Hawaii spearfisher Kimi Werner experienced a rare encounter in the ocean off Mexico: swimming hand in fin with one of the world’s most feared creatures, a great white shark.

"I just reached out my hand, and the moment I felt her fin connect, everything just slowed down," she said. "My heart rate, especially. It slowed down the moment I touched her."

For about 10 seconds, Werner rode with the 16-foot female shark with her hand on her dorsal fin. Every second swimming with the shark seemed longer.

"I could feel how calm she was, and it made me calm, too," she said. "It was amazing."

A video of her thrilling encounter with the shark titled "Variables with Kimi Werner" went viral on the Internet with more than 600,000 views on YouTube since it was released at the beginning of May. The footage was taken in October while she was on a weeklong expedition with a group of marine biology students, biologists and conservationists studying shark behaviors and migrations.

Werner, who grew up on Maui and now lives in Wahiawa, went on the expedition to observe great white sharks and gain a better understanding of the creatures.

"I’ve had many encounters with tiger sharks and other species but never a great white," she said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "Knowing that I dive in waters that great whites roam, there has always been a fear for the unknown."

In the video, Werner, 33, who has been spearfishing solo for the past seven years and won the 2008 U.S. National Spearfishing Championships, said, "Spearfishing prepared me for one of the most intense moments of my life."

Werner, currently on Bali, said she was in the water for less than a minute with her head above water as she fixed her mask when her friend, Morgan Ball, immediately started shaking and warning her. In the video narration, she said, "I knew what I was going to see before I even looked. Three feet away from me was the head of the biggest great white I have ever seen."

Werner wasn’t expecting to see any sharks because fellow divers who were in the water earlier that day had not seen many great whites. Her initial shock and fear quickly turned into excitement, and she squealed in joy. "I felt myself swimming toward the shark, and my brain finally caught up with my actions and I noticed how mellow and nonaggressive she was acting. I guess despite the fear in my brain, my instincts kicked in and reacted for me."

When the shark swam toward her, Werner swam toward the elusive predator. In her years of spearfishing, she learned to swim toward sharks if they approached her to show that she’s not prey. "Through studying my prey in spearfishing, I’ve learned what types of body language bring a fish in towards you and what might scare them away. I have since used this knowledge to react to the larger fish who might be my predators. So swimming down towards her simply made the most sense for my safety," she said.

The creature approached and completely slowed down. "I thought I would just film her passing me by, but she slowed down right under me. I realized that I was about to land on top of her. I just thought, ‘OK, here it goes,’" she added.

In the video, Werner said, "My hand reached out and connected with her dorsal fin, and we just started to glide together."

The shark’s behavior was in stark contrast to what most view as an aggressive predator.

"Although you never know what wild animals are thinking or are going to do, she behaved more calmly than any other shark I’ve been in the water with," she said. Werner described how the creature’s movements were slow and calm. The great white’s pectoral fins extended out like an airplane the entire time, not downwards, a huge relief for Werner, she said, because that’s a sign of aggression.

Werner’s friend Ocean Ramsey, a shark conservationist who invited her on the expedition, entered the water after Werner’s ride with the shark. Ramsey, too, swam with the same great white as she held on to her dorsal fin. The footage was released earlier this year as a YouTube video titled "A Blonde and a Great White Shark." The video received more than 2 million views and worldwide media attention.

Werner said she was flooded with calls from television networks and producers when it was learned there was footage of her ride with the shark. Producers were pitching her ideas to make a "shark-riding TV show."

The frenzy prompted her to protect the footage and produce a video herself with people she trusted.

"I realized I had to do something meaningful with it," she said. "I wanted to release it to a smaller audience that would understand a message about being in harmony with the ecosystem. I didn’t want it to get in the hands of a production crew that was going to glorify it or over-sensationalize it for shock value."

Werner created the video to inspire viewers to be more sustainable, lead a balanced lifestyle and respect the marine environment.

"It’s about finding balance, finding your place, discovering what you are passionate about in life and striving to do your best at it and put your whole heart into it," she said.