Pallas' Cat
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2024
Hello fellow Kiwis. As flightless birds native to an island nation, I thought I’d drop by to discuss shark safety with you. Okay, are you ready? Here is my #1 guaranteed-to-work, no fail shark safety tip:
DON’T GO FREE DIVING WITH SHARKS!
That’s it. It’s really that simple. If you must see sharks up close and personal, settle into your burrow, pop some popcorn, and watch as these three shark influencers do not follow my #1 shark safety tip.
If you’ve heard of Ocean Ramsey, you may have thought that she was a crazy hippy one-off who went out of her way to swim with sharks for attention. But she has multiplied. At least two other aspiring shark handlers have entered the scene: Andriana Fragola (who goes by Andriana Marine on her social media platforms) and Kayleigh Nicole Grant (who goes by Mermaid Kayleigh on her social media platforms). Both of these women have hundreds of thousands of subscribers/followers on YouTube and Instagram and use the technique popularized by Ocean Ramsey.
The gist of the technique it to face off with the shark, stiff-arm it, and redirect it away from you, as demonstrated in this YouTube Short on Ocean Ramsey’s channel:
YouTube Link
However, if you are an influencer and really need to get the shot before your work day is over, you can enhance the technique by wiggling spirit fingers at the shark to attract it to you, as you will see in some of the clips that I’ve compiled in this post.
I am defining these women as influencers based on their social media following, brand deals, and style of content, but I also want to give credit where credit is due: all three are marine biologists (although Ocean Ramsey’s credentials are in question—more details on that later) and do consider themselves shark conservationists. Their social media accounts have some other content besides free diving with sharks, and they do make an effort to put out information about shark conservation and shark safety. But as you will see, much of their content appears to be clout-chasing under the guise of “I’m raising awaaaarenesssssss”. Awareness of what, you might ask? Of sharks. Of safety around sharks. Shark fin soup bad. You name it, they are raising awareness of it in airy voiceovers while booping shark noses.
I’ve seen some amazing ocean footage while sifting through videos for this post. I’ve also seen incredibly reckless behavior that no amount of degrees or “I’m a professional shark diver” disclaimers can excuse. I don’t doubt that these women love sharks. But they are also out to make a name for themselves, and the longer they continue making content like this, the greater the chance that something goes terribly wrong.
We shall see. In the meantime, place your bets on who will make the news someday for all the wrong reasons.
Ocean Ramsey
Ocean Ramsey was born in Hawaii and currently resides there with her husband, Juan Sharks Oliphant. Juan is a professional photographer and videographer and shoots Ocean’s videos. Before meeting Ocean, he had the good sense to not free dive with sharks, as discussed in this video profile on Ocean’s YouTube channel (archive). I have not given him his own section in this post because I think his relevance is mostly tied to Ocean, but I’ve included his socials below with hers.
According to Ocean’s website, she is an “author, marine conservationist, scientist, entrepreneur, model, designer, freediver, scuba instructor, nonprofit founder, speaker, safety officer, surfer, world traveler and more.” She and Juan founded the One Ocean Organization, which has several different divisions for research, conservation, and operating a dive company. Ocean comes across as having a sort of Mother Ocean/goddess complex, but don’t let that fool you, there’s still some serious grift going on here. In addition to One Ocean, she sells books, merch, online courses, and rates for speaking engagements start at $5,000 (archive).
While I think anyone who willingly free dives with sharks is nuts, Ocean does have a soft touch when interacting with them and naturally has more command in the water than Andriana Marine or Kayleigh Nicole Grant. She doesn’t have many close calls—not many that get posted online, anyways. I’ve pulled the worst ones that I was able to find.
No amount of casual narration will ever convince me that this situation wasn’t an absolute cluster:
YouTube Link
Who needs their hands, anyways?
YouTube Link
Or their feet?
YouTube Link
However, even an expert has her limits. Here’s a video demonstrating when to exit the water so that you can live to nose boop another day:
YouTube Link
Marine Biologist?
There is some doubt as to whether or not Ocean actually has a degree in marine biology. In this video about Ocean’s 2019 viral encounter with a great white shark, Kristian Parton, a marine biologist and shark scientist who runs a YouTube channel called SHARK BYTES, raises some serious questions about her claimed marine biology credentials.
"THIS is Why 'Ocean Ramsey' is BAD for Sharks!"
