A group of divers got a once-in-a-lifetime – and definitely an unexpected – experience, while swimming off Hawaiian coast, not far from Oahu’s shores. The researchers were filming a shiver of tiger sharks feeding, when came across an enormous creature.
Ramsey Ocean and her team went to investigate the tiger sharks as part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program, when came face-to-face with Deep Blue – the largest great white shark ever recorded. A pretty intimidating presence thinking that the female weighs over 2,200 pounds and she’s 20ft long, yet the divers proved they have nerves of steel with some of them even touching the gigantic shark.
“We saw a group of tiger sharks and then she came up and all the other [sharks] split,” Ramsey told Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “She was just this big beautiful gentle giant wanting to use our boat as a scratching post. We went out at sunrise, and she stayed with us pretty much throughout the day.”
Ramsay immediately recognized the female as Deep Blue, because this wasn’t the first time she spotted the famous creature. Anyway, this time she was likely pregnant according to the divers. Deep Blue, is thought to be around 50-year-old and she’s the biggest great white shark on Earth. Nonetheless, she’s the gentlest giant.
“She’s probably the most gentle great white I’ve ever seen,” the diver said. “She looks like she may be pregnant: She’s shockingly wide. But pregnant females are actually the safest ones to be with, the biggest oldest ones, because they’ve seen it all-including us.”
Even though for many, including Ramsay and her team, swimming with sharks is a tremendous experience, getting close to these creature can be extremely dangerous. That’s why even Ramsay doesn’t recommend to free-cage swim with great white sharks, unless you’re a very experienced diver.
Here you can watch the incredible moment these divers swim next to giant Deep Blue!