Great White Shark Experience

I will be the first to admit that I love sharks. I get excited just thinking about seeing a shark. 5 years ago I was introduced by my dad to shark cage diving with Great Whites in Gansbaii, South Africa. It is a quiet, little fishing village about 170km from Cape Town. It is actually very close to the southern most point of Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans mingle. When you come here for just under $200 you can go out in a boat, wetsuit up, and jump in a shark"proof" cage as the mates chum the waters and throw out tuna heads on a line. When they see Great White coming they pull the tuna heads back in, over the cage, and the shark follows right up until you are eye to eye. They are very curious so most of the time they just cruise up to the bait to check it out. As you can see from the pictures though, sometimes you just don't see them coming.

We had 6 or 7 different sharks today ranging from 3-3 1/2 meters. Thats a 10+ft shark. The water was super rich in plankton, which is good for filter feeders but bad for vizibility. Luckily we had several sharks come within underwater viewing range. The real show was from above where we could see and try to snap pictures of sharks breaching. The big, full body breach like you see on TV happened, but right on the other side of the boat. No one could explain it. No chum slick, no tuna head, no cage. I only saw and heard the splash which in itself was impressive.

All in all a beautiful day, much warmer than 5 years ago, and great sharks. I will have to come back in their winter when they have 10+meter viz!

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