Great White Wonders

Hi Everyone,

Today was incredible, so much so that I'm not sure it's quite sunk in yet as i write this post.

We were picked up from our hotel at 8:30 this morning and then went on a 2 hour drive to Ganaasbai where the cage diving was taking place. There were 11 other people with us, so it was a good sized group. We spent about 30 minutes getting ready, eating breakfast and learning about the area and then we headed out on the boat.

Due to the time of year (summer here), the odds of seeing great whites are only about 80% compared to the 96% rate they boast during the winter months. As a result of it being the summer here as well, they stay closer to the shore line and further away from Dyer Island where the sharks generally go in the winter time when the young seal pups are heading out to the island. As with most wild animals, they go where the food is, and right now, it's along the shoreline.

So, 15 minutes on the boat later, and we arrived at 'the spot'. We got another quick orientation about where we were, what was going to happen, and how the experience works. Contrary to what i said before we left, all diving operations here use chum and bait to get the sharks closer to the cages. The sharks are already in the area though, so it's not like they are chumming waters where sharks don't normally go in order to appease us tourists.

It took about 45 minutes of just sitting, rocking on the boat until the 1st shark showed up. She was just a little girl, about 3 meters in length and only about 400kg. Beautiful though. Her appearance cued the beginning of what turned out to be one of our divemaster's best days out at sea in the last 3 years. Her appearance also meant that divers could get into the cage.

I was the 4th person into the cage. The water was FREEZING, however i do credit my Canadian blood for allowing me to stay in the water for probably a combined time of about 1 hour vs. the other sissy's who only spent about 15 minutes. Dan ended up going into the cage shortly after me, but we did at one point end up in the cage together at the same time, which was nice. I was squealing with excitement as per usual and he just had a giant shit eating grin. you know, the usual.

We ended up seeing 4 sharks in total. All four where female and one was just over 4 meters long (about 13-14 feet) and weighed approximately 675kg or 1500 pounds give or take. She was magnificent and provided a lot of excellent entertainment and great photo opportunities. In fact, she breached out of the water a couple of times, both while i was in the cage and outside the cage on the boat.

We have a video, so be sure to ask us to show it to you if you are interested in seeing.

I can understand how there are shark attacks in the area (in fact, there was one in that area 2 weeks ago where a shark consumed a dude in his entirety), but I can also understand how they are completely misunderstood.

It was truly amazing and i'd highly recommend the experience to anyone who gets an opportunity to do it.

our travels home begin tomorrow, thus the blogging will likely stop until i post about us arriving home to the god awful -15 weather. So not excited.

see you all very soon!

ciao,
aileen&dan