Freediving with World's Biggest Shark ~ Deep Blue

A diver’s extremely close visit with a giant great white shark went viral. Marine biologists say don’t copy her. A group of divers had a rare experience when they recently swam with the largest-known great white shark in waters off of Hawaii. What is believed to be the largest great white shark caught on film, nicknamed Deep Blue, has been spotted off the coast of Hawaii for the first time in years. The massive predator, which measures more than six metres long, was seen while devouring the carcass of a dead sperm whale and was even joined by a handful of brave divers.

Smaller tiger sharks left when the possibly pregnant great white came to dine on the dead whale on Tuesday, according to divers at the scene.

Deep Blue, who was later identified by marine biologists, is thought to have last been seen off the coast of Mexico in 2013. Diver Ocean Ramsey swims next to a female great white shark off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii on January 15, 2019.

Hawaii state officials issued a warning to recreational divers and snorkellers to stay out of the water near the dead sperm whale amid reports some people had climbed on to the carcass to take its teeth as souvenirs.

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a statement on Wednesday that the decomposing whale carcass had drifted to about 13 kilometres south of Pearl Harbor after being towed 24 kilometres offshore days earlier.
Great white sharks are extremely rare in Hawaii and this individual may be one of the largest recorded.

The @OneOceanDiving research team study shark behavior and teach people how to avoid adverse interactions. Their research and work aims to help reduce shark-related fatalities and educate others on the importance of sharks.

The shark got her name from Discovery Channel diver Mauricio Hoyos Padilla who swam with her on a 2015 documentary and was filmed reaching his hands out of a metal cage to touch her fin.

Pictures taken this week by photographers Kimberly Jeffries and Mark Mohler show the divers in the water, completely dwarfed by the massive shark.

“Deep Blue, possibly the biggest White Shark identified, coming in at nearly 7 metres, was last spotted in Mexico,” Mr Mohler wrote on Facebook. “She decided to come on a Hawaii all-you-can-eat vacation.

“Notice all the chunks of whale and oil floating around.”

The Hawaii-based Ms Jeffries and the other divers were reportedly able to confirm the identity of Deep Blue thanks to a tag implanted on the animal when she appeared at another spot near Mexico two decades ago.

Well known conservationist Ocean Ramsey, another diver who got face-to-face with Deep Blue, said: “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,” she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii waters are usually too warm for great whites compared with California’s Pacific coast, where they feed on sea lions and elephant seals, Ms Ramsey said. She estimated this shark was more than six metres long and 2.4 metres across.

The giant white might have headed to Hawaii because of hunger and a need for extra nutrients in pregnancy, Ms Ramsey added.
Deep Blue is believed to be among the largest great whites in the world and is thought to have roamed the ocean for up to five decades.

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