tiger shark coming straight towards him.

"This was way more sharks than last time and I was out there for, like, maybe 45 minutes and all of a sudden out of nowhere all of the Galapagos sharks, which are, like, seven to 10 foot sharks, just dive," he said.

"They just disappear and that means an apex predator is above them, so they're clearing the waters for a bigger shark."

Efron said he realised why the Galapagos sharks skedaddled.

"I turn left and I see about a 14-foot tiger shark... swimming directly towards me... I had two choices: the boat was behind me and technically safety was behind me and so were several people yelling, 'Come this way, come back...," he said.

Instead of taking off, he remained calm and looked the predator in the eyes.

"(The shark) came straight at me and what you're supposed to do is just slow down your heart rate, stay calm. I held my breathe, I crossed my arms and I let the shark know that I wasn't prey, I like sort of stared into its eyes," he said.

"All I could picture was him turning sideways and eight rows of teeth (coming out).

"She came straight at me and swam right by me and when it swam by me it was swimming towards the boat, which is where I needed to get back to.

"So I don't know what happened, I guess I just really like to charge life, so I just grabbed onto its fin and rode it all the way back to the boat."

Surf champion Fanning, last month, had a close encounter with a Great White shark during the final of the J-Bay open in South Africa.

The shark knocked Fanning off his board and the Aussie fought back, punching the shark which soon departed.

Fanning escaped serious injury, but was clearly shaken in the moments after the incident.

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- WENN