Day 35: DIVING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

We were in Cape Town during peak shark viewing season, so we could not let the opportunity remain unexploited.  Chris was very excited about the chance to dive with the great whites, while I was more hesitant about the encounter.  We booked two spots with Great White Shark Tours, Chris to dive and me (I thought) to watch from the safety of the boat.  You see, I saw Jaws the Revenge at the young age of 6 one summer in Puerto Rico. That summer, I was so scared of sharks, I refused to swim in any body of water, including pools, fearing sharks would somehow find their way in through the drains.  Not only was I scared of the sharks, I was also afraid of plunging into the frigid winter seas.  

We departed from Gansbaai, a small town about 45 minutes south of Hermanus, and about two hours south of Cape Town.  We took the boat about five miles offshore to Dyer Island.  This is the area known as Shark Alley that you always see on Shark Week specials.  The area attracts the highest concentration of great whites in the world due to its bountiful seal crop. 

Check it out:

Dyer island covered in seals

An appetizer

We dropped anchor and the guides began chumming the water to attract the sharks.  They also put a seal decoy into the water to further entice the beasts.  Supposedly, it normally takes about 45 minutes for the chum to do its job and the first sharks to show up.

Chumming

Our seal

We didn't have to wait that long.  The first shark made his presence known in about 15-20 minutes.  Here are some of the scenes we witnessed from the shark boat.

The first of these monsters was soon joined by 4-5 others.  They ranged in size from about 12 feet up to 18-20 feet.  Some of them were absolutely massive.  We saw some great attacks on the seal decoy but unfortunately, I was a bit slow on the trigger to capture a good shot of it with its teeth bared.  

After taunting the sharks with chum, bait and decoys for about ten minutes, it was time to get into the water.  The first few people suited up and made their way into the cage.

Chris, eagerly awaiting his turn in the cage

About 6-8 people typically get into the cage at once.  The cage is just wide enough for one person in each slot, and floats in the water with about one foot of cage above the surface.  You wear a wetsuit and scuba mask, but no diving gear, as the air bubbles apparently frighten the sharks.  Then, when a shark approaches, the capitan gives you a signal and you hold your breath and go underwater.  

After watching the first group emerge from the cage unscathed and in awe, I decided I had to try it out.  Chris and I suited up and descended into the frigid water.

We had been toying with the idea of investing in a GoPro before our trip, and the next 20 minutes caused us to thoroughly regret not pulling the trigger.  The sharks were spectacular.  We saw 4-5 different sharks from underwater attacking the seal decoy and bait, and making many close passes by the cage.  There was one massive shark that would come straight toward the cage very slowly while staring right at you with its bottomless eyes.  It would only turn at the last minute, in order to catch a better glimpse of the potential meal awaiting it inside the cage. This was by far the scariest part!

While we didn't have an underwater camera, we found this random guy's video on Youtube. He used the same company as us. This is pretty much what we got to see!

After our great white encounter, we decided that the sharks were not nearly as aggressive as we had expected, and were mostly curious about us rather than threatening.  It made me think of the movie Edward Scissorhands, where Edward just wanted to shake someone's hand or touch someone's face but couldn't because he would cut them with his sharp scissor hands.  Similarly, the sharks wanted to play and explore, but instead of scissors for hands, the sharks have a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.   While this gives me a better understanding of what is going through the shark's mind, I still would not want to find myself in the water with one!

As we headed back to Gansbaai after our adventure, we were accompanied by these birds, who were hand-fed in mid air by one of the boat's crew.

This bird flew a couple feet from us on the boat.

Feeding the birds en route.

We spent the night in the quaint town of Hermanus, which is known as the best spot in the world for land-based whale watching.  The town also employes a Whale Crier, whose job is to wander the streets and inform everyone about the latest whale sightings.  Unfortunately, while we were there, we didn't spot a while or hear a whale cry.  We did enjoy a night in the town, however, and an excellent dinner at La Pentola - highly recommended if you are ever in town! 

The next day, we headed back to Cape Town and hoped for better weather than the previous weekend's...

Hermanus