Shark Whisperer (2025)

[bunniefuu]

[pensive music plays]

[tense music playing]

[tense music continues]

[heart thumping]

[music intensifies and stops]

[beeps]

So I want to say, at first,

I had to learn to survive,

to be able to even stay

in the water with them.

Um, and where most people, if

they were charged by a shark,

they would have, like, gotten

the f*ck out of the water

[laughs nervously]

Clip this on the back.

because I stayed in the water after

being rushed by a shark, right?

I was able to actually

observe natural behavior,

and that's when I

started to learn

shark language.

[frantic music playing]

[man 1] Everybody knows

who Ocean Ramsey is.

[man 2, man 3] Ocean Ramsey.

Ocean Ramsey.

Fearless. Daredevil.

[man 4] She's on the news.

It's going around the world.

-Her name's Ocean?

-Her name is Ocean.

[man 1] But nobody

knows about her story.

[Ocean] I wanna explore.

I wanna push the limits.

It's like I'm made to do this.

[music builds]

[Ocean] The emotions and

the connection that I feel,

it's overwhelming.

This is what I'm alive for.

I'm not a crazy person.

I'm hyperaware of what

they're capable of.

It's just that sharks are

the calling that I have.

[man] This is breaking barriers.

Something could go wrong.

[reporter] Believed to be the

largest great white shark on record

anywhere in the world.

[woman] She gets in the

water and asks the question,

"Why should I be afraid?"

["Waikiki Chickadee" by George

Tautu Archer and His Pagans plays]

I'd like to be

I'd like to be

With you

My little chickadee

Just with you

'Neath the skies of blue

Holding hands

[Ocean] Growing up in Hawaii

really shaped me as a person.

[pensive music playing]

Just looking out at the ocean

and the different colors

and feeling the

power in the waves.

I was actually kind of

a shy kid growing up.

Very quiet. Very quiet.

I was definitely much more drawn

to just interacting with

animals out in nature

rather than socializing with

other humans, truthfully.

I was like a little wild child.

[music continues]

Being out in nature

Makes me feel connected

to something higher

and greater than myself.

The first time that I saw

a shark with my own eyes,

I think I was maybe

seven or eight years old.

[intriguing music playing]

And it centers right below me.

And so at that moment,

I have that choice.

Do I follow it,

or is this supposed to be

something that I'm afraid of?

I swam after it

for a little bit.

That's such a cool experience to have

and to have that natural fascination.

And that fascination

has never left me.

[alluring music playing]

When I'm around them,

I feel most alive.

And it's not an adrenaline rush.

It's a feeling of connection,

where I feel the most myself.

There's something so

magnetic for me about sharks.

And I feel like that's because

that's what my life was meant for.

It's my point and purpose.

[music fades]

[man] Photography was a passion

I developed through surfing.

In the early stages of my life,

I kind of thought that I would

become a surf photographer.

Sadly, along the way,

I realized that if I wanted to

make it as a surf photographer,

I would have to give up

the best days of surfing

in order to make money

photographing it, right?

So I was like, "Ooh!" I

didn't really anticipate that.

[grunts softly]

But, as a surfer growing up in Hawaii,

I was petrified of sharks, right?

I think I was like seven, eight.

And there was a lot

of shark attacks.

[reporter 1] Coming up, we'll tell

you about O'ahu's latest attack.

[man] Shark came up

from underneath it.

The shark hit him

twice, got his arm.

You don't really feel that

comfortable out surfing.

[somber music playing]

[Juan] That fear spread

through the whole community

and through my whole childhood.

[reporter 2] Under pressure

from a nervous tourist industry,

the state of Hawaii

launched a shark task force

to deal with the attacks.

The controversial decision was

made to start k*lling sharks.

[Juan] And I was like, "The only

good shark is a dead shark."

[somber music continues]

I was down there,

Hale'iwa Harbor.

They had the tiger sharks

sprawled out on the launch ramps.

Like 20 or 30, and

cheering the fishermen on.

I was just a scared little kid.

Didn't really know any better.

[people clamoring]

It's sad that that

was my background

up until I actually got

to go dive with one,

and it was the opposite of

what I thought it would be.

[music fades]

A buddy of mine, we kind of

started doing dive charters

And trying to teach

people more about sharks.

We kind of helped start the whole

cage tourism industry out here,

which was a really hard

thing to do back in the day,

because there was still so much

fear here in the community.

Friends that wouldn't even talk

to me now because I like sharks.

They're like, "You're bringing

the monsters to our hometown."

I'm like, "They're not monsters.

And they were here before us."

"We need to learn how

to coexist", right?

So that that was what, you

know, really kind of, um,

really kind of set the

stage for me meeting Ocean.

2006 is when I first met her.

She was teaching scuba.

I was a captain on a shark boat.

[intriguing music playing]

The first day, I remember she was like,

"If you want to get certified under me,

you have to come with me and you

have to see sharks in the wild."

"'Cause I want you to know

how sharks really are."

And, um, I was instantly like,

"Oh my God, she's amazing." Right?

[Ocean] So at the

time when we met,

I was getting out of a

two-year relationship,

and I really wanted

to be single.

I was like, "Oh, she's not into

me. She's being super quiet."

"She doesn't wanna talk

to me. She's not into me."

[Ocean] I just I need

to focus on the sharks.

Sharks are the

calling that I have.

Here in Hawaii, we have over

30 different species of shark.

Most of them will swim away.

