Hawaiian environmentalist Ocean Ramsey wowed viewers on Instagram after a tense encounter with a tiger shark that turned out to be one of her old friends.
Ramsey, who has been swimming with sharks for over 20 years, is passionate about shark conservation and aims to change the stigma surrounding ocean predators. Her calm demeanor after coming face to face with a huge tiger shark that seemed to be pouncing on her could do that.
The viral video, posted twice on Instagram on Saturday by Ramsey and shark photographer Juan Oliphant, shows Ramsey preparing to dive when a massive tiger shark leaps from the water. Ramsey stepped back in time for the shark’s open jaws to brush against his fins.
Ramsey is quite familiar with the 16 foot long shark. According to a follow-up post about the incident, he revealed that he has actually been diving with the shark, whom he named Queen Nikki, for decades.
Above, a female tiger shark swims over the reef at La Vallée Blanche, a famous dive site in Tahiti on March 5, 2018. An experienced diver in Hawaii named Ocean Ramsey has been swimming with the same shark, whom she calls Queen Nikki. during years.
Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images
While she and Queen Nikki share a long-standing friendship, Ramsey admitted that she entered the water too quickly and the shark responded to her actions. But she greeted the shark enthusiastically once she was out of harm’s way.
“Hello Nikki!” Ramsey said in the video just as the shark jumped out of the water.
Ramsey and Oliphant approached the encounter nonchalantly. According to the Instagram post, Ramsey knew when he would “respectfully back off.”
“I love that tiger shark, I grew up with that tiger shark,” Ramsey said in an interview with Today on Tuesday morning. “I think we were teenagers at the same time together.”
“I jumped in the water too fast,” Ramsey said. “And she totally, she reacted to that. She was close enough to her with enough speed that it looked like she was actually heading for the tips of my fins. I could see the speed of her. I knew she needed to back up at that point.” moment”.
Ramsey made it clear that while sharks are predators, people often get the wrong idea and mistreat them.
“We can coexist, it should only be done with respect for their important role as apex predators, they are not monsters,” Ramsey wrote on Instagram. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about sharks, or [Nikki]she’s amazing and she’s also usually the most dominant person, of course.”
Ramsey compared the shark to an “elderly grandmother” keeping “brave young men” at bay.
He also offered advice to swimmers, suggesting they avoid cloudy water where possible, minimize splashing and opt not to wear bright, high-contrast clothing. If someone is diving with sharks on purpose, Ramsey urged them to hang a brightly colored object so the shark has a “conspicuous target” other than the swimmer.
Newsweek has contacted Ramsey for comment.
Source: news.google.com