Great White Shark Diving in South Africa

Traveling is so exciting and our October trip to southern Africa, including Botswana and South Africa was no exception. My partner Dan Hopkins and Ashwini Kumar, a mutual friend, started our trip in Cape Town, South Africa. A beautiful city perched at the base of Table Mountain along South Africa’s magnificent South Atlantic Coast. While there, the three of us toured with White Shark Ecoventures out of Gansbaai, South Africa on a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) cage diving excursion and what an adventure it turned out to be!

All of the photos were taken during the actual tour and you can also see a video of our tour at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=GrassTrackSafaris#p/u/0/yBA_HvhSW4s

A Great White Shark going after chum

Great White Sharks are found in the coastal waters of California–Baja California, Australia–New Zealand, and South Africa. Management and conservation of this rare and threatened animal have been limited, partly because its migrations and the linkages between populations were poorly understood and difficult to research until the development of sophisticated telemetry instruments. In the early 2000s, tagging with acoustic satellite telemetry transmitters and subsequent tracking of great white sharks off the Western Cape of South Africa in the vicinity of Gansbaai has proven for the first time that these magnificent killing machines frequently undertake extensive migrations from the waters off Gansbaai, through the open sea to Australia–New Zealand, and back again. This research has shown that great white sharks are seasonal visitors (from June to December) to the Gansbaai area and that they make this transoceanic migration on a regular basis. Our African expedition took us to Gansbaai on 28 September 2010, perfect timing for viewing the sharks off of Gansbaai.

A shark trailing the chum line, approaches the dive cage

The morning was cold and breezy as we boarded our boat and traveled a few miles off of the southern tip of the African continent to the great white shark viewing area. During our boat cruise the wind abated and the temperatures steadily rose, making it warmish when we reached the viewing area. Still, few of the 20 or so of us on the excursion were prepared to make the initial plunge so Dan, Ashwini, and I along with two brave Australian women clamored over the edge of the boat into a cage strapped at the surface to its side and dropped into the icy waters, the initial group of five people to view the sharks. We did not actually dive, but rather outfitted with goggles, snorkels, and wet suits were to enter the cage and drop beneath the water’s surface at our guides command to view  these magnificent beasts as they trailed after a chum line pulled past the front of the cage. I had barely entered the cage, still in shock from the chilling effect of the water when I heard our guide shout, “dive.” Beneath the surface, confronted by a gray-murkiness I was disoriented, trying to focus on anything when suddenly all I could see was a mouth agape with huge teeth and snout, boom, a great white smacked into the cage right in front of me. I instinctively recoiled against the back of the cage and the boat behind me. Pumped with adrenaline, both at once ecstatic and terrified, I shot to the surface as the shark disappeared and I let out a loud whoop! I will never forget the very moment that shark came into focus and I encourage all reading this to seek such an experience at least once in your lifetime. Return next week for another interesting story of our recent trip to Africa!

A Great White Shark takes the chum