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Gansbaai, South Africa 12/21/09
Gansbaai,
South Africa
12/21/09
It’s a sunny morning in this little seaside town but it feels later. It’s around 11 a.m. but I’ve been up since 4 a.m. and in between the time I got up and this moment I’ve had some pretty thrilling experiences. Well actually just one experience repeated about a dozen times. At 7:30 this morning I boarded a small boat, donned a wetsuit, and climbed into a cage in the chilly, recently chummed waters of Gans Bay in the South Atlantic; home to a dense population of the world renowned Great White Shark.
There were about 15 other divers on the Shark Diving Unlimited excursion with me and I was in the second group to enter the cage. This gave me a front row seat on the deck of the boat with my trusty little Cannon to catch photos of the first sharks of the morning as they came to investigate the enticing smell of the water around the boat and also take a pass and a possible bite of the tethered fish head lure that was constantly being thrown out in front of the dive cage.
It was a calm morning and the winds and chop would not pick up for a few hours. The Captain told me visibility in the summer waters is never as good as the winter but first thing this morning you could see well to about 2 -3 meters deep and then shadows and shapes to about 4 to 5 meters.
The first shark that I saw swim by the boat didn’t surface but it came up high enough that I could clearly see its familiar gray top and white underside. It was probably 3 meters long and I was instantly excited. “Yep, that’s a shark! This is going to be amazing!”
Moments later another shape came along the same path. My jaw instantly dropped and my eyes grew wide. It was clearly a shark but much like seeing the Grand Canyon or New York City for the first time, my mind was not ready to process the size of the image my eyes were seeing. The first one that passed was a big shark in my mind. The second shark I got to compare it with was HUGE!
I’m sure I’m suffering from the standard fish sighting affliction that causes any fisherman to exaggerate but in a conservative estimate I would say the second shark was about 5 meters long. However what really shocked me was the width. It looked like a long Volkswagen swimming under the boat!
Once I was in the cage the visibility in the water had started to decrease. The water was cold but I didn’t mind. My fast beating heart was pumping plenty of blood around my body to make chilly water not a factor.
There is about 6 of you in the long narrow cage at a time. It was not the square, jail cell type cage that I had pictured in my mind before arriving at the boat. It also stays on the surface of the water, again not what I imagined but when the first Great White swam by, inches from the cage, inches from my face, my preconceived ideas of what the experience would be like went right out of my mind and all I thought about was “Are my toes inside the cage?!”
I had several great sightings in the cage. (Sorry, I don’t have an underwater camera so there are not any pictures.) The decreasing visibility only made it more intense. You closely examine any motion, any shadow, and then by the time you are for sure it’s a shark it’s a foot from your face.
I got several very close up looks at the serrated, mangled rows of jagged teeth and even once the deadly jaws had passed I never once thought about sneaking a quick touch on the back of the shark. None of the sharks that came by that close were as big as the car that I saw topside and that makes sense. They don’t feed the sharks. They just get it smelling really good and then dangle a fish head to give the sharks a direction to look. Not enough reason to bring a huge shark top side and I’m probably glad.
The sharks that grazed the cage are still large, don’t get me wrong. They were all 2 – 4 meters and capable of eating me in two bites I’m sure. So in summary, I am very satisfied with the experience but, as always, I want more.
I’d love to be here in the winter when the visibility is better and also when the seals are breeding. That is when you get to see the world famous jumping, or breaching, sharks. Oh well, next time….
This little excursion was also a nice way to see more of South Africa. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Cape Town to Gansbaai and this morning I stared out the window most of the time. It’s a beautiful day so I imagine it will be a nice drive home too. I’m looking forward to putting on some tunes and watching the scenery.
Jillian is hitting a spa today and I think we are planning on hitting the wine country tomorrow. (If Jillian was able to line up a tour) It’s a perfect Honeymoon; a little her, a little me, a lot of us.
