The Tiger Shark Whisperer: A Conversation with Mermaid Kayleigh Grant

What this episode covers

This episode of #TheSoftAndCurious features Kayleigh Grant, or @Mermaid.Kayleigh, as she's known on social media. Kay is an American marine scientist and professional shark diver based in Hawaii. She co-founded Kaimana Ocean Safari, where she serves as captain and lead safety diver, aiming to educate people about shark safety. She's gone viral several times over for her ocean and shark content, in which she demonstrates how to behave around sharks when humans encounter them, namely remaining calm rather than splashing and desperately swimming away like injured prey. Host Jessica Leahy and Kay talked about the threat to sharks and other marine life and spoke about how SeaWorld sucks and no one should go there — if you don't know this, immediately go and watch the Blackfish documentary.  Throughout the podcast, Kay has a picture behind her: a picture of her hugging an enormous great white shark she'd found in the wild, eating a whale carcass. Her husband took the photo. Can you imagine your partner's reaction to seeing a massive shark like that? While most of us hope to never encounter a giant shark in the water, this whole chat was exciting. Kayleigh does what we all fear daily—mind-bending!—and she pushes the limits on how we can coexist peacefully with apex predators like Tiger sharks, Great White sharks, and all ocean life.