YouTube Link
For what it’s worth, r/marinebiology is also not having any of it:
Original | Archive
Ocean’s Socials
Website: https://oceanramsey.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OCEANRAMSEYSHARKS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanramsey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceanramseywater/
X: https://x.com/OceanRamsey
Juan’s Socials
Website: https://juansharks.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@juansharks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juansharks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesharkphotographer/
X: https://x.com/juansharks1
Andriana “Andy” Fragola / Andriana Marine
Andriana Fragola is a marine biologist who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite her best efforts to get her husband eaten by sharks, she is still married. She is friends with Kayleigh Nicole Grant and they sometimes appear in each other’s videos on dives.
I have not been able to find a direct connection between Andriana and Ocean Ramsey, but since a) Kayleigh and Ocean are friends; b) Kayleigh and Andriana are friends; and c) Andriana follows the same playbook as Ocean in both how she handles sharks and how she maintains her social media presence, I would hazard a guess that Andriana and Ocean are at least acquaintances.
Andriana’s demonstration of how to handle a shark that approaches you, using Ocean’s technique:
YouTube Link
If I had to bet on which of these women was going to be the first to get seriously injured or worse, my money would be on Andriana. In line with the neck tattoos that give off “I’m a risk taker” vibes, Andriana has many interactions with sharks that seem to be only a split second away from disaster. She has so many instances of this that I split her clips up into categories in an effort to organize them a little better.
General Shark Safety Violations
Nothing says “I understand that these are wild animals that I have no control over, and I respect their status as apex predators” like playing a game of hot potato with a tiger shark.
YouTube Link
At least two separate instances of diving with tiger sharks in low visibility… you know, the thing every shark expert tells you NOT to do because it increases your chance of being mistaken as prey.
YouTube Link
YouTube Link
Clunky Redirects
“Redirecting a 16 Foot Tiger Shark!”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Swimming Vertical At Me!”
YouTube Link
“Shark slaps me in the face”
YouTube Link
“Multiple Interactive Tiger Sharks”
YouTube Link
Near Bites
“Two Tiger Sharks Charge Me”
YouTube Link
“Open Mouth Tigers”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Trying to Bite Me”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Coming At Me”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Snapping At Me!”
YouTube Link
Miscellaneous Underwater Chaos
“Swimming With 8 Tiger Sharks!”
YouTube Link
“Two Tiger Sharks At Once!” (Kayleigh Nicole Grant is also in this video.)
YouTube Link
Then there’s the time she “hazed” her husband.
“Throwing My Husband to the Sharks”
YouTube Link
Andriana’s Socials
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@andriana_marine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andriana_marine
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andriana.marine/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@andriana_marine
Kayleigh Nicole Grant / Mermaid Kayleigh
Kayleigh Nicole Grant lives in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In this profile for Women in Ocean Science (archive), Kayleigh confirms that she is a friend and protégé of Ocean Ramsey. According to Kayleigh’s LinkedIn, she worked at One Ocean Diving (Ocean Ramsey’s foundation) from 2015-2020. She and her husband, Cam, founded the Kaimana Ocean Safari dive company in 2020.
Kayleigh seems to be the most honest of the three when it comes to acknowledging how dangerous sharks can be. But that doesn’t stop her from getting into the water with NINE tiger sharks.
“DIVING WITH 9 TIGER SHARKS”
YouTube Link
Kayleigh has her own demonstration of how to handle a shark that approaches you:
YouTube Link
Some additional heart-stopping videos:
“Erratic Tiger Shark Approach”
YouTube Link
“Tigers are generally shy & this behavior is rare”
YouTube Link
“SHARKS SNEAKING UP ON ME”
YouTube Link
“Tiger shark biting at my hand”
YouTube Link
“Helping Hands” (Andriana Marine is in this video and helps redirect one shark when two are coming after Kayleigh.)
YouTube Link
Kayleigh’s Socials
Website: https://www.kaimanaoceansafari.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mermaid.kayleigh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mermaid.kayleigh
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kayleighnb/
X: https://x.com/mermaid___kay
Conclusion
The lesson here is obvious. These are wild animals, and as Timothy Treadwell famously found out, no matter what bond you think you have with a wild animal, they are ultimately unpredictable and you have no control over the situation. Especially in an underwater setting, where humans by default are operating at a disadvantage. Even the best swimmer in the world couldn't outswim a shark. Ocean, Andriana, Kayleigh, and any other copycats out there can play expert shark handlers only for as long as the sharks allow them to. There's a certain level of hubris that I find entertaining about this whole genre.
