Shark-caging- a once in a life-time experience.
Trip Start
Apr 15, 2007
1
7
10
Trip End
Jun 30, 2007
Gansbaai,
South Africa
Thursday, May 31, 2007
As promised I'm back here to type up this entry. I'll have to make it quick as Emma is back home turfing me out of my room so that she and her sister can make use of my double bed and I must go back to see what kind of havoc she has wreaked (no, only kidding, I'll go back to find my stuff arranged in her room neater than when I left this morning.)
So where was I?
At around 9:30am on Sunday morning, old Cat & Moose guy alerted me that the bus was outside. It was rather a cool bus with a huge photo of a great white shark splashed along the side and White Shark Ecoventures written in big letters, there was no mistaking what I was going to do today then!
I was slightly disappointed by the make up of the bus, and by that I mean the passengers. When I got on it already contained two bumptious middle-aged British cousins, one with a wife and one with a girl-friend, and an annoying American Asian family which comprised an elderly father and mother, with two teenage kids and a younger son. The girl was already arguing with the father and it wasn't long before she turned her attention to her younger brother, they were arguing about trading coins as they both wanted full sets of South African currency and by the time I had heard the word "Rands" bandied about a few times, I was ready to scream "There is no plural! It's Rand, 20 Rand, got that?"
We were soon joined by three midde-aged but hardy Norwegian ladies, a group of about 6 American girls, who, I observed as the day progressed, paid for everything with their credit cards and finally in Hermanus, about half an hour from our destination (Gansbaai) we picked up Jane and James, a very lovely couple on their honeymoon. They had got married just the Saturday before, even though they had been together for twelve years. It had been Jane's dream to dive with sharks for a very long time, that and to see an African Wild Dog, which she and James were hopefully going to do the day after. We both agreed after the event that it truly had been the experience of a life-time. I don't think anything will ever come close to matching it I really don't.
I slept most of the way down to Gansbaai (pronounced Hans-buy) probably due to the sea-sickness pill I'd taken, or maybe the fact thatI'd gone to bed so late the night before. It was a long drive, taking about 2 hours after we left Cape Town, and we'd driven around Cape Town for an hour just picking people up. I only really woke up at Hermanus and by the tiem we got to our destination it was about 12:30. We had breakfast, where it turned out that most of the Americans were vegetarian and hadn't bothered to tell any one. It only really meant that they had to pick the ham out of their cheese and ham croissants. I was glad that I'd bought my underater camera at the Waterfront in Cape Town as here they were charging 230R (I'd paid 100R, which is still 7 pounds). Signing idemnity forms and faffing around going to the loo took up another hour or so, and it gave the Norwegians a chance to indulge in their ciggies. They really were heavy smokers! they smoked on the boat, having just exited the sea. It was about 1:30 before we left the Great White Adventure Centre.
Soon we boarded the Megalodon II and were on our way. The sea was very rough, the swell forcing all but the most agile to stay glued to their seats and cling onto something, being inside the cockpit however I had to stand if I wanted a view of the ocean and receeding shore as the window panels were set quite high, so I soon got used to riding the waves, letting out the occasional whoop as we crested and then plunged into the next trough. I was glad of my sea-sickness tablets, although Robert our skipper and guide said that they go out in swell twice as rough as this, depending on the wind direction.
We anchored in a calmer spot of water and the cage was thrown out and the chum (ground pilchards mixed with sea water that gives out a scent to attract the sharks and makes an oily patch on the sea all around the boat) was thrown into the water. It was re-applied as it were throughout the day to keep us on the scent map for any curious sharks that might be interested. The visual bait was two tuna heads threaded on a long rope. This was used to lure the sharks closer to the boat. Lucas was our shark-handler for the day and he was very practised at throwing the lure and reeling it in as the sharks lunged, while shouting a the specators in the cage to go down. While the boat was being readied, we were all on the top sun deck, or observation deck, being briefed by Robert about the diving. the only thing that really stuck in my mind was the repeated command "No wet wetsuits upstairs, no wet wetsuits in the cabin!" I'm making it sound like a really big boat, but in truth there was barely room to move around and it was very cramped with over twenty people on board.
The diving procedure was very simple. As soon as either Robert or Lucas shouted "Down!" the people in the cage would take a breath and go under, stay down for five seconds and then come up again, ready for the next "Down!" when it came. There was no fancy beathing apparatus as Robert said that the sound and the bubbles often scared all but the bravest of sharks away. Scuba gear really wasn't needed and would have been a hinderance rather than a help I think. Taking a breath, getting a sighting and coming back up was the perfect way to do it. We were given weight belts to help us sink to the bottom of the cage when the command was called. We also donned wetsuits and snorkel masks.
In fact Robert was just saying as we sat on the top deck finishing our briefing, that it was now up to nature and that we might wait five minutes or fifty before we saw a shark, but that we'd better get our wetsuits on now so that we were prepared when one did show up. We all filed down the ladder, when suddenly a shark was spotted. There was an orderly rush to get into wetsuits and I managed to be first into the cage.
