When you go to the beach, you expect to see dolphins, seagulls and a variety of sea life.

But black bears on the beach? Or swimming in the surf? That might surprise you.

“It’s not uncommon,” said Captain Chris Kirby, a charter boat captain for Charter Boat Backlash, which operates out of Destin. “There are a lot of bears at Eglin Air Force Base. They swim across the bay. Sometimes they go for a joy swim.”

That’s what appeared to happen on Sunday just after noon, when a number of beachgoers had a close encounter with a bear that swam in from the Gulf and ran ashore at Destin. It ran past beach umbrellas and beach chairs in front of Silver Dunes Condominium, and kept going.

Jennifer Majors Smith, who is from Pensacola, shared videos on Facebook. “Never have I ever….seen a black bear swim up out of the Gulf Coast and onto the beach (and I’m from Pensacola),” she wrote.

“At first no one on shore could tell what it was in the ocean,” Smith, who is vacationing from Nashville, told AL.com. “A man was yelling out ‘Bear!’ You would expect “shark or dolphin” but not bear. It came out of the Gulf and look tired but relieved. Of course, my animal loving son started following it, so my mother-in-law grabbed him. We were all shocked by and amazed to see what we saw. We were all glad to see him safe from the water. We all enjoy a dip in the water, but who knows how long he was in there.”

Another angle came from the “All Things Emerald Coast” Facebook page. “Black bear swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in Destin,” the caption said. “He made it to the shore and took off.”

A video of the same bear from another angle coming ashore was shared on Twitter. It showed several people watching as the small bear swam ashore and ran up on the beach, shaking the water out of its fur like a dog.

Captain Kirby, who grew up on the Gulf Coast, said he’s seen bears swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and it’s nothing new and not that unusual. “Everybody’s just got cell phones now and they get pictures,” he said.

Another video shared Sunday on the Facebook page “All Things Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach” appear to show an adult black bear walking underneath a pier on the beach on the Santa Rosa Sound.