These women are not completely oblivious to the risks they are taking, but I wonder if it has occurred to them what would happen to the shark that attacked or killed them? The shark would almost certainly be destroyed, and for the sole reason that they decided to get in the water with it and put their hands near three rows of razor sharp teeth for clout.
I will end here with some final words of wisdom: STAY OUTTA THE SHARK’S HOUSE!!!
YouTube Link
DON’T GO FREE DIVING WITH SHARKS!
That’s it. It’s really that simple. If you must see sharks up close and personal, settle into your burrow, pop some popcorn, and watch as these three shark influencers do not follow my #1 shark safety tip.
If you’ve heard of Ocean Ramsey, you may have thought that she was a crazy hippy one-off who went out of her way to swim with sharks for attention. But she has multiplied. At least two other aspiring shark handlers have entered the scene: Andriana Fragola (who goes by Andriana Marine on her social media platforms) and Kayleigh Nicole Grant (who goes by Mermaid Kayleigh on her social media platforms). Both of these women have hundreds of thousands of subscribers/followers on YouTube and Instagram and use the technique popularized by Ocean Ramsey.
The gist of the technique it to face off with the shark, stiff-arm it, and redirect it away from you, as demonstrated in this YouTube Short on Ocean Ramsey’s channel:
YouTube Link
However, if you are an influencer and really need to get the shot before your work day is over, you can enhance the technique by wiggling spirit fingers at the shark to attract it to you, as you will see in some of the clips that I’ve compiled in this post.
I am defining these women as influencers based on their social media following, brand deals, and style of content, but I also want to give credit where credit is due: all three are marine biologists (although Ocean Ramsey’s credentials are in question—more details on that later) and do consider themselves shark conservationists. Their social media accounts have some other content besides free diving with sharks, and they do make an effort to put out information about shark conservation and shark safety. But as you will see, much of their content appears to be clout-chasing under the guise of “I’m raising awaaaarenesssssss”. Awareness of what, you might ask? Of sharks. Of safety around sharks. Shark fin soup bad. You name it, they are raising awareness of it in airy voiceovers while booping shark noses.
I’ve seen some amazing ocean footage while sifting through videos for this post. I’ve also seen incredibly reckless behavior that no amount of degrees or “I’m a professional shark diver” disclaimers can excuse. I don’t doubt that these women love sharks. But they are also out to make a name for themselves, and the longer they continue making content like this, the greater the chance that something goes terribly wrong.
We shall see. In the meantime, place your bets on who will make the news someday for all the wrong reasons.
Ocean Ramsey
Ocean Ramsey was born in Hawaii and currently resides there with her husband, Juan Sharks Oliphant. Juan is a professional photographer and videographer and shoots Ocean’s videos. Before meeting Ocean, he had the good sense to not free dive with sharks, as discussed in this video profile on Ocean’s YouTube channel (archive). I have not given him his own section in this post because I think his relevance is mostly tied to Ocean, but I’ve included his socials below with hers.
According to Ocean’s website, she is an “author, marine conservationist, scientist, entrepreneur, model, designer, freediver, scuba instructor, nonprofit founder, speaker, safety officer, surfer, world traveler and more.” She and Juan founded the One Ocean Organization, which has several different divisions for research, conservation, and operating a dive company. Ocean comes across as having a sort of Mother Ocean/goddess complex, but don’t let that fool you, there’s still some serious grift going on here. In addition to One Ocean, she sells books, merch, online courses, and rates for speaking engagements start at $5,000 (archive).
February 18, 2013 - ABC News
YouTube Link
January 18, 2019 - ABC News
YouTube Link
January 18, 2019 - The Today Show
YouTube Link
October 22, 2019 - 60 Minutes Australia
YouTube Link
YouTube Link
January 18, 2019 - ABC News
YouTube Link
January 18, 2019 - The Today Show
YouTube Link
October 22, 2019 - 60 Minutes Australia
YouTube Link
While I think anyone who willingly free dives with sharks is nuts, Ocean does have a soft touch when interacting with them and naturally has more command in the water than Andriana Marine or Kayleigh Nicole Grant. She doesn’t have many close calls—not many that get posted online, anyways. I’ve pulled the worst ones that I was able to find.
No amount of casual narration will ever convince me that this situation wasn’t an absolute cluster:
YouTube Link
Who needs their hands, anyways?
YouTube Link
Or their feet?
