Shark Cage Diving Oahu

   This was something we had really been looking forward to, shark cage diving offshore of Oahu's North Shore. We booked with Hawaii Shark Encounters because their website seemed a bit more conservation and research based.

    Heidi, Mark, Jason and I met the boat at Haleiwa harbor a little after 8am after camping out the night before. With 11 passengers we headed out about 3 miles offshore where they had already set up the cage that morning.

   Heidi was the first one into the crystal clear water. We could see a large, dark shadow of a shark from above the water before even getting into the cage. We only needed snorkel gear, just like in South Africa, and then could hold onto the inner bars of the cage to stay below water. I tried to stay at the bottom of the cage to take pictures and avoid all the bubbles from the sharks thrashing at the surface. I also wanted to avoid being told to get out. If I'm under water I can't hear you...

  We were there for about an hour and had 3 Galapagos Sharks around us the entire time. A visit from a couple of passing blacktip shark of the offshore variety brought our total up to 5 sharks. You can see how clear the water was and the sharks would come right up to the cage to investigate. It seemed that not everybody wanted to get in the water since the view was also good from on top so I stayed in the entire time.

This was the view from inside the cage. Looking out just below the surface is a clear plexiglass window but nothing but bars separate you from the sharks below that and down by your feet. One guy was very nervous about letting his toes stick through the bottom of the cage. It would be very easy to let your leg slip thru the bottom, although I had my arm and hand out of the bars with my camera for most of the time. I wasn't quite as worried about that as I was down in South Africa.
  All in all it was an incredible experience. I was a bit shocked to see the tour operators actively feeding the sharks, instead of just chumming. And I would have liked a little more participation from them as well. Their website has lots of information but the guides didn't mention conservation or research once. But for a shark lover like me it is hard to beat this kind of close encounter. An experience with a shark bigger than a white tip is a rare thing indeed out here in Maui. So when in Oahu, take advantage!

Haleiwa on Dwellable