My friend, Lina, and her husband visited Cape Town in October of 2012 and gave me lots of great suggestions about things to see and do; one of which was shark cage diving. When I mentioned it to Dave, he just looked at me like I was crazy. Lina assured me it wasn’t scary, but rather it was an awesome experience. I began looking into the possibility online and discovered that there were many tour companies in the Cape Town area from which to choose. After thoroughly researching the review of the various operators, I selected Great White Shark Tours.
The tour begins in Gansbaii Bay, which was about a 2 ½ hour drive east of Cape Town. We drove through some really beautiful country, particularly a gorgeous summit that overlooked False Bay. As was becoming typical of our driving excursions, Dave had to take my word that the views were stunning, as his eyes had to remain on the road.
We were one of the first to arrive, and were treated to breakfast (or was it intended to serve as our last meal?). After a brief safety message, we were each given a big orange raincoat. While they may not have been fashionable, I was quite happy to have mine, considering the wind and cool air.
Some shark facts -
· The female sharks are typically larger than the males.
· The average adult shark is between 13-17 feet and weigh between 1,500 - 2,400 pounds.
· Since the great white shark has no known natural enemies, it dwells at the top of the food chain. Because of this, the great whit is regarded as an apex predator.
· Great whites have rows of as many as 3,000 serrated teeth which sit behind the main teeth. Trust me….there are lots!
There were about 20-25 of us, and we soon boarded the Apex Predator (didn’t know the significance of the name until I did a bit of research) for our adventure out into the bay.
We cruised across the inlet for about 20-30 minutes, and when we stopped I was surprised to see how close we were from the shore. There were three other boats anchored in fairly close proximity to us, and our captain said he had been in contact with one of them, who said they had been anchored for two hours before they saw their first shark. He told us that, on average, it takes about 20 minutes in which to lure the sharks.
Attracting the sharks is a pretty simple process. One guy is standing on a rather small and narrow ledge at the back of the boat. He has a large 30 gallon drum of “chum,” which is basically bits of tuna and other fish. He continually mashes and stirs the ingredients with a large stick. His actions are such that the chum spills out over the drum and lands in the water, thus attracting the sharks. From time to time he fills up a smaller bucket with water and pours it into the drum. This guy has the worst job, in my opinion. Not only must it stink to high heaven, but he must constantly stir the chum, which was at least two hours.
Another guy has a long rope with a large piece of tuna tied to the end. He stands either right above or to the right of the cage. He casts the rope out into the ocean as if fishing. He slowly drags it back towards the cage before throwing it out again.
At this point, no one is in the cage. He also has a second rope with a styrofoam cutout of a seal. One passenger asked the captain if that seal really attracts sharks, and he said, “sometimes.” He told us that seals only make up about 10% of a shark’s diet, but that sometimes the color attracts them.
While the chum guy and fisherman did their jobs, the captain was responsible for watching out for a shark. He told us that it wouldn’t be like the movie, “Jaws,” where you see the dorsal fin moving stealthily through the water, but rather the water would cast a big shadow. Sure to his word, about 20 minutes later, the captain yelled, “Shark!”
The fisherman cast the tuna out and enticed the shark to come closer to the boat, which he did. So close, in fact, that he bit one of the floaties on the cage. After the shark had circled around three or four times, the captain encouraged the first eight people to get ready to enter the cage. Since we were sitting on the roof of the boat, those on the first floor would go first. We had a great vantage point from which to watch the initial action. At this point, I was a bit anxious. The sharks were SO close, and bigger than I ever expected.
After all eight of the divers were in the cage, the top was secured and the fisherman tossed out the tuna, pulling it back towards the cage….and the divers! The cage is secured to the side of the boat and sits about two feet above the water line. When you are in the cage, you grab the bar above you, keeping your head above the water. The fisherman tracks the movement of the shark and announces where to look. So, if the shark is coming up on the left, he will yell, “Shark on your left. Down! Down! Down!” You hold your breath and go under. As you go down, there is a bar immediately in front of you to which you grasp. Not to worry….the bar is a good 6 inches from the outside of the cage. There is also a bar down by your feet. We were told to place our feet under the bar, but I could never get the hang of that and always had my feet on top of the bar.
