Face to Face with Sharks

When we received our itinerary in the mail a month before our trip, we were asked to choose between shark cage diving or a day of wine tasting. I quickly chose wine tasting and Brad immediately chose the sharks! So….in the spirit of marital compromise and a bit of adventure, we went with the shark cage diving. After all, our daughter Amanda had done it when she was on Semester at Sea in Cape Town. She chose the cheapest one she could find to save us a little money. That was not our intention for this trip. Never skimp on your shark cage!

When we arrived on the trip, I was chagrined to find out that no one else had chosen the shark diving. The rest of the group was going to spend a stressless day up in Wine Country. We had to leave at 6:00 am and they left at 9:00 am. One of our travel mates played the Jaws theme song for us on the way back home from dinner to get us in the mood. I was questioning whether we had chosen wisely.

Six am rolled around and we headed out with a wonderful driver named Satish. He was a wealth of information about Cape Town and the region. We went through beautiful sections of the city and looked up at the majesty of Table Mountain. Before long, we were passing through shanty towns similar to Soweto and people standing out on the streets looking for day labor jobs. The unemployment rate here is around 30% so getting work is a constant struggle. I still can’t get my head around the immense poverty and the conditions of the shanty towns here in South Africa.

We arrived at our destination, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust. They are the only shark diving company that is also involved in conservation efforts so we were happy about that. I was nervous. My brother, Bob, had been texting me on the drive to the sharks to make sure to keep my fingers and toes inside the cage, etc. You know how brothers are. He had also been shark diving here with his son Jordan.

When we went up to the briefing room, we were surrounded by 20- and 30-somethings. No sane people our age apparently sign up for this sort of thing. They were all in the touring boat that watches us shark dive!

Off we went with our waterproof orange parkas out to sea to find the sharks. The seagulls knew what was up and followed us all the way out to the shark-infested area.

When we got to our spot, we were given wet suits and Brad and I were promptly put into the first cage. No time to turn back now! I thought the cages would be completely meshed over so there was no opportunity to put my hands or feet out. That is not the case. There are large holes where you could reach out your hand and/or a shark could stick in his snout. Again, I was questioning our choice.

The crew began to throw in the chum to attract the sharks and the show began. Chum is a mixture of fish oils and parts. We learned we should keep our mouths shut while the chum is going in. We bobbed up and down going under the water looking at the sharks as they came right up to our cage. One of them was so close that his fin brushed against me. The sharks were actually well-behaved and reminded me ( a little) of swimming with the dolphins. They were just cruising together with their buddies and eating the chum and the bait. No attacking us in the cage. I quickly realized my fears were all for nothing and actually started enjoying the whole experience.

Our twenty minutes in the tank were up and we got on board so the other “youngsters” could get in the water. The hardest part of the morning was trying to get out of our wet suits in a very small bathroom while bobbing up and down in the restless seas. That process took as long as being in the ocean with the sharks did!

We saw mostly 6- to 10-foot copper sharks also known as bronze whaler sharks. Our guide on the boat got quite excited when a seven gilled cow shark approached the boat. Apparently, they are very rare and she has only seen one once before. Brad was down in the bathroom struggling with his wet suit so he didn’t get to participate in all of the seven gill cow shark excitement. We didn’t see any Great White Sharks on this trip. Their numbers are down a little in South Africa and like everything in nature, they are unpredictable.

All in all, it was quite a fun adventure. We topped it off with a wonderful sea side lunch in the town of Hermanus and toasted our morning with an Old Harbor Lager. We can mark shark cage diving off the list because next time given the choice, we are going Wine-Tasting!!