YouTube Link
However, even an expert has her limits. Here’s a video demonstrating when to exit the water so that you can live to nose boop another day:
YouTube Link
Marine Biologist?
There is some doubt as to whether or not Ocean actually has a degree in marine biology. In this video about Ocean’s 2019 viral encounter with a great white shark, Kristian Parton, a marine biologist and shark scientist who runs a YouTube channel called SHARK BYTES, raises some serious questions about her claimed marine biology credentials.
"THIS is Why 'Ocean Ramsey' is BAD for Sharks!"
YouTube Link
- 1:23 General overview of how interacting with wildlife can have negative impacts on the animals’ health.
- 3:26 Starts talking about Ocean Ramsey.
- 4:07 Kristian can’t find any information about Ocean’s qualifications as a marine biologist.
- 4:26 Additionally, Ocean would have written a thesis as part of her master’s degree. That thesis would have then been published on the university’s research database and made publicly available.
- 4:35 Kristian demonstrates how he can find his own thesis via a search on Google Scholar. He then runs a search on Ocean Ramsey’s thesis, which turns up no results for her. He charitably gives several potential explanations for this, like perhaps she used a different name to publish, or her thesis isn’t coming up in the search because he doesn’t know the name of the university or institution from which she allegedly received her degree. Finally, he considers the possibility that Ocean doesn’t have the qualifications she says she does.
- 5:07 Discussion on Ocean’s swim with a great white shark. Kristian shows footage and goes over Ocean's stated reasoning for touching the shark, and then discusses the negative impact of her attracting so much attention to the whale carcass and great white shark in the area.
- 9:21 Calls into question Ocean’s supposed “research” motive. In addition to searching for Ocean’s thesis, Kristian also searched for ANY research papers written or coauthored by Ocean Ramsey and found nothing.
- 10:08 Even if she doesn’t have any peer-reviewed research papers, she could still potentially collaborate with other scientists by sharing with them whatever “data” she is collecting for their research papers.
- 10:25 Kristian has personally reached out to Ocean over the years for her data on where she is encountering shark entanglements (which Ocean often posts pictures of on her social media). He’s been asking her to collaborate with him on his paper about marine debris and sharks, which also includes a shark entanglement database that he could input her data into. He has never received a response from her or her team.
- 3:26 Starts talking about Ocean Ramsey.
- 4:07 Kristian can’t find any information about Ocean’s qualifications as a marine biologist.
- 4:26 Additionally, Ocean would have written a thesis as part of her master’s degree. That thesis would have then been published on the university’s research database and made publicly available.
- 4:35 Kristian demonstrates how he can find his own thesis via a search on Google Scholar. He then runs a search on Ocean Ramsey’s thesis, which turns up no results for her. He charitably gives several potential explanations for this, like perhaps she used a different name to publish, or her thesis isn’t coming up in the search because he doesn’t know the name of the university or institution from which she allegedly received her degree. Finally, he considers the possibility that Ocean doesn’t have the qualifications she says she does.
- 5:07 Discussion on Ocean’s swim with a great white shark. Kristian shows footage and goes over Ocean's stated reasoning for touching the shark, and then discusses the negative impact of her attracting so much attention to the whale carcass and great white shark in the area.
- 9:21 Calls into question Ocean’s supposed “research” motive. In addition to searching for Ocean’s thesis, Kristian also searched for ANY research papers written or coauthored by Ocean Ramsey and found nothing.
- 10:08 Even if she doesn’t have any peer-reviewed research papers, she could still potentially collaborate with other scientists by sharing with them whatever “data” she is collecting for their research papers.
- 10:25 Kristian has personally reached out to Ocean over the years for her data on where she is encountering shark entanglements (which Ocean often posts pictures of on her social media). He’s been asking her to collaborate with him on his paper about marine debris and sharks, which also includes a shark entanglement database that he could input her data into. He has never received a response from her or her team.
For what it’s worth, r/marinebiology is also not having any of it:
Original | Archive
Ocean’s Socials
Website: https://oceanramsey.org
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OCEANRAMSEYSHARKS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanramsey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oceanramseywater/
X: https://x.com/OceanRamsey
Juan’s Socials
Website: https://juansharks.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@juansharks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juansharks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesharkphotographer/
X: https://x.com/juansharks1
Andriana “Andy” Fragola / Andriana Marine
Andriana Fragola is a marine biologist who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite her best efforts to get her husband eaten by sharks, she is still married. She is friends with Kayleigh Nicole Grant and they sometimes appear in each other’s videos on dives.