We still have not lined up our safari or our next destination but we’ll figure it out soon. As always it’s the wandering I enjoy; the freedom. We’ve only been gone 5 days but I’m already in the groove. I wish the two of us could just keep wandering…
MJF
It’s a sunny morning in this little seaside town but it feels later. It’s around 11 a.m. but I’ve been up since 4 a.m. and in between the time I got up and this moment I’ve had some pretty thrilling experiences. Well actually just one experience repeated about a dozen times. At 7:30 this morning I boarded a small boat, donned a wetsuit, and climbed into a cage in the chilly, recently chummed waters of Gans Bay in the South Atlantic; home to a dense population of the world renowned Great White Shark.
There were about 15 other divers on the Shark Diving Unlimited excursion with me and I was in the second group to enter the cage. This gave me a front row seat on the deck of the boat with my trusty little Cannon to catch photos of the first sharks of the morning as they came to investigate the enticing smell of the water around the boat and also take a pass and a possible bite of the tethered fish head lure that was constantly being thrown out in front of the dive cage.
It was a calm morning and the winds and chop would not pick up for a few hours. The Captain told me visibility in the summer waters is never as good as the winter but first thing this morning you could see well to about 2 -3 meters deep and then shadows and shapes to about 4 to 5 meters.
The first shark that I saw swim by the boat didn’t surface but it came up high enough that I could clearly see its familiar gray top and white underside. It was probably 3 meters long and I was instantly excited. “Yep, that’s a shark! This is going to be amazing!”
Moments later another shape came along the same path. My jaw instantly dropped and my eyes grew wide. It was clearly a shark but much like seeing the Grand Canyon or New York City for the first time, my mind was not ready to process the size of the image my eyes were seeing. The first one that passed was a big shark in my mind. The second shark I got to compare it with was HUGE!
I’m sure I’m suffering from the standard fish sighting affliction that causes any fisherman to exaggerate but in a conservative estimate I would say the second shark was about 5 meters long. However what really shocked me was the width. It looked like a long Volkswagen swimming under the boat!
Once I was in the cage the visibility in the water had started to decrease. The water was cold but I didn’t mind. My fast beating heart was pumping plenty of blood around my body to make chilly water not a factor.
There is about 6 of you in the long narrow cage at a time. It was not the square, jail cell type cage that I had pictured in my mind before arriving at the boat. It also stays on the surface of the water, again not what I imagined but when the first Great White swam by, inches from the cage, inches from my face, my preconceived ideas of what the experience would be like went right out of my mind and all I thought about was “Are my toes inside the cage?!”
I had several great sightings in the cage. (Sorry, I don’t have an underwater camera so there are not any pictures.) The decreasing visibility only made it more intense. You closely examine any motion, any shadow, and then by the time you are for sure it’s a shark it’s a foot from your face.
I got several very close up looks at the serrated, mangled rows of jagged teeth and even once the deadly jaws had passed I never once thought about sneaking a quick touch on the back of the shark. None of the sharks that came by that close were as big as the car that I saw topside and that makes sense. They don’t feed the sharks. They just get it smelling really good and then dangle a fish head to give the sharks a direction to look. Not enough reason to bring a huge shark top side and I’m probably glad.
The sharks that grazed the cage are still large, don’t get me wrong. They were all 2 – 4 meters and capable of eating me in two bites I’m sure. So in summary, I am very satisfied with the experience but, as always, I want more.
I’d love to be here in the winter when the visibility is better and also when the seals are breeding. That is when you get to see the world famous jumping, or breaching, sharks. Oh well, next time….
This little excursion was also a nice way to see more of South Africa. It’s about a 3 hour drive from Cape Town to Gansbaai and this morning I stared out the window most of the time. It’s a beautiful day so I imagine it will be a nice drive home too. I’m looking forward to putting on some tunes and watching the scenery.
Jillian is hitting a spa today and I think we are planning on hitting the wine country tomorrow. (If Jillian was able to line up a tour) It’s a perfect Honeymoon; a little her, a little me, a lot of us.
We still have not lined up our safari or our next destination but we’ll figure it out soon. As always it’s the wandering I enjoy; the freedom. We’ve only been gone 5 days but I’m already in the groove. I wish the two of us could just keep wandering…
MJF
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