After the second group came out, it was our turn. We tugged, pulled, heaved, and wrenched on our full body wetsuits. The suits even covered our heads. We were also given boots, and finally a mask. This operation was a well-oiled machine; very organized and efficient.
When we saw the first shark, I wasn’t sure why they didn’t just get a group into the cage immediately so that as soon as a shark came close, they would get the first up-close look. Once I got into the water, I figured out why. The water was bitter cold! We were told it was about 53 degrees. As much as I enjoy scuba diving there is NO way I would ever go scuba diving in this kind of water. Literally, within minutes my fingers were stiff. We were told that before a group got in the water, they want to make sure the shark intends to hang around.
Before Dave and I were in the water a minute, the fisherman was yelling, “Shark on your right! Down! Down! Down!” I took a deep breath and went under. The visibility was quite poor, but before I knew it, I came face to face with my first great white shark. I held my breath as long as I could, marveling at the very experience, and wanting to etch it into my mind forever.
Dave was immediately to the left of me. We were told to go down as the shark was coming straight for us, so under the water we went. He was not kidding. The shark swam directly towards Dave, opened his mouth, and took a couple of bites of the cage. His mouth was so wide open that I could have counted his teeth. He then turned towards his left and swam alongside the cage. It would have been easy to simply reach my hand out and touch him….that’s how close he was to me. During our safety briefing we were told that under no circumstances were we to touch the shark. If we were seen sticking our fingers, hands, feet, or any other part of our body out of the cage, we would immediately be removed from the cage and returned to shore. Shark cage diving is an industry in this area, and they will not allow anyone to jeopardize their livelihood.
We spent about 20 minutes in the cage, during which time we were able to see the shark multiple times. I remember having a difficult time getting out of the cage to the boat. Not only was I cold, but I had about 5 added kilos attached to my waist. As I tried to pull myself up onto the boat, I briefly wondered if I was going to meet the shark face to face….without a cage. Everyone had the opportunity to get back into the water a second time, but I was just too cold. I couldn’t feel most of my fingers and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hang on to the bars if I went back in.
Dave braved the frigid waters to go down one more time.
I returned to the top of the boat and took more pictures and videos. It was just as incredible watching them approach the boat from that vantage point.
While I was taking pictures, I introduced myself to the woman sitting next to me. Her husband had also decided to go back down a second time. She told me they were both physicians and were in their last year of their residency programs in Chicago. Her husband was specializing in infectious diseases and thought it would be a good learning experience to visit Africa and learn about some of their diseases up close. They were planning on spending about two weeks travelling around South Africa. Most of the others were from Europe or South Africa. Dave and I were obviously the oldest in the entire group.
We saw four different sharks that day, one of which was about 13-14 feet long (nearly as long as the cage), as well as a “baby” shark. He was probably around 6 feet long, and was pretty reluctant to come very close to the cage, as opposed to the larger sharks that seemed to have no fear. We were surprised at how long the sharks stayed around the boat and kept coming back time and time again. Time went so quickly, but we estimate that we hung out with the sharks for 2-3 hours. There were lots and lots of birds getting their fill of the tuna and chum. I could also see big schools of fish following the tuna bits. We were the last shark cage diving group in the bay to leave.
After seeing the great white sharks up close and personal, there is no way I would ever get in the water anywhere near this bay or even Cape Town. Neither Dave nor I thought the water was as salty as say the Pacific or Caribbean oceans. Lina had warned me that she and Matt smelled so bad when they got out of the water because of the chum in the water, but we didn’t even notice!
After my initial apprehension, once I got in the cage I found I wasn’t scared in the least by the sharks. I felt completely protected and safe inside the cage. In fact, I looked forward to them coming towards the cage each and every time. But, there will be NO swimming in those waters by me….ever! While I may not be scared of them in the cage, I have a great deal of respect for them in the open waters.
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