Lifeguard stops wacky couple with homemade shark cages

Some might say it takes a certain kind of crazy to wade into a stretch of coastline suffering a recent spate of shark attacks wearing a portable homemade shark cage.

Not so for this odd couple, who on Sunday were observed carrying two such devices into the water at the ominously named Kill Devil Hills beach in South Carolina.

Video uploaded to YouTube shows a lifeguard quickly intercepting the pair before they were able to go beyond waist-deep water carrying their pod-like contraptions.

There have been eight shark attacks reported in just eight weeks along the North and South Carolina coastlines.

Jordan Cutrell, a witness to the incident, told local news channel WBTV that the flimsy ‘cages’ appeared to be made of PVC pipe.

“[They] couldn't be seriously used to go swimming with sharks," said Ms Cutrell.

"As many times as I have been to the beach, I've never seen anything like it."

It’s unclear whether the intrepid couple were intending their inventions to seriously protect against sharks or it was simply a cooked-up photo opportunity.