[ominous music playing]

But tiger sharks, they

definitely feel different.

They're darker on the top

with these beautiful stripes.

And they're gonna max out

usually around 18 feet in length.

[tense music playing]

They're so curious and

cognitive and aware.

They can essentially

eat almost anything.

[bird cawing]

They can bite through

turtle shell and bone.

[reporter] The body of

a 60-year-old woman

She didn't see the shark coming.

And they're capable of short

bursts of incredible speed.

[man shouts] Tiger shark!

[Ocean] People are

so afraid of them.

[tense music playing]

And that fear comes from

a lack of understanding.

[enigmatic music plays]

[woman] Sharks have been around

at least 400 million years.

[reporter] Sylvia is one of

the ocean's greatest defenders.

This dedication has made her

a kind of underwater royalty,

nicknamed Her Deepness.

Sure we can't do this

underwater? [chuckles]

They're a critical part of

what makes the ocean function.

My name is Kim Holland.

I'm a research professor at the

Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology,

and I founded the shark research

group here 40 years ago.

Sharks have evolved in

this top predator role.

If you take out the sharks,

then you've put a ripple effect down

through the rest of the food chain.

We need the ocean. We need

a healthy living ocean.

We need all the

pieces to be working

as they have worked long

before there even were humans.

If we disturb that ecosystem,

even if we don't know exactly what

our impacts are, it can't be good.

One of the worst enemies

of sharks is ignorance.

Because people, they have

that part of the story.

[man] We don't have

the counterbalance.

We have no understanding

of what their life is like.

We have no understanding of the

struggles that they have to go through

in their daily life.

That would change the story.

[indistinct background chatter]

[Ocean] With Juan, what

really caught my attention

was how he was

talking about sharks.

I could hear the passion

that he had for them.

And up until that point,

I had never met another person

that was saying those things.

It caught my heart.

[Juan] Yeah, I'm ready.

[Ocean] And then we were just going

diving together every single day.

[Juan] She's like this

beautiful wild animal

That's trying to

live life as a human.

Just gotta try and keep up.

[Ocean] It was cool with Juan.

It was like, "We could do

this all day, every day."

And he was, like, as

obsessed as I was, I think.

[joyful music playing]

[Juan] Back then, she was

like, "I wanna see sharks."

All the time.

That became like an

obsession almost.

[music fades]

[Ocean] But here in Hawaii,

tiger sharks are the one that

humans are most concerned with,

given how powerful that they are,

how quickly they could take life.

[dramatic music plays]

I don't think people realize

how much time was put

into identifying the areas

where we can

guarantee to see them.

Literally thousands

of drift dives

From season to season to season,

marking on the GPS every

time we would see a shark

And what species,

how many.

[soft music playing]

After finding progressively

more and more sharks

Eventually, we found pretty

much the damn near perfect site.

The strong convergent

currents are

probably the biggest driver

of why the sharks are there.

The current is converging

at that specific point

because of the bottom

contour of the ocean,

as well as the

contour of the land.

People thought that you needed a

cage because sharks were dangerous.

But the changemakers are the ones that

try something a little different, right?

[pensive music playing]

I wanna prove to the world

that they're not monsters.

That is what I wanna prove.

[breathing shakily]

[Juan] I'll be honest,

I had nerves. I wasn't, like,

you know, expressing them,

even though I was a little

uncomfortable at times, for sure.

But Ocean is definitely, you know,

alpha position in our relationship.

And I have no problem with that.

She had the lead on it, right?

I'm just gonna film.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Ocean] They've got thicker skin,

sharper teeth and they can out swim me.

How do I not get

caught off guard?

Everything goes so fast.

I'm literally, at that moment,

in front of a shark's mouth.

And in my mind, it's just

like, "You gotta survive."

I'm like, "Okay,

let's push down."

[music continues]

[Juan] Even though it

looked out of control to me,

she always had this

control over the situation.

[Ocean] I found that the

longer I stayed down there,

the more that they would treat

me sort of like another shark.

But every couple of minutes,

I'd pop up to breathe.

I decided to increase

my breath hold

in order to spend

more time with them.

[gentle music plays]

[Ocean] Free diving, if you're

spending time with sharks,

it's so much better,

because you're much more

like another marine animal

and more agile.

I've always had a natural

edge for free diving.

But I wanted to better myself.

When the urges to breathe come,

and your initial thought is,

"Oh my gosh, I have to breathe,"

you can train out of

that by just being like,

"No. I realize, actually,

like, my body can go longer."

[slow breathing]

And it literally changed the way

that my brain interprets pain.

[rousing music playing]

I was constantly pushing myself.

And it was the sharks

that drove me to do that.

[exhaling]

[mumbles]

Now I can hold my breath for

over six and a half minutes.

I would then get to watch them

interacting with one another,

and that was when I got to see their

language and their communication.

[intriguing music playing]

There was something that

I read when I was younger.

Somebody had studied

bees in a beehive

and realized that they do a little

dance to communicate to one another.

I think that was what

branched out in my mind.

Sharks don't just

swim at random.

There's actually

a lot of patterns.

[electronic whirring]

[electronic whirring]

[Ocean] It was the patterns

of social hierarchy.

Following or piggybacking.

Interception or blocking.

One of the most obvious ones

to me was parallel swimming.

Two sharks line up side by side,

sizing each other up.

And it's generally the larger shark

that's gonna take that higher position.

Or occasionally, I would

see them actually turn over

at that individual that's

sizing up with them.

