The little girl and the sharks

The documentary

The Addisons are no ordinary family. While most parents struggle with traffic jams, homework, bills and so on, Mark and Gail Addison prefer ocean currents and man-eating sharks.

Mark and Gail run Blue Widerness, a dynamic logistics company specializing in scuba diving. Their base camp is the world-famous Aliwal sandbank (a.k.a Shark Rock), just south of Durban on South Africa’s east coast. This is where many scientists from all over the world come to study sharks. The Addisons’ specialty is swimming among all species of sharks, including the most dangerous ones. Three years ago, Mark Addison jokingly made a promise to his daughter Ella, who was 7 at the time. “The day you turn 10, I’ll take you with me.”

On her 10th birthday, Ella reminded her father of his promise. He couldn’t back out. Ella was the youngest person to obtain her open water license on the African continent. Born in 2002, Ella Addison has been diving since the age of three and can now stay underwater for more than 1.30 minutes.

In the documentary “The Little Girl and the Sharks”, Ella tells the story of this unpredictable and captivating underwater world. She shares her wonder with us from the fresh and spirited perspective of a 10-year-old.

Breathtaking underwater images.