Date of Entry: October 28th 2016
Date of Writing: January 18th 2017
So I’m in Africa, for the first time ever and I could not be more excited. And since this trip is both too short and might be the last time I’m in Africa for a while I’ve decided to cram as much as I can into this upcoming 7 weeks and I’ve also arranged to start the trip with a bang. That’s right! On my first full day in Africa I’ll be climbing into the ocean with just some metal bars between me and the Ocean’s Apex Predator, the Great White Shark.
Usually I organize things once I get to places, but in this short trip where I want to see a lot I’ve made some exceptions: I’ve booked a 20 day 4 country tour in an over landing truck that leaves in a few day, and I’ve also booked my shark diving experience online with a company that comes highly recommended from several good friends. Marine Dynamics is the company I went with and while there are cheaper options (especially once you’re in Cape town) I figured it’s worth paying for a quality experience with something that I will likely only do once in my life.
Marine Dynamics has a great website where you can make you’re reservations and find out all about their scientific endeavours. Shark diving is obviously controversial but this company are careful not to feed the sharks anything using chum (fish oils spread in the water) to attract the sharks instead. They are careful not to make the sharks dependant on tourism for survival and do their best not to change the natural behaviours of sharks.
Online I paid 1750 Rand (170 CAD) plus 450 rand (40 CAD) for a roundtrip transfer to Gansbai a town about 2.5 hours from cape town where most of the shark diving takes place. For 2017 the prices have risen to 1900 Rand (185CAD) and 500 (45 CAD) for the transfer. It’s a big expense, but africa isn’t cheap and this is a once in a life time experience and having done it I have no regrets. I encourage you to book with Marine Dynamics and should you have any questions feel free to contact me through the contact page of this blog. Now into story telling mode.
I arrive in South Africa with the sun setting on the beautiful city of Cape Town, mist rolling in over the iconic table mountain as I stare out the windows of my uber from the airport to my hostel Zebra Crossing just off long street. (Uber cost 17 CAD) (8 bed dorm bed 18 CAD per night no breakfast- Zebra crossing is good but not my top pick for cape town that would be Cat and Moose on Long street which is about the same price)
I’m welcomed warmly at the hostel and check in to a comfortable dorm before stumbling onto one of the tastiest burgers and milkshake combos I’ve ever had at Royale Eatery on upper Long street. (For real don’t miss the peanut butter and banana milkshake), then it’s early to bed to be ready for the next day.
In the morning I wake up and test my new go pro I’ve had to buy in Brazil. The case I’ve bought has a tiny crack but a piece of paper inside stays bone dry in a pot of water so all seems good and I’m ready to go when I meet Joey from California whose coming on the same trip as me. Around 8 in the morning we’re picked up by a modern and clean minibus and after collecting people all around cape town we’re on our way.
When we arrive in Gansbaai we are taken to the marine dynamics headquarters and restaurant for a late breakfast and briefing. Here we’re told what to expect,reminded that while sharks are terrifying they kill less people than moose in Canada and countless other seemingly non threatening animals. Then we’re given our wet suits and gear to get ready to spend about half an hour in the cold waters. It turns out I think I would have been fine without it, but why bother when I look so damn good.
Then we head down to the pier and board the comfortable two level boat Joey and I chatting and taking a seat up on the top deck for better viewing. There’s about 32 people on the boat which means they’ll be 4 separate groups in the cage. Joey is on a pretty cool trip himself seeing as much of the world as he can in about a year, in fact the next day he’ll be flying to Egypt. A place I certainly still need to get to.
After about 30 minutes in the boat we drop anchor and the experienced marine dynamics crew gives us more info as the chum goes into the water and the fish heads and decoy wooden seal are prepared to help attract todays main attraction.
Now I should state sharks are wild animals and sights aren’t guaranteed. We’re at the tail end of whale season but didn’t manage to see any of those all day, though luckily, we don’t have to wait long for the sharks to appear as the first group goes into the secure metal cage firmly affixed to the side of the boat. Joey and I will be with the last group so we stay up above and stare down at the thick green sea waiting. Just a few minutes later a cry goes up from our guide and the first shark shows itself, surfacing and trying to catch the fish head cluster tied to a rope. I can barely breath and I’m not even in the water. Our first shock is a mid size female but I can’t explain the feeling of seeing this animal up close. It’s huge, insanely quick and graceful, and beyond beautiful.
As time passes the sharks get closer and closer and more and more appear though usually one at a time. We don’t get any huge males but bigger and bigger females start to appear and the expert local crew get them to open wide and attack the decoys in ways that makes me feel like I’m watching blue planet and not standing there myself. These things are ferocious and as the second group slips down into the cage I find myself dizzy with anticipation.
We keep watching and the sharks keep putting on a show, we even get the rare spectacle of seeing two sharks at once (they are usually quite violent with each other). As we watch them swim just feet from the cage below us I’m not ashamed to admit I get a little scared. Some people on board won’t be diving, probably for this reason, and they’ve paid a slightly smaller price. As Joey and I watch from above one of the sharks actually makes contact with the cage, and I’m suddenly understanding more of those non divers mindsets.
The third group goes into the water and anticipation is now threatening to drown me. The biggest shark yet appears and is super sneaky, avoiding being seen by the crew as it torpedoes up directly below the bundle of fish heads and bites clean through the thick rope. It’s quite a show. (It’s worth noting that they use fish heads because they are low in nutritional value so that if this ever happens it won’t fill the sharks up.) Still, look at these pictures, it was utterly insane and sadly I had no angle to get what could have been even more amazing shots.
As group three in winding down a few more little sharks show up raising out total count to somewhere around a half dozen individual sharks. It’s hard to keep track and it could have been up to 10 as the sharks keep coming back and only some have clearly identifiable marks especially to non expert eyes like my own.
We head down from the second deck of the boat and get given our masks,me turning on my go pro on and climbing down into the water. We have no snorkels, no oxygen tanks, as this kind of diving you just sit in the cage with your head above water and then when the crew spots a shark they give directions like “Down right” and then u force yourself under looping your feet and hands under some interior bars of the cage and prepare yourself to see one of the coolest most awe inspiring things you’ll ever see.
Joey and I are the first two into the cage and while the top of it is still open as we shift over to the right of the cage we hear the call and go down just in time to see a massive Great White Shark just a few feet away making a desperate lunge for the new fish head bundle. We could reach out and touch the thing, of course we’d likely lose our arms, but it’s a sudden crazy temptation which thankfully I manage to fight down. My whole body feels alive with adrenalin, and the next half hour passes entirely too quickly for me.
About two minutes in I look up at my go pro on my head and find water has seeped into the case and the go pro turned off,probably broken forever. I hardly even care, handing it up to someone on deck and getting back to watching the sharks. It’s a lot of money down the drain and I probably won’t buy a third but I can’t make myself worry about it, plus I’m lucky that joey has a go pro and is right beside me,so I won’t be without recordings of these incredible thirty minutes.
I hope to have more videos in this post eventually but the internet here is not good enough for more than a few brief clips.
Eventually I hear the sound I’ve been dreading, them calling us to get out of the cage. Our roughly 30 minutes are up and we’re going to head back to land. I feel changed deep inside, with a new appreciation for sharks and the oceans, I was ready to be blown away, but the size grace and teeth of these incredible creatures exceeded any expectations I had and the fact that they we’re less than an arm lengths away from me only makes it crazier. Reluctantly I climb out of the cage and check on my go pro which is indeed very dead and then accept a sandwich and bag of chips and hot chocolate as a snack before taking my seat up on the top deck beside joey still absolutely buzzing. The sensation doesn’t fade on the trip back.
Back at Gansbaai and the marine dynamics office we change out of our wetsuits and that’s when the shark diving trip bites back.Not in the form of a shark, but in the form of a metal doorstop on the bathroom floor. I slip pulling off my wetsuit and go down, my hand reaching out to brace my fall only to smash it against the metal doorstop giving myself a nasty cut which will stay with me for most of the african trip. I jokingly tell the company I’ll be suing (It was all my fault) and they insist on cleaning the wound before we hurry back into a shuttle so another couple can make their dinner reservations in Cape town.
We’re back at Zebra Crossing around 7 pm all still blown away by what we’ve just experienced. If you can swing the expense go shark diving with Marine Dynamics, it’s insane.
My go pro goes into a bag of rice (to no avail) and then technology continues to fail (my external hard drive wiping itself clean when I’m about 30 minutes away from finishing maybe 100 hours of work on my photo book from my third complete year of travels. I couldn’t be more frustrated but sadly the files are gone and a 3 am amazing pizza with Joey on Long street can only offer some small comfort to that sadness. Still after one adventure In Africa, I’m even more excited for so many more.