Like, "Hey, don't do that."

Dropping its pectoral fins down.

This is a little bit

of a threat display.

I realized that if I'm tense

or nervous or stressed,

whatever those emotions are,

they are reflected in your body,

in small muscle movements.

The sharks are so highly

evolved that they pick up on it.

[stirring music playing]

It feels like they're

reading your mind.

If you can make your intentions

very clear in your mind,

your muscles in your body

will sort of reflect that.

[tense music playing]

And it makes you look at

the world like a shark.

Opening this door, it

really opened my eyes.

[music softens]

It wasn't until a

little while later

I became more accustomed to

recognizing certain individuals.

I didn't even realize like,

you know, "It's Nikki," yet.

You know, we're not on a

"first-name basis" yet,

but I recognize her.

[pensive music playing]

I remember some of the

scars that she had.

Like, "Do you remember me?"

"Is that you?"

Kind of like waving at

a friend, like, "Hey."

Sharks have a nictitating membrane,

which is actually their eyelid.

And it folds up instead of down.

They use it for protection.

I love seeing them fight it.

And, like, as they get close,

they wanna keep it open.

And they wanna look.

[Ocean] Nikki would come

up and then open her eyes

and look at me.

"Yeah, I see you."

You know what I mean?

When the eye is lifted, it

just shows the level of trust.

[Ocean] What if I

just put my hand out?

And I'm just gonna adapt to

whatever she's giving me.

And then Nikki responds to that.

[whooshing]

There's something going on

here that I can't explain.

Like, they are communicating.

In that moment of contact,

there is so much said.

Sharks have this sensory system

where they can feel the electrical

output from living organisms.

So she's literally

feeling who I am

on a level that we

don't sense the world.

[heart beating]

Not everything

can be quantified.

It doesn't mean that

it's not happening.

[Juan] So at that point, I remember

I was getting really good images

and, you know, trying

to get out there

and get the message across.

But still, the conversation

was, "Monster, monster."

[ominous music playing]

But we just gotta change the music,

change the way we look at sharks.

Flip the perception.

[enigmatic music plays]

[Juan] When I had

Ocean in the photos,

it was, like, that key

component where they're like,

"Why isn't she getting eaten?"

[enigmatic music continues]

[Juan] From that

moment that I realized

that human component of interacting

with sharks is the difference,

that people can connect with and

really see sharks differently.

[Ocean] "Oh my gosh, maybe

they're not like Jaws."

[Juan] Since that moment, I've just filmed

every interaction that I possibly can.

That was what I needed

to do every single day.

-[Ocean] Putting yourself out there

-[camera clicking]

is also just putting yourself

out there for criticism.

I'm very nervous about this

whole Ocean Ramsey thing.

In Hawaiian practice,

you don't force yourself

onto something else.

You allow something

to come to you.

She's notorious for it.

Everyone in the shark industry

knows who she is and what she does.

[Kamu] More for the Gram

and more for the shot.

People see that, they wanna be

part of it, it draws them in.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.

People don't listen

to us anyway

What are we even here for?

To pick up the pieces.

To do this and put it out to

masses and let people see that,

it sends the wrong message.

'Cause everybody

thinks they can do it.

If a shark makes that connection with

you, that's, I think, a different story.

I want to know you. I want to

feel you. I want to understand.

Whatever reason you feel the need

to have your hand on this animal,

you better understand what's going on

and what you're getting yourself into.

[Brian] You watch Ocean and

Juan, they understand the shark.

You won't find many

people like that.

Understand in their mind and

their heart and being in sync.

Not only with the

shark but in the ocean.

To see this young woman at

peace with these big animals

causes us to see through her

eyes, to see them differently.

I think that that's a very good way

to change the human perceptions.

What they are trying to show is that we

don't have to be afraid of the animals.

That's what they are really

trying to make people understand.

She gets in the water and

And asks the question,

"Why should I be afraid?"

Most of the time, you're

gonna get away with it,

but some of the

time, you're not.

[Ocean] It's a weird line that we run

that's like, how do you find that balance

between, you know, humanizing

and showing their personality

and how incredible they are

and that they're not monsters?

But then they're apex

predators, not puppies.

And if it doesn't go well,

it's on us. We're offshore.

It's not like anyone

needs to know.

We don't have kids.

We don't really have anything that

we're risking except for our own lives.

I'm good to go anytime.

Like, what is it?

It's not the years in your life.

It's the life in your years.

And I'm... Phew, wow, Shark.

-[Juan] Sharkey can clear the room!

-You know how to clear a room.

[Juan] He's like, "Oh yeah.

Remember me? Remember."

[laughs]

[Ocean] I hope he doesn't

start to pick up on this,

that if he starts to do that,

I'll roll the window down.

[Juan chuckles]

-[Ocean] Fashionably on Aloha Time.

-[exclaiming]

-[cheering]

-Yeah, guys!

Sorry we're late!

-[Juan grunts]

-[Ocean] Oh.

Yeah. You're so big, every time!

[Ocean] Look what I brought

you. They're shark tattoos.

-Thank you!

-Yeah!

So you can have a

tattoo like your dad.

So I was thinking we could make

these cute little shark bracelets.

Wait, how did the

shark lose its teeth?

So, sharks are so lucky. They

never have to go to the dentist.

[man] I met Ocean and Juan,

and I had just done this

little baby project with them.

We went on one dive, and I think

I contacted them immediately.

And I was like, "Hey,

I wanna do this again."

