Shark Blog Updated
From left: Fred preparing to meet Jaws, pouring the bloodmeal trail, getting lowered into the ocean, the Great White 🙂
After spending a week in the lovely city of Cape Town, Fred and I ventured 2.5 hours (200 km) east, along the Atlantic coast to the village of Gansbaii. Years ago, we had read about diving in a shark cage to see Great White Shark and finally, we had our opportunity.
As we lay there quietly, motionless, in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, suddenly, an immense dark figured started to swim towards us. It swam directly for us, then suddenly, veered away. Luckily, for Fred and I, plus four others, we were “safely” confined inside a steel shark cage.
The 4 metre beast continued to circle around and approach our cage. After initially being lured by the foul smell of “bloodmeal” – a combination of blood and fish guts purposely poured behind us by the crew, the shark was further enticed to our cage with tuna bait which was thrown out on a rope and pulled towards our cage. This encouraged the shark to steer directly towards us, sometimes biting angrily at our cage because it was denied its meal.
The dive operators never allow the great whites to eat the tuna bait as they don’t want the sharks to associate getting fed with boats. Fortunately, the 8 dive operators working out of the town of Gansbaai, South Africa (cited as the “Great White Shark Capital of the World”) have not had a casualty yet 🙂 Strict rules must be followed and a waiver signed (along with a cost of $80 – $120 each, depending on where you book) before being lowered into the deep ocean waters. They guarantee a shark siting (a 99% chance), otherwise, you get a free trip the next day. For us, it was only @ 10 minutes before our first shark siting.
After staying a night at the Marine Bay Guest House in Keinbaii, (private room + shark diving for $90 each), we went to Michael Rutzen’s, “Shark Diving Unlimited”. We figured this must be a very reputable company since celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio (both in June ’06), the King of Jordan, and His Royal Highness Prince Harry among others have allowed themselves to be lowered inside their cage. Also, just a couple of months ago, CNN reporter Anderson Cooper was on board to film a documentary. Perhaps you have already seen “Beyond Fear” (National Geographic) or “Sharkman” (Discovery Channel).
Despite viewing their celebrity photos inside the clubhouse, I looked through the guest book and saw where they signed their attendance. Brad Pitt commented “Eyeball to Eyeball” while Leo wrote “Unforgettable experience”. We happened to be dining at the same restaurant (Ernie’s) with the skipper the night before when he got a call that “One Republic” would be sailing with them shortly. Since I was the only one who knew who they were and could vouch for their great music, I was invited to join them – unfortunately, we had to move on. I would have loved to “Stop and Stare” at them!
Fred and I boarded the “Baracuda” with 10 others who were equally as excited to experience “Jaws”. After donning our 7 mm wet suit, somehow I ended up being the first one lowered into the shark cage. I was directed to move over to the far right – which meant I was exposed on two sides! Despite wearing a weight belt, I still found it challenging to keep my feet on the floor of the cage without them escaping out of the cage. We were in the cage for about 15 minutes and the shark(s) came by at least 8 eight times. The largest one was 4 metres (@12 feet). Apparently, the largest shark to visit a boat in this area was 7.1 metres! Also, they have tagged a shark and found that they are very mobile. One in particular swam all the way to Australia in 99 days. The skipper estimated a daily shark turnover of 80% which would account for the fact that the sharks continue to chase the tuna, despite never being allowed to get a hold of it and eat it.
After a few hours at sea, we headed back to shore and were advised to keep a look out for whales. We had several sitings of the “Southern Right Whale” just off shore the day before (mothers with their calves) but we didn’t see any on our way back into Gainsbaii. Once back on shore, we had a small lunch at Shark Diving Unlimited and watched the video of our adventure. We purchased a DVD of our footage, along with a second DVD of a documentary of Michael Rutzen’s “free diving” with the great whites (he is one of only a few people in the world who free dive with these sharks). Check out their website at www.sharkdivingunlimited.com
By noon, we were ‘on the road again’ for more exciting adventures.
Stay tuned 🙂
Lisa n Fred
Tags: Gansbaii, Shark Diving, Shark Diving Unlimited, Travel
frednlisa
Leave a Reply