that's right australian valerie taylor is a legend more than 10,000 dives in her life, and that is theand during those dives she was in almost every one face-to-face with sharks. she has concluded that it is us, we're the threat to sharks we're the threat to sharks, the oceans and the planet. >> i'd never seen anybody hand feeding a great white shark off the back of a boat i wanted to give that nice shark -- it was a boy shark. >> valerie taylor is a pioneer in the 1950s, swimming with sharks just wasn't done. but a young female scientist, it was just unheard of. famed oceanographer jean-michel cousteau say when everybody else was swimming away, valerie was swimming towards danger she and her husband with their underwater cameras brought the world the first close up under water views of great white sharks ever filmed >> they wanted dangerous marine animals or what they thought were dangerous they wanted drama. and if i could be in the film, fluttering around in my stollies britches, that was even better >> you are either crazy or incredibly courageous. >> i didn't take either of those

an og in the shark world, valerie taylor.or more than 60 years. >> unfortunately, there is nobody young today who will ever know how absolutely magnificent nature made the ocean. i saw the great gift that nature had given us, which was a sea life, full of everything. >> reporter: a lifetime of exploring our oceans, captured in the "sharkfest" documentary "playing with sharks." >> i feel sad because it's a marine world that nature gave us, and it doesn't exist in its original state. the best we humans could do is to leave it alone. nature is a great healer. >> reporter: back on the water, i'm still trying to see a shark up close. but so far -- no luck. >> we've been out here a few hours. i'm still confident we're going to get a shark. i'm optimistic, i'm ti >> reporte i'mta one. uph pl "" it's not the same. but it's definitely safer. yeah, i guess i'm almost satisfied. >> our thanks to ashan. "sharkfest" is available on national geographic, nat geo wild, and disney plus. all divisions of our parent company, disney. >>> up next

>> reporter: going on a dive with legendary shark expert and conservationist valerie taylor. >> oh, wowest experiments and technologies. >> hi, boys. >> chris, welcome aboard. >> reporter: to try and prevent deadly shark attacks. >> the aim is to develop a safer surfboard with an electrical shark deterrent built into it. >> we want to know how many sharks are in the population. who their mums and dads are. who their brothers and sisters are. >> reporter: all while never losing sight of the absolute beauty these fish possess. >> it's such a privilege seeing these massive creatures up close. >> we're all so fascinated by sharks. you can tune in to the biggest shark fest ever spanning six weeks and airing across four networks and disney plus. it all starts with the one-hour special "shark beach with chris hemsworth" tonight at 9:00, 8:00 central on national geographic channel. >> it will be fun to watch for sure. >>> coming up here, we check in with our philly open for business surprise. how she's thriving now. we'll be right back. >>> building a better bay area, moving forward, finding so