Sharkdiving

Fun Fact: South Africa has one of the largest populations of great white sharks in the world.

So obviously, I HAD to go see them!! We took a half hour boat ride off the shore of Hermanus (120km from Cape Town) to an area where Great Whites are known to breach in April and May. Once we got there we suited up in our full wetsuits; booties, hood and all. Six of us jumped in the cage for the first go, all lined up along the side of the boat. The water was cold, but not unbearable, and frankly, I had more important worries on my mind. One of them being the giant holes in the cage which were certainly large enough for an arm or leg to drift out of!!! One of the crew men began dumping buckets of chum off the side of the boat (not a nice smell/taste to be swimming around in) while another guy, Lloyd, tossed a large buoy overbaord fully equipped with dead fish as the bait. Five minutes later a fin surfaced and was headed straight towards the cage. Lloyd shouted "Down!" and the six of us took a deep breath, submerged underwater, and watched a 9 footer swim right by us and then disapear into the dark cloudy waters. The first few dips were scary, but I began to feel quite comfortable and fearless after 3 hours and no casualties. We saw four different sharks, all of varying sizes, but none of them were any more than 4 meters (about 12 feet). And the best part was that I didn't get sea sick!!!