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Snack Attack! Extraordinary moment diver NARROWLY avoids turning into tiger shark for lunch just as she is about to enter the water off the coast of Hawaii
- Cameras captured the moment Ocean Ramsey, a marine researcher, narrowly avoided a bite from one of her favorite tiger sharks, Queen Nikki, on Wednesday.
- Ramsey laughed off the incident after quickly seeing the apex predator approach her during a diving routine in Haleiwa, Hawaii, where two other large female sharks were swimming.
- The researcher said Nikki was probably confused by the murky water and was exploring her boat
- It occurs during the ‘Shark-tober’ season in the North Pacific where predator encounters tend to be higher given the mating season and visibility in the waters is low
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A diving expert narrowly avoided being chewed by a tiger shark just as she was preparing to enter the ocean off the coast of Haleiwa, Hawaii.
Cameras captured the dramatic moment when marine researcher Ocean Ramsey on the island of Oahu on Wednesday was about to dive into murky, shark-infested water after spotting a shark crashing into plastic pollution.
Just as she’s ready to help, the diver takes one last look into the choppy water, with her face just inches away from Queen Nikki, one of the most prominent tiger sharks in the area, the second most dangerous shark in the world. .
Ramsey quickly retreats to the boat as the apex predator leaps out of the water and tries to take a bite of the researcher’s fins.
Rather than startle, Ramsey laughs off the incident, quickly identifies the shark by name and continues her dive to find two other large, female sharks in the water.
“I saw a shark bumping into floating plastic so I ran in and this was my greeting,” Ramsey joked about the encounter on Instagram.
Cameras captured the moment Ocean Ramsey, a marine researcher, narrowly avoided a bite from one of her favorite tiger sharks, Queen Nikki (pictured), on Wednesday.
Before diving in to help a shark, Ramsey took a quick glance at the water, where Nikki had been lurking.
Ramsey laughs off the incident and waits for the tiger shark to swim away before diving back in
Ramsey, CEO of the OneOcean Diving conservatory and training group, said Nikki, with whom she has worked for years, probably had no intention of biting her.
‘I couldn’t see far and I don’t think she could, so I think [Nikki] was more responsive to my initial sound coming in and shadow,” Ramsey explained on social media.
“I always love to see their white bellies coming out of the deep and in this case it’s what betrayed her position so that she was actually easier to see when she came up vertically compared to the others already on the surface .’
Ramsey said it’s rare to see sharks doing this “spy hop,” where the apex predators poke their heads out of the water to check the surface during murky conditions.
Ramsey dove back into the water a few minutes later and was seen touching the large female tiger sharks
Ramsey said Queen Nikki was her favorite shark swimming in Hawaii. She is pictured petting the tiger shark in 2020
The researcher (above) said Nikki was probably confused by the murky water and was exploring her boat
She noted that sharks are extra attracted to cameras because of their electroreceptors, so Nikki, aka Ali’i Nikole, was probably drawn to their boatload of recording equipment.
The close encounter with Nikki occurs during the North Pacific ‘Shark-tober’ season, where more predators are seen along the Pacific coasts during the breeding and mating season.
The event usually coincides with more rain and swell, making the water more murky.
Ramsey said that since tiger sharks don’t have the best vision to begin with, the conditions make them swim closer to the surface, increasing the likelihood of coming into contact with the predators.
According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, four shark attacks have been recorded this year, two of them in September. The number of incidents has halved compared to last year.