June 22, 2010: Gansbaai

The big day was finally here.  "Baby", our driver from White Shark Dive Company collected us up at our hotel at 8am for the 2 hour ride from Cape Town to Gaansbaai.  Upon arrival we were greeted by breakfast and eventually the dive briefing by our guide Lalo.  Our group of 12 then boarded the boat and headed out to Dyer Island which took about 15min.  We anchored at a perfect spot between the breaking waves, the island, and the indian ocean current and the crew began chumming the water while we all struggled to get into our wet suits as the boat pitched back and forth in the swells.  Within about 20min the first shark appeared, slowly cruising by to investigate.  As the crew began moving people into the cage, what followed next was complete CHAOS!  The sharks would cruise by and take a bite out of the floating tuna head, when the huge shark would get close the crew would shout "down left" indicating that those in the cage should take a deep breath and drop down under the surface and look left.  The water was freezing, and as soon as we got in the cage I instantly forgot everything the guide told us.  He would shout "down right" and we would drop under the surface, forgetting to take a breath and completely missing the bar near the bottom where you could put your feet.  Looking down to try and find the floor bar I quickly pulled my foot back inside the cage after seeing a massive dark shape coming out of the haze in the water towards us, completely silent.  It is at that moment your andrenaline kicks in and the water is no longer freezing cold.  Visibility under water is only about 5-7 meters but the guide told us that sharks can see underwater almost as well as us on land between their senses and eyes.  The cage bars felt solid, but the inside bars where you hold on were rickety and broken in places making us wonder how that might have happened.  The floats on the cage didn't seem attached very well to it, making you wonder what you would do if the cage started to sink.  With only about 1 ft of space between the water and the top of the cage the large indian ocean swells would put the entire cage under water about every 20-30 seconds.  This also made 4 of the 6 England fans in our group spend most of their time depositing some extra chum over the other side of the boat.  Both Sarah and I were just fine though.

Everyone on-board rotated through the cage, which held 5 people at a time.  With all the chaos it seemed as if we were out there for 30min, but in reality it was about 2 hours.  We rotated in and out of the cage as the guides called out shark sightings with a total of 4 sharks circling our boat.  The largest shark was 3.8 meters long, or about 1/2 the length of our whole boat!

Getting out of the cage was yet another adventure, as you had to us the bars of the cage as a ladder but that meant your toes were exposed so you would scramble as fast as possible back onto the boat.  There was also a viewing deck up top and to get to it there was a ladder on either side of the boat, but climbing it meant you were out over the water.  Climbing up the ladder to the viewing deck was precarious at best with the boat swaying over the swells and the wet steel ladder being too slippery for comfort.  Then you get halfway up, look down, and see a 12 foot shark circling below you seemingly waiting for you to slip and end up as a tasty snack (I think I look more like a seal in my black wetsuit than sarah does).

Up top provided the best views of the 4 sharks circling us with them taking turns swimming by the cage to investigate.  The 3 smaller sharks might all be in view at the same time, but when the massive 3.8 meter shark took its turn the other 3 kept their distance.  The guide told us that is due to great white sharks being willing to bite anything their size or smaller, and that smaller sharks always yield to the largest one in the area.  Our second turn in the cage was quieter, but when you are sitting there bobbing around in a little cage you see the 3 smaller sharks disappear into the haze.  Then nothing for a few minutes.  Looking up to the crew on the boat, they are all standing there looking around and you keep looking into the water to make sure no body parts are sticking out between the bars.  Then all of a sudden, "down straight ahead" the captain shouts and we all take a deep breath and drop into the cage.  Nothing.  Then we see what all the fuss is about - the 5 meter shark comes into view and the cage is complete chaos again, the shark grabbing the tuna head in
its mouth, realizing it is attached to a rope and it starts thrashing around.  With the sharks tail right in front of me I entertain the idea of reaching out my left hand another 8" to touch the shark.  Just as I take my hand off the bars the shark thrashes its tail, crushing my left hand against the cage - and the shark is gone into the hazy
water.  Then quiet for a few minutes, and suddenly the 3 smaller (if 2.8 - 3 meters each is small) sharks are back circling around.

Before we knew it was time to get out of the cage.  I grabbed my camera and scrambled up to the viewing deck to get a few more glimpses of the sharks around us before it was time to head back into port.  There they provided us with some hot soup to warm us up before the 2 hour car trip back to Cape Town.

As we got back into the car our driver Baby immediately scanned the radio stations and found an English broadcast of the South Africa - France match that was just underway (there were plenty of stations with commentary in Afrikaans) which made the trip back relatively quick.  Sad to see the South African squad not going through to the round of 16.

What a day!  Pictures here