[tense music plays]

When you are swimming

with a big shark,

there is an energy and

there is a presence to it

that's really

difficult to describe.

You just realize that you're

swimming with something

that's been around in some form

or another since before trees.

You're swimming with a dinosaur.

[majestic music playing]

Ocean and Juan, they're

perfectly conditioned and skilled

to do what they're doing.

They live it.

And I think it's

much more dangerous

for a person who wouldn't

be able to live it.

[muffled speech]

[music intensifies]

Phew, I would honestly say

I'm still scared every time.

[pensive music playing]

[Ocean] It's really

important to be calm

and to be a competent

predator in their presence.

There's kind of no room

for weakness with them.

But as I encounter a shark, I

don't know what their history is.

I don't know what their

history is with humans.

That is going to be a factor into

the way that they interact with me.

[music fades]

Oh gosh. There's like... Okay.

So Kalihi, Kalihi, Kalihi

[muffled] Hi, Kalihi!

Kalihi means "the

edge" in Hawaiian.

[intense music playing]

She came in as a juvenile,

very powerful juvenile.

Watching her rush

up to anything.

Bump. Bite.

Wow.

She's so much more

intense than the others.

She's very smart.

Kalihi threw something

that I hadn't seen before.

Coming up and like

chomping on the surface

To create bubbles.

So it'd be like

blind on the surface.

She throws so many curve ba*ls.

The way that she would try and,

like, turn her body around,

it was almost like she

had learned my methods.

[tense music playing]

I don't know how.

[Juan] I knew that she

knew what she was doing.

And I wasn't gonna

second guess her.

I was never gonna give

her any seed of doubt.

[Ocean] It's not a video game.

There's no pause.

[Juan] She was

challenging Ocean.

[sinister music playing]

Accept the risks.

Acknowledge them and move on.

[music fades]

[Ocean] All that time in the

water, the sharks were teaching me.

They were shaping my

movements in the water

the way that they

shape other animals.

[ethereal music playing]

[Ocean] They would approach

me from different angles.

They would show me that they like to

use their countershading from below.

[ethereal music continues]

[Ocean] Those experiences

helped me learn to redirect.

Pushing down.

Locking at the elbow.

[gentle string music playing]

[Juan] It's almost

like a beautiful dance.

If she wanted the sharks to come

closer, she would put her head down,

tuck into a ball.

If you need more space, all you have

to do is go vertical, posture up.

Be a little bit more direct

with that eye contact.

So let them know, "Hey, I'm an

equal predator, and I'm aware."

When you need to hold your

ground, you hold your ground.

[string music continues]

[Juan] She's so aware, just, like,

so knowledgeable about the animals.

For me, behind the camera,

sometimes I get a little complacent.

[Ocean] When you're looking through

a lens, it's sort of tunnel vision.

I have to look out for him.

[gentle music playing]

[Juan] She's taught me so much.

All the behaviors.

And then, this is how you do it

strategically to make it safe.

Ocean's really made it more of

a kind of, more of a science.

[music fades]

[inhales deeply]

If you're on a long board, you're

less likely to get approached.

If you're swimming with someone,

you're less likely to get approached.

Minimizing splashing, minimizing anything

that can draw attention to yourself.

I'm just gonna take a pause

Keeping humans separate

from sharks isn't a reality.

There's gonna be a lot of people

that wanna swim, surf, and dive,

and they're gonna

encounter sharks.

I want people to be safe

because when an accident happens,

that doesn't help my cause,

that doesn't help

shark conservation,

that doesn't help the

reputation of a shark.

And so I feel a very

strong moral obligation

to make sure that people stay safe and

that they are taught how to stay safe.

One of the things about shark

attacks is that in almost all cases,

the person attacked, um, never knew

that they were gonna be attacked.

So they never had the chance

to take evasive action.

My perspective on what she does, it's

more for show than it is for science.

If you are a scientist or

you are not a scientist,

that doesn't matter that

much. For me, what matters

is the amount of time that

you spend with these animals.

I think she probably has a strong

understanding of shark behavior

because of the time that she spent

in the water with these animals.

But in the actual

research community,

she doesn't have any respect.

It might seem to some that

because she allows

herself to be photographed

and tell her stories,

that's not what

a scientist does.

But what does a scientist

do except observe carefully

and share the view?

We've been doing the field ID

data sets for 15 years now.

[pages turning]

[ethereal music plays]

[Ocean] And we've got 300

different sharks identified.

To me, they're as unique,

as individual,

as important as any human being.

[Juan] Me and Ocean started

working together in 2006.

It was about five years in

when Roxy came into our lives.

The first time that we saw her,

her jaw was freshly broken

and it looked horrible.

I don't know. For me,

I could feel her pain.

I could just see it in

the way she was swimming.

And I remember getting

some footage of her.

Everyone's like, "Oh my God. It's a

monster. It's disgustingly scary."

[Ocean] She's not the monster.

The monster is the people

that did that to her.

Imagine having your

jaw broken open.

And imagine what that would

be like to try and eat.

Her best chances of feeding

are really coming from

fish that's already been

caught or is already dead,

which is usually found

on a hook or in a net.

She has a lot

working against her.

And then to have the

SAT tag on top of that

She gets entangled more

than any other animal

because of that tag.

[Juan] A lot of times, we remove fishing

line and stuff from other sharks,

they just bolt off.

But with Roxy, after so

many years of removing that,

I definitely know

she recognizes us.

There's so much emotion

around her with me personally.

