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Nightmare footage shows spearfisher Randy Fales in a real-life version of the blockbuster horror film Open Water.

The movie tells the tale of two scuba-diving holiday makers, who surface to find their charter boat has left without them.

But it was a story that became all too real for Randy, who went diving 17 miles off the Florida coast on Sunday.

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Video captured by Randy's GoPro captures the moment he surfaces to find no trace of his boat in any direction.

He frantically blows his whistle and raises his diving gear over his head, but nobody is there to hear him.

Then he looks down to find he is being stalked by sharks, including one 16-foot monster prowling just a few feet away.

Before descending for his 30-minute dive, Randy had tied a makeshift anchor to the boat and dropped it onto the reef below.

However, when he returned from the depths, he realised that the anchor had drifted off the reef – no doubt dragging the boat with it.

Mr Fales said: "That's not exactly an exciting feeling, you know, to realise there's no boat in the area.

"I was pretty confident there might be other boats in the area because it's a fairly common fishing area. I did see a boat after almost 20 minutes."

But when the vessel anchored a mile away and Randy tried to swim to it, the shark continued to dog him, getting closer and closer.

(Image: ABC/RANDY FALES)

The diver told ABC News how he kept the predator at bay with his speargun, before another seven-foot shark showed up.

"He kept getting bolder, a little bolder, a little closer," Randy told the broadcaster.

"The closest he got is he rubbed my leg with one of his pectoral fins," Fales said.

"I would always go into a little bit of a defense mode and he would veer away," he added.

(Image: ABC/RANDY FALES)

After roughly an hour and 20 minutes of treading water, he finally saw a boat coming his way.

His family aboard his boat – including two daughters, a daughters boyfriend and several grandchildren – had raised the alarm.

They had panicked when nearly two hours passed without any trace of him and contacted the coast guard, who started a search for him.

When Randy was picked up by the boat, the search was still ongoing, though his GoPro had died.

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He told ABC News he could understand why people found the idea of being stranded in the water terrifying.

"After you see a move like 'Open Water' or something like that, that has to go through your mind," he said.

"We just had a series of events and circumstances that came together and I ended up out there by myself."

Mr Fales, 68, plans to return to scuba diving as soon as the weather permits.