VALERIE IS STILL SWIMMING WITH SHARKS ... AT 86!

SHE'S BEEN BITTEN FOUR TIMES, BUT THE DIVER HAS VOWED TO PROTECT HER FINNED FRIENDS

- Megan Rowe

It’s not often you hear of an 86-year-old woman donning a hot-pink wetsuit to go swimming with sharks – but Valerie Taylor isn’t your average woman.

Despite being bitten by sharks on four separate occasions over the years, the spearfishing champion-turned-conservationist has spent most of her life exposing the myth surrounding the public’s fear of sharks – and even refers to them as her ‘friends’.

“Being up close to a shark is no different to being up close to a big dog,” Valerie, who lives in Fairlight, NSW, tells New Idea. “So many sharks wouldn’t attack anybody and the ones that do are just curious. If you stay still, they will let you go – I know that from experience.”

Valerie has been fascinated with the underwater world since she handmade her first pair of goggles when she was 13 years old.

The adventurous blonde took up spearfishing in the 1950s and beat most of her male counterparts in multiple competitions, where she met her future husband, Ron.