[melancholy music playing]

In 1999, I broke my back in

a rock climbing accident.

The line snapped, I

fell like 50 feet.

You know, and someone tells you you're

not gonna be able to walk again,

like, hoo, that's a

game changer, right?

Is it even worth going anymore?

[melancholy music continues]

I spend so much time with Juan,

and I see how much pain he's in,

like, with his back, constantly.

And I feel that those two get each

other and connect on a different level

because they're both constantly

struggling with pain.

It's just beautiful to get to

see them interact together.

We're supposed to keep

the elbow locked, but

I feel so relaxed at times,

and I'll just let it bend.

[light uplifting music plays]

[Ocean] It's just baffling to me

the way that animals can be treated.

It was really that moment

in time where you realize

they really don't

have protection.

Like, there were no legal repercussions

for just k*lling a shark here.

[sinister music playing]

Nearly 100 baby hammerhead

sharks found dead in Hawaii.

These pups likely died after being

caught in a fisherman's gill net.

[Ocean] They're not protected

from the wasteful k*lling.

Things like shark fishing.

[sinister music continues]

k*lling a shark,

like Roxy, right?

Breaking their jaw out,

dragging them out of the water

just to take a

picture with them.

[somber music playing]

I feel

I'm not really that great

about, like, putting

Putting words to,

like, emotions.

Of course, you feel heartbroken

about that. It's suffering.

[mouse clicking]

At this point,

shark populations were down to fewer

than 10% for most large species.

[mouse clicking]

[Ocean] All of them are headed

towards the brink of extinction.

[mouse clicking frantically]

[Ocean] Okay, so where are we?

Here.

[Ocean] And where

are we going to

Fish market.

[somber music playing]

[Ocean] And then when I realized

shark finning was going on

And that shark populations were

being decimated around the planet

for this wasteful bowl of

soup, it lit a fire in me.

Shark

Countries all around the

world are k*lling them,

and it happens out of

sight and out of mind.

-Do you know what kind of shark?

-[man] Huh?

Is this the whale shark?

Even if they weren't a keystone species,

super important for marine ecosystems,

even if they weren't,

just to k*ll an animal for

less than 2% of its body

Why would anyone do that

just for a bowl of soup?

[man speaking indistinctly]

[Juan] Where is the

biggest problem?

The biggest problem I saw

straight in front of me was

sharks being exterminated.

Okay, that's the problem.

So how do you get that information

out? It's through visual imagery.

[pensive music playing]

[Ocean] I'll use my appearance.

I'll put myself out

there for a cause.

[motivational music playing]

People look first

and listen second.

Catching people's attention.

And then being able to get

that good message through

Is something that I

definitely aim for.

This is small-scale.

This is every single day.

With those images, you

could actually reach

so many more people

than any of the other

things that we've done.

It's an opportunity to

reach the entire public.

[music continues]

[music fades]

As a female, I'll get a different

level of attention for it

and I'll get a higher

level of criticism.

Not everyone's gonna

agree with you.

[mouse clicking]

[Ocean] Keyboard warriors,

millions of miles away.

[intriguing music playing]

People are like,

"You're gonna die."

I'm like, "I hope you have a

wonderful day and a long life too."

People want to comment on my appearance

or my approach to conservation.

I challenge them to do better.

So it is what it is.

Just gotta work with it, right?

Ultimately, we knew we had to do something

more extreme to cut through the bullshit.

[Juan] Jaws.

[perilous music playing]

The deepest fear that

everybody has of sharks.

It's always the image

of a great white.

[Ocean] And so we wanted

to go to get this picture

to try and show connection between

human and great white shark,

the "anti-Jaws."

And in Hawaii, we do get them

coming through every year,

but it's so rare to see them.

[Ocean] Like the

unicorn of the ocean.

Rare to ever see,

let alone actually be in the

water and have one swim up to you.

There's only a few places in the world

where we know we can find great whites

and that you can dive with great

whites, and, um, one place is Guadalupe.

[Juan] My first time

diving with great whites.

The chum and the fish is all

going down current that direction.

And the shark should

come from that direction.

And he comes from

the bow of the boat.

Eyes open, making eye

contact with each person.

And then he dives down.

And then the next thing he's coming

straight up from the bottom so fast.

And it's just like a

blur of white. Boom!

What it made me realize is

that if they wanted humans,

we'd never have a chance.

People wouldn't be,

like, bitten by sharks.

They'd be disappearing.

So, really, for the

first time in my life,

I decided to go

and start observing

the behavior of a

specific species of shark

from within a cage.

[edgy intriguing music playing]

[Ocean] Just watching the way the

sharks interact with each other,

watching their conversations,

and getting to

know the language.

[Ocean] There's a certain level of

nervousness, but it's more excitement.

And it's that feeling of like,

"Okay, I'm ready for this now."

Learning, observing, noticing when

I was, like, getting locked in here,

and, oop, there's one right here

on the side. I missed that one.

Now, do I know 100% what's gonna

happen when I'm outside this cage?

No.

[music continues]

And then I saw this

beautiful shark.

The most dominant

female in the area.

Her curiosity towards

me was quite profound.

She's looking at me.

Maybe this isn't the right way to say it,

but it almost felt like an invitation.

[mesmerizing music playing]

No one had interacted with a white

shark in that way prior to that day.

[uplifting music playing]

[Juan] This was that

anti-Jaws moment.

[Ocean] And gave it to GoPro

and they released it as

a conservation thing.

