Kimberly Jeffries spotted the dead sperm whale from nearly half a mile away—a white mass the size of a bus bobbing in the calm early-morning waters.

It was January 2019, and Jeffries, a Hawaii-based nature and wildlife photographer, had arrived at this spot a couple of miles southwest of Waikiki hoping to catch a glimpse of predators drawn to the floating cetacean feast. Mere moments after she jumped in, something tens of feet below caught her eye: a massive great white shark wending her way up from the deep.

Stretching some 20 feet from tip to tail, it was the famous Deep Blue, one of the largest great white sharks ever caught on film. (Most female