I have not been able to find a direct connection between Andriana and Ocean Ramsey, but since a) Kayleigh and Ocean are friends; b) Kayleigh and Andriana are friends; and c) Andriana follows the same playbook as Ocean in both how she handles sharks and how she maintains her social media presence, I would hazard a guess that Andriana and Ocean are at least acquaintances.
Andriana’s demonstration of how to handle a shark that approaches you, using Ocean’s technique:
YouTube Link
If I had to bet on which of these women was going to be the first to get seriously injured or worse, my money would be on Andriana. In line with the neck tattoos that give off “I’m a risk taker” vibes, Andriana has many interactions with sharks that seem to be only a split second away from disaster. She has so many instances of this that I split her clips up into categories in an effort to organize them a little better.
General Shark Safety Violations
Nothing says “I understand that these are wild animals that I have no control over, and I respect their status as apex predators” like playing a game of hot potato with a tiger shark.
YouTube Link
At least two separate instances of diving with tiger sharks in low visibility… you know, the thing every shark expert tells you NOT to do because it increases your chance of being mistaken as prey.
YouTube Link
YouTube Link
Clunky Redirects
“Redirecting a 16 Foot Tiger Shark!”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Swimming Vertical At Me!”
YouTube Link
“Shark slaps me in the face”
YouTube Link
“Multiple Interactive Tiger Sharks”
YouTube Link
Near Bites
“Two Tiger Sharks Charge Me”
YouTube Link
“Open Mouth Tigers”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Trying to Bite Me”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Coming At Me”
YouTube Link
“Tiger Shark Snapping At Me!”
YouTube Link
Miscellaneous Underwater Chaos
“Swimming With 8 Tiger Sharks!”
YouTube Link
“Two Tiger Sharks At Once!” (Kayleigh Nicole Grant is also in this video.)
YouTube Link
Then there’s the time she “hazed” her husband.
“Throwing My Husband to the Sharks”
YouTube Link
Andriana’s Socials
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@andriana_marine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andriana_marine
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andriana.marine/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@andriana_marine
Kayleigh Nicole Grant / Mermaid Kayleigh
Kayleigh Nicole Grant lives in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In this profile for Women in Ocean Science (archive), Kayleigh confirms that she is a friend and protégé of Ocean Ramsey. According to Kayleigh’s LinkedIn, she worked at One Ocean Diving (Ocean Ramsey’s foundation) from 2015-2020. She and her husband, Cam, founded the Kaimana Ocean Safari dive company in 2020.
Kayleigh seems to be the most honest of the three when it comes to acknowledging how dangerous sharks can be. But that doesn’t stop her from getting into the water with NINE tiger sharks.
“DIVING WITH 9 TIGER SHARKS”
YouTube Link
Kayleigh has her own demonstration of how to handle a shark that approaches you:
YouTube Link
Some additional heart-stopping videos:
“Erratic Tiger Shark Approach”
YouTube Link
“Tigers are generally shy & this behavior is rare”
YouTube Link
“SHARKS SNEAKING UP ON ME”
YouTube Link
“Tiger shark biting at my hand”
YouTube Link
“Helping Hands” (Andriana Marine is in this video and helps redirect one shark when two are coming after Kayleigh.)
YouTube Link
Kayleigh’s Socials
Website: https://www.kaimanaoceansafari.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mermaid.kayleigh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mermaid.kayleigh
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kayleighnb/
X: https://x.com/mermaid___kay
Conclusion
The lesson here is obvious. These are wild animals, and as Timothy Treadwell famously found out, no matter what bond you think you have with a wild animal, they are ultimately unpredictable and you have no control over the situation. Especially in an underwater setting, where humans by default are operating at a disadvantage. Even the best swimmer in the world couldn't outswim a shark. Ocean, Andriana, Kayleigh, and any other copycats out there can play expert shark handlers only for as long as the sharks allow them to. There's a certain level of hubris that I find entertaining about this whole genre.
These women are not completely oblivious to the risks they are taking, but I wonder if it has occurred to them what would happen to the shark that attacked or killed them? The shark would almost certainly be destroyed, and for the sole reason that they decided to get in the water with it and put their hands near three rows of razor sharp teeth for clout.
I will end here with some final words of wisdom: STAY OUTTA THE SHARK’S HOUSE!!!
YouTube Link
Last edited:
