Great White Shark Cage Diving

Great white shark cage diving is on my list of amazing things to do while I’m in South Africa, so I was very excited to go in December. The company picked us up at our door and bussed us to Hout Bay for a quick breakfast before getting on the water. About fifteen excited cage divers got on the boat for a ten minute ride out to the dive spot. They weather was perfect at about 30°C with smooth water. When we got there, the captain gave us a run down on directions and safety while the crew started throwing out fish heads attached to a rope. 

"Don't pet the sharks."

About two minutes into the captain’s spiel, the sharks showed up! Since we were paying attention to the captain anymore he told us to go for it!

Grabbing the bait.

I was so excited that I could hardly put on my wet suit. Although I fared better than my friend Jen who got two right shoes. 

So excited I can barely function.

The cage was tied to the side of the boat so that we could all rotate in and out of the cage at any time. We could fit five people in the narrow cage side by side. Every time a shark swam up to the bait the crew would shout “Down!” and the people in the cage would take a breath and duck down for a look. Most of the time I was so excited that I forgot to take a breath before going under water. 

View of the cage from above.

 It was incredible. We had sharks around the cage almost continuously, sometimes as many as three at one time. The biggest shark we saw was over three meters! The sharks were all going for the fish heads and could have cared less about the people cage in the water, so it wasn’t very scary at all, but still amazing. Their size and power is unbelievable to watch that closely underwater. The sharks would lunge for the bait and come within inches of the cage. I could have counted their individual teeth they were so close. Even the view from the boat was incredible with the sharks jumping clear out of the water for the bait. It was an amazing experience to get to be that close to such an overwhelming species. 

Jen and I tried to take underwater photos, but I was so excited for every shark that I could barely figure out how to work the camera. We haven’t developed the photos yet so I’m not sure yet if any of them came out, but here is a video from Alex Hoelscher, another intern. He did a video editing internship here in Cape Town and now is in India on a very cool project called Dances to Vanquish Demons. If you get a chance, check out his website and other great videos.