[Juan] That's when

everything changed.

-[man] Ocean Ramsey.

-[woman] Ocean Ramsey.

-Ocean Ramsey.

-Ocean Ramsey.

-Her name's Ocean?

-Her name is Ocean.

A fearless daredevil who

swims with great whites.

[man] This woman is actually

swimming with a great white shark.

[woman 1] No! That's a

giant shark. [laughing]

[woman 2] I'm not sure how

much the shark liked that.

Great white sharks are

simply misunderstood.

So, like any rational

person, she swims with them.

If we were playing To

Tell the Truth right now,

I could put any two people next

to you and no one would ever pick

you're the one that went swimming

with a great white shark.

[funky music playing]

[Ocean] The community

began to grow.

Also, there were some

business opportunities

to passively raise awareness,

which was really

good for the sharks.

There's now more and more people

who want to explore and learn

more about shark behavior.

And we're there to

introduce people to sharks.

You guys can come in. Just

stay super close to the boat.

And helping to keep people safe.

There's nothing like empowering someone

with personal, first-hand perspective.

For them to be able to say,

"I was in the water with a shark

and it was a beautiful experience."

And to appreciate

what a shark truly is,

and that will be inspiring

to them to help protect them.

I mean, the tricky part is the

balance of this whole thing, right?

Is like, we need to

protect these animals.

But I saw what that animal

can do to a human being.

[reporter 1] This morning,

people on high alert

at a popular surf spot in O'ahu.

[reporter 2] This time, a 25-year-old

surfer's in critical condition

after he was

attacked by a shark.

[reporter 3] Colin Cook was

surfing off O'ahu's North Shore

when the shark

suddenly appeared.

[Colin] It was, like,

a beautiful day.

And the water looked

clear and really inviting.

I had been out there, you

know, for a couple hours.

And I remember, at that point, thinking

I probably should get a wave in.

And out of nowhere, I remember

being slammed by something

and getting pulled under.

I kind of opened

my eyes underwater

and realized that there was, like,

a large shark attached to my leg.

And I was able to break free

and swim to the surface.

This finger tip of

the finger was missing,

and these three fingers

were hanging over the side.

I thought, "Oh, that

was it. I'm okay."

And then I looked back at my

leg, and it was completely gone.

And I realized at that point,

like, I'm done, I'm dead.

[Keoni] I just felt a sense

that I was supposed to be there.

Whoa. I don't know how much

we can get into this, guys,

but, like the shark

bit his leg here.

And the leash was on the ankle.

Because of the

placement of the bite,

since Colin climbed

back on his board,

the shark was ripping him around by

the leash, like, when I got to him.

At that point, I looked over and heard,

"Hold on, buddy, I'm coming for you."

Keoni happened to be paddling by

me on a stand-up paddle board.

Ocean and Juan

had told me, like,

"Listen, tiger shark's gonna have

a ton of power moving forward."

"But if you can make it miss,

then you've got like ten, 12

seconds for it to turn around."

And I hit it as hard as I could.

I tried to push it down

in the water column.

I remember as soon as I hit her down and

I knew that her mouth was passing us,

I threw the paddle and

I put him on my back,

and we started paddling in.

I had, like, virtually

no life left in me.

It was kind of hard to

breathe. And [inhales deeply]

I remember I was kind of

telling Keoni my last wishes.

He said, "Hey, man, just

tell my mom I love her."

[Colin] We've been close

ever since this happened.

It's kind of a unique

bond that we have.

You know, he's almost

like this hero to me.

[reporter 1] Cook made it to

shore with the help of a friend.

His left leg had to be amputated and

he lost parts of two of his fingers,

but he's still here.

[reporter 2] Keoni Bowthorpe

was awarded the Carnegie Medal.

It's given to those who risk their

lives to an extraordinary degree

to save someone else.

[Ocean] It's such a

wonderful hero story

that my heart just

it just feels crushed.

It's it's just a tragedy.

And the only thing that I can do is

look for the positive in any situation.

And that's the fact

that it's so rare.

All day, every day, sharks are swimming

past surfers, swimmers and divers.

[tense music playing]

And if they looked at us

as a natural prey item

These kinds of incidents would

be happening all the time.

And yet it's so rare.

I feel like my job is not just

to protect humans from sharks

It's also to protect

sharks from humans.

I sometimes go through

these periods of time

where you've gotten to

know these individuals,

and then you don't see

them for a couple of years.

[pensive music playing]

You're like, "Did

they get hooked"

"and get their jaw broken

open or wrapped up in a net?"

"Are they caught

in a fishing line?"

"Did they die?"

We hadn't seen Roxy

in a long time.

[Juan] She had a rope going down

into her stomach with a hook.

[Ocean] I couldn't cut that

because if we put tension on it,

you could just see the pain in her.

God, that broke my

heart to see that.

You could tell that she

was just super weak.

In my head, I was just like, "Okay,

she's probably not gonna make it."

I got to say goodbye

at least, you know?

[Ocean] I was most

afraid for the sharks

at the point where I had really fallen

in love with them as individuals.

So let's do something to

actually help save them.

[anticipatory music playing]

So we tried to get a law passed

to make policy change,

to get them to be fully protected

from wasteful k*lling in Hawaii.

[man 1] Next bill is HB1734.

Relating to marine

life protection.

[man 2] It's a long one.

[woman] Can you speak

into the microphone?

Sorry. Can you

guys hear me okay?

