All language subtitles for Shark Whisperer 2025.eng

[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 fuck 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 killing 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 balls.

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 killing 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 killing.

Things like shark fishing.

[sinister music continues]

Killing 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 killing 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 kill 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 killing 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 killed 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 killing
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
manō 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 kill 70 to 100
million sharks every year.

Her numbers are startling,

that they're killing 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 killing 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 killing 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 illegal
to kill 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]