I watched Shark Whisperer on Netflix.
The main person in the documentary is Ocean Ramsey, a marine conservationist, shark activist and freediver who used her platform, her beauty and the videos of her diving with sharks including great whites and tiger sharks to challenge negative views of apex predators.
I found it extremely interesting, especially seeing that I dove with sharks.
The difference between my diving and Ocean’s was she dove with sharks free-diving to learn everything about them. She could hold her breath over six minutes. I dove with a scuba tank.
Ramsey spent more than a decade working to change how people see sharks, advocating for their protection and portraying them as misunderstood creatures rather than monsters.
She made the point that approximately 73 to 100 million sharks are killed annually for their fins, primarily for shark fin soup trade. When the fins are removed the sharks are discarded, often still alive, to drown or bleed out.
For a bowl of soup.
Ramsey dedicated her time to learn about sharks, even befriending some, and actually got her home state, Hawaii, to ban the killing of sharks
I once dove with sharks in a shark cage and after that dive, I opted to dive outside the cage.
It was then, while outside the cage, that a 7-foot Blue shark swam right up to me. So close that I bopped him on his snout to back him away.
He was curious about me, I was sure of it, but I was also scared silly. I had to remember the first rule of scuba diving: don’t stop breathing. Don’t hold your breath!
As he passed by me, with his eye open I thought I would die, but I kept breathing.
I wished that I had known about Ocean Ramsey back then and realized that the big shark passing by me didn’t want to eat me. If he had I would have already been in bite-sized chunks.
A few seconds after he passed me, I felt relieved. For some stupid reason I didn’t look around to see where he was.
My mistake.
I felt a huge thump on my head. Stunned, I actually thought I’d been hit in the head by the first mate diver, by his flippers.
No. The shark rammed me in the head.
Was he getting back at me? Was he determining if I was a fit food? Was he playing?
I looked toward the cage diver (dressed in chainmail for protection) who had been chumming the waters and feeding any curious sharks. I signaled to her and the men in the cage; Did you get a photo?
They signed back; Are you ok?
Yes, I was, but rather than swim at warp speed up to the boat, I stay for what seemed like 10mins. and then swam calmly up to the boat.
I don’t remember much after that, until the next morning, at home in my bed, when I bolted awake, thinking; Good lord, I could’ve been beheaded!
All these years later, I wish I had seen Ocean Ramsey’s documentary before that dive. Not that I would have tried to befriend that shark, but I might have been more aware of its behavior. And not so damn scared, hearing Jaws music as it came toward me…duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn.
Research said: “Blue sharks are highly migratory, pelagic predators (open ocean environment, specifically the water column away from the shoreline and the seabed), known for their curious and social behavior. They travel vast distances, often in loose aggregations, to find food and potential mates. While generally not aggressive, they are known to approach divers, especially spearfishers, and can be attracted to bait.”
My instinct was right – he was curious about me.
Too bad I was so frightened of him.
What’s a girl to do?…relax, relax.
Lucy Llewellyn Byard welcomes comments lucywgtd@gmail.com