[Ocean] It was dropping everything

that was going on in our life.

The social media strategy, we'll

just keep going on that one.

[Juan] I don't need to

sleep. Let's get this done

and try and get as much

media out there as possible.

Aloha, I'm Ocean Ramsey. I'm a shark and

marine conservationist and scientist.

Sharks are crucial for the health

and balance of marine ecosystems

and need and deserve

to be protected.

I think she thinks like a shark.

And that I mean as a compliment.

[Ocean] Take a stand against shark

fishing and elect local leaders

that will establish laws

to help protect sharks.

Hi, you guys.

[kids gasp, exclaim]

[Ocean] Rallying in the community to try

and get people to bombard the politicians.

The sad reality is

it's over 100 million sharks

are k*lled every year.

Why protect them? Why do

we actually need sharks?

If we remove them from our

ocean, everything falls apart.

70% of the air that you

breathe comes from the oceans,

and sharks are a vital component

to that healthy marine ecosystem.

[Mauricio] In order

to make a change

in the time that we need,

I think that we really

must work together.

We must work as a team.

In my district in South Maui, there's

been a spate of shark attacks.

The fact that a couple instances

are happening are likely due

to the increase in the number of people

that are spending time in the water.

My name is Juan Oliphant,

shark conservationist.

[Ocean] It wasn't

just Juan and I going.

It was a whole bunch of

people in the community.

Hawaii State Capitol Building.

Room 312. Hope you can make it.

[indistinct chatter]

Shark species will go extinct

without our protection.

We've had incidents of sharks being

caught and strung up on street signs,

like hung from the neck.

[Ocean] Submitting

testimony online.

[keyboard clacking]

[Ocean] From all the different

organizations that we work with.

[Juan] She's so driven on

so many different platforms.

It's hard to keep up with her.

[Ocean] Not everyone's

gonna agree with you.

[fisherman] There's a huge competition

between sharks and fishermen.

Some fishermen kept opposing it.

I don't believe that catching and k*lling

sharks is a major problem in Hawaii.

That's not true.

It causes a lot of chaos.

There have been malicious killings,

very intentional killings.

-Is that or is that not self-defense?

-That's debatable.

No, no, no. We're gonna

learn from nature.

What academic publications

have you published?

When I look at your website,

it's very commercial in nature.

They underestimate Ocean

about the toughness

that she is and she has.

[frantic orchestral music]

We're in opposition

of this bill.

I'm in full support.

I'm testifying in

opposition to this bill.

So I'm here to give the

man the full protection.

[Ocean] We put in

so much effort.

But it failed.

[frantic music fades out]

Year after year after year.

[Juan] That's when I definitely would

see her in her most dark phases.

And she's a different person.

It's just Her mindset definitely changes

to being, like, a lot more negative.

She just doesn't

know how to stop.

I know.

[gentle music plays]

She's just gonna work

herself to death.

I just know that she's

battling something tough.

She doesn't really open up to

me even about it because, um

I don't know why.

[music continues]

I definitely felt, like,

major depression, which I...

It's funny, I actually feel

bad about feeling depressed

because you have so many opportunities,

so many things that are going on for you.

And, you know, it's like

everybody goes through struggles.

[soft piano music playing]

[Juan] I wanted to feel like I'm

there in those moments with her.

[Ocean] I couldn't

do this without him.

He's the only person, I

think, that understands me.

Everything that we've been through

together has only made us stronger.

[music fades out]

[Ocean] By 2019, we've

been working for four years

trying to, like,

get that law passed.

The next deadline for the

bill to be reintroduced

was coming up at

the end of the week.

And we knew we were coming up short

again on support from the politicians.

And then it happens.

We heard about a whale that was

coming onto the reef in Waikiki.

It was a dead whale.

I'm instantly like, "Ooh,"

because a dead whale carcass

is gonna attract sharks.

So we were in the water.

There were tiger sharks

and we were observing them.

[suspenseful music playing]

And at one point, the

tiger sharks disappeared.

And then everything was quiet.

But I'm hearing

little dolphin noises.

[dolphins clicking]

And I'm seeing some

flashes down in the deep.

And then up from the depths

Comes this massive

great white shark.

Oh my God!

She's so huge, 20-plus foot.

Juan was able to actually

get in really close.

And you could see her trying to just

take down more of this whale meat.

And all the bits of whale flesh

are sort of coming out

the side of her gills.

It just seems so surreal.

There's no word to describe

what that experience was like.

And she goes right to the boat.

[clunking]

And it sounds like

metal on metal.

And you just realize, like,

how thick their skin is.

[dolphins clicking]

[mesmerizing music playing]

[dolphins clicking]

[Ocean] It just seems so much more

beautiful than I could have imagined.

[clicking]

With her, it's a

different feeling.

I don't feel, like,

the need to breathe.

The emotions and the

connection that I feel,

it's overwhelming.

This is what I'm supposed to do.

This is what I'm alive for.

[reporter 1] This isn't

a movie. This is real.

This is a 20-foot great white.

The largest great white shark

on record anywhere in the world.

[reporter 1] And the

oldest too, 50 years old.

[reporter 2] The shark

made a surprise appearance

off the coast of

O'ahu this week.

Diver Ocean Ramsey

swam alongside her.

[reporter 1] Ramsey has traveled

the globe studying sharks

[Ocean] The attention that came on

Hawaii for having great white sharks

was huge.

She is doing this

to kind of show

that not all sharks can

prove deadly to humans.