The shark, when it glided past was beautiful, sleek and grey, the perfect predator, slicing through the water with seemingly no effort at all. This beauty, Robert told us was a female, she was 4.5 metres long, the biggest shark we saw that day. She was by far the slowest and most graceful of the four sharks we saw, gliding past the cage slowly and not attacking the bait with the same ferocity as the others.
The pictures one sees of sharks above the water makes them appear blunt-nosed and ugly, and the focus is always on the teeth. Seeing them in their natural habitat, close enough to see the bubbles coming out of their gills as they swam past, they were in the correct orientation, not leaping out of the water, but horizontal and it is then that you realize that they are purely built to swim. Pictures do not capture the beautiful motion of a swimming shark, even documentaries, which I'm sure most of us have seen, that have footage of sharks under the water, don't quite portray the movement as it is, both fast and slow. The shots never follow the shark for more than a few seconds, it just glides on the screen and then off again, to really see it, you have to watch the shark turn and circle, a rapid but loose motion, not a tight one as you might expect, but you have just been following the shark's movement in one direction and then it is coming from the other and you didn't see it alter it's course, well that may be partly beause you are confined to one viewing direction by the cage so you don't get the full 360 degrees, but it is still unexpected. I was most struck however by their eyes, although quite small, these eyes have a mesmerising quality and are of the deepest black, like bottomless wells.
Poor Kyrstyn, one of the Norwegian ladies was our first casualty to sea-sickness and teh only one to actually vomit. I helped her into her wet-suit but after a brief dip into the cage, she had to come out again, too sick to continue. We were put on a rotation so that every one got a chance to go in the cage. Most people only did their one 5-10 minute stint and were glad to get out again. They spent the rest of the time feeling seasick and sorry for themselves, and observing the sharks from the boat, getting good views and plenty of photos from the top deck. The American Asian family didn't go in at all, which is a waste of a trip if you ask me, but then they are diving and viewing tours.
Jane went in for a second go and I joined her. We were soon joined by two male sharks and then by James. Both were about 3 metres long and one was a pale grey one, that had approached the boat earlier when no-one was in the cage, it was quite shy and didn't approach too closely with us there. The other male was slightly braver.
I had to get out quite quickly on my second dip as the sea felt a lot colder that time (it was 16.2 degrees Celcius the whole day) and my weight belt soon got heavy. As my shoulder started to ache, the shivering got the better of me, the sharks drifted off and there were no new sightings, I decided to call it a day. We all got out of the cage.
For Jane and James that was their final go, but I was mad enough to get back in for a third time. I stayed in the cage right up until the end of the trip and this was when a male shark decided to get up close and personal with me. I was priviliged to see a full set of teeth as it came straight at the cage, not intentionally I might add, it was chasing the tuna. What a sight, it makes you feel king of small when you've got that bearing down on you. It struck the cage a glancing blow as well, but that was enough to make it rattle. That was the only time that the sharks had ever got that close to the cage. The actual lunge as they go after the tuna is lightening quick, with a lot of churning water and thrashing. They are surface feeders and it is not uncommon for them to leap right out of the water to bring down their prey. And that is just what this male did. He really did perform; not a full breach, but he leapt partially out of the water. (I was in the water at the time, so I did not get the best view)
Afte rthat spectacular sight, Robert the Skipper decided to call it a day, he helped me to strip off my wetsuit and a Fiona, shivering so much that I might as well be the San Andreas Fault, retired to the cabin to be slightly more sheltered from the wind. I was freezing and couldn't feel my feet.
Back on dry land I was soundly congratulated for being the hardiest of the bunch. I just think that it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity and so I wanted to spend as much time in the water with the sharks as possible. My only regret was that I spendt most of my time worrying about capturing the sharks on my underwater camera, which is not easy, not when you have to plunge down, hold onto the inside of the cage, hold your breath, add to that the fact that the sharks are moving quite fast, and you have difficult photographic conditions, so it took away some of the enjoyment and didn't allow me to really focus on what I was actually seeing, I was too busy taking pictures of it. I also wish I had more surface photos of the sharks.
This situation was soon remidied when we were dropped off at Shark Alley, the official merchandise shop, where a very late lunch ( it was now 4:30) was set out for us and we got to watch a DVD of our experience. I forgot to mention our friendly camera man Sean, who came along to film it all. It really did look like a documentary, only it was interspersed with shots of us on the boat. It was surreal to think that we had, less than hadl an hour ago actually been swimming with these creatures.
Before long it was time for our bus journey back. Incidentally I took the details of the film company and have subsequently purchased the DVD, I have in fact just been informed that it has been shipped out, so parents watch the letterbox it shoudl be there in about 2-3 weeks, you have my permission to watch it if I'm not back before it arrives. Anyone else who wants to have a viewing of my Shark-Cage Diving Experience, tickets will be five pounds, (what? I need the cash).
So all in all one of the best experiences of my life to date. I can't quite describe how beautiful the sharks were or how profoundly they affected me, or even why they did, I can only say that it is something I will never ever forget.
Love Fi XXXX
