Bertie Gregory’s new documentary follows him as he tries to track down a great white shark to swim with.
Sharks Up Close With Bertie Gregory sees the wildlife filmmaker and his team head to South Africa.
They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage.
Throughout the show, Bertie gets up close with a range of underwater animals including southern right whales and spotted ragged tooth sharks.
However, the National Geographic explorer comes across unexpected hurdles in his search for a great white shark.
Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be ‘straightforward’ to locate one of the most feared sea creatures.
Bertie Gregory’s (pictured) new documentary follows him as he tries to track down a great white shark to swim with
Sharks Up Close With Bertie Gregory sees the wildlife filmmaker and his team head to South Africa
They hope to dive and record great white sharks hunting seals, without the protection of a cage
‘I thought this was going to be our most straightforward Animals Up Close sort of episode in this season,’ he said.
‘We’re in the third season, and we’ve done a lot of very challenging things and I thought this was going to be a slam dunk, super easy.’
During the show, Bertie and his team eventually manage to locate a great white after much difficulty, swimming in the shallows of a beach.
Though they finally get up close to the shark, the ‘churned up surf’ means the conditions are ‘too dangerous’ for them to dive with it.
‘We had this amazing team there that dived with a lot of great white sharks there before,’ he explained.
‘The previous few years, the sharks would turn up like clockwork at that time of year, down the seals, and we turned up and Pat, our boat captain, was like, ‘Yeah, so we haven’t seen a shark yet this year, and the season has been running for two months’.’
Bertie admitted: ‘I was literally expecting to see several sharks per day for the month or so that we had filming there and that wasn’t the case.’
Reflecting on his search, Bertie says on the programme: ‘Great whites are famous for being killing machines, but I’ve learnt that they’re actually very fragile. And I’m pretty sure my mum will be relieved I didn’t manage to dive with one.’
Throughout the show, Bertie gets up close with a range of underwater animals including southern right whales and spotted ragged tooth sharks
However, the National Geographic explorer comes across unexpected hurdles in his search for a great white shark
Bertie revealed to MailOnline he thought it would be ‘straightforward’ to locate one of the most feared sea creatures
He adds: ‘We’ve spent far too long worrying about great whites when we should be worried for them.’
Bertie does manage to get up close with other shark species and in one dramatic scene, dives into the ‘Shark cathedral’.
He described it as ‘one of the most incredible sights I’ve ever had’ and recalled how the sharks were ‘hanging like spaceships’ in the cave.
‘Those ragged tooth sharks have terrifying mouths, just teeth, the teeth are just like pouring out of their mouths,’ the filmmaker told MailOnline.
‘There’s something in the back of your head, your caveman instinct, that’s saying this isn’t a good idea. There’s 50 sharks here that are more than two meters long each, and teeth pouring out of their mouths.
‘But then I remember my biology and I’m lucky enough to have spent a lot of time around sharks, and know that we are not on their menu, and because of that, it means I could be in awe and enjoy it.’
Despite their formidable mouths, Bertie revealed that ragged tooth sharks are actually ‘shy’ and can be spooked by simply the bubbles from breathing.
He also has a keen eye for behaviours to look out for in sharks, to ensure he is safe when diving so closely with them.
Bertie does manage to get up close with other shark species and in one dramatic scene, dives into the ‘Shark cathedral’
Despite their formidable mouths, Bertie revealed that ragged tooth sharks are actually ‘shy’ and can be spooked by simply the bubbles from breathing
He also has a keen eye for behaviours to look out for in sharks, to ensure he is safe when diving so closely with them
‘So sharks are very expressive. They have body language just like humans do, and you can read that body language to see how they are,’ Bertie explained.
The ‘key thing’ to note, according to the wildlife expert, is the shape of the shark’s body, ‘particularly their back and their pectoral fins’.
He added: ‘If their pectoral fins are flat, that means they’re very happy, and if they’re pointed down, that means they are either aggressive or spooked or they’re not happy.
‘They also arch their back when they do that. So if the shark’s nice and flat, pectoral fins are nice and flat, they’re very happy.
‘As soon as those pectoral fins point down and their back arches, that means they’re fired up and either they’re on the hunt or they’ve been disturbed by something.’
Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory streams from July 6 on Disney+ and airs Tuesday July 8 at 8pm on Nat Geo Wild