And it's raising the need to protect

these animals versus vilify them.

-Do you think she has a point there?

-No.

[Ocean] There was controversy around it,

saying, "Oh, you shouldn't touch a shark."

You absolutely don't need

to harass wild animals

to show they're not dangerous.

Look, but don't touch.

[hopeful music playing]

[Ocean] The controversy was actually good

because it kept it in the news longer.

And it kept a shark in

the news in a good way.

Because it was people saying,

"Oh, you shouldn't touch them."

Like, people care.

On the inside, I was like, "Oh my gosh,

people actually care about a shark."

There's a lot of controversy about how

close you should get to a white shark.

In general, I don't think

the sharks give a darn.

Um, I don't think

that it's harassment.

I don't agree with it,

but the level of good that

they could potentially be doing

for the overall population

of shark conservation

There can be a lot

of good done as well.

People k*ll 70 to 100

million sharks every year.

Her numbers are startling,

that they're k*lling that many

of those beautiful creatures.

-Yeah.

-That's alarming.

[reporter] The timing of the

shark's visit comes as Ramsey pushes

for stronger legislation to protect

the mammoth creatures of the sea.

[Ocean] Right then, that week,

was where we needed to schedule

this bill to protect sharks.

And I'm like, "Okay, I'm on the

level." I'm like, "Bring it, let's go."

This is Roxy.

Right now, she's currently swimming

around with a wire leader in her throat.

Many people have come out to meet her

and see her and fall in love with her

and ask me all the time on

social media, "Is she alive?"

And honestly, I can't say.

These animals are going to

be banished from the planet,

and there's no way back.

It's on the line right now.

We have the best chance we

will ever have right now.

Just stop k*lling sharks

to begin to heal the ocean.

[man] Thanks, everybody,

for coming out.

As you can see, very

little opposition, so

That wasn't by accident. That was

because you folks have been organizing

and pushing this issue for

quite some time now, so

If we can be open enough to see

things from multiple perspectives,

we have a greater chance

of finding that balance

and connection with our fellow

creatures of this world.

Man has always eliminated things

when they're afraid of things.

You're going into their

environment, you know.

It's our environment too,

but how do we coexist? You

know, that's the real lesson.

[indistinct chattering]

Good news!

[man] House Bill 553,

a bill for an act relating

to the protection of sharks.

This establishes the offense

of intentionally and knowingly

capturing, entangling,

or k*lling a shark

in state marine waters.

And House Bill 553 is now

law in Hawaii as Act 51.

[speaking indistinctly]

[electronic buzzing]

[uplifting music playing]

[Ocean] It's now ill*gal

to k*ll sharks in Hawaii.

[Juan] But the bigger thing is that

this law is now already in use,

and it can be given

to other states.

It just takes a few people to

speak up, and things can change.

[music ends]

[Juan] Ooh!

That is Roxy.

Oh God, yeah!

When she came back,

levels of excitement and

happiness, you're just like,

"She's alive. She's

here. She's kicking it."

Unbelievable. Yeah,

baby, what's up?

Ah, love this shark.

Oh, Roxy.

[uplifting music playing]

We were thrilled to see her,

like, just looking so healthy.

Something happened.

Someone helped her out,

and she was, yeah, on

fire. She was amazing.

Getting to see her just

thriving, that was a relief.

And knowing that Roxy

and Nikki and Kalihi

and all these sharks that we grew

up with that are like family to us

are now officially protected,

it makes me super happy.

[music fades]

[Juan] My mom, she helped me

get into conservation as well.

What was her thing?

You're only a limited amount

of time on the planet.

Let's just try and make it

better than when you found it.

That was always her thing.

It always stuck with me.

So I was like, "Oh, yeah, so I got

to find what's my thing that I can do

to make it a little bit

better than where I found it."

And I feel like that's with the

ocean and with the sharks for me,

for sure, 100%. Yeah.

["Waves" by Dean Lewis plays]

Yeah. Yes. [chuckles] That one

got me a little teary-eyed.

Jeez, I'm all emotional today.

It's the hot... You guys

got it so hot in here.

There is a swelling storm

And I'm caught up In

the middle of it all

There is a light

[Keoni] I think it'd be hard to overstate

the significance of what they're doing.

You could do far worse

in heroes for your kids.

It comes and goes in waves

It always does

It always does

[Ocean] I think people just

want my signature sometimes

'cause they think that I'm going to die

and then the book will be worth more.

flood

Into the flood

And the freedom of falling

The feeling I thought

was set in stone

It slips through my fingers

[Ocean] Everything that I've

accomplished, no one would know about it

without his incredible

talent and skills and eye.

It comes and goes in waves

And carries us away

I've watched my wild youth

Disappear

[reporter] Colin Cook

survived a shark attack.

It's a big weekend for Cook

because he was back in the water.

It's a great day to be down here.

It's inspiring to see everybody.

back again?

Is it ever coming

back again?

Take me back to

the feeling when

[Ocean] I wanna meet more sharks

and explore this beautiful planet.

While I'd like to be

able to continue that,

you know, you never know

when you're gonna go.

But if it happens from a shark, I'm

always big on going on the record of,

you know, I'm putting myself in

these more extreme situations.

So definitely don't

blame the shark.

["Waves" continues playing]

And the freedom of falling

The feeling I thought

was set in stone

It slips through my fingers

I'm trying hard to let go

It comes and goes in waves

It carries us away

[song ends]

[soft music plays]

[music fades out]