Trip to Africa - Shark Diving

October 13, 2019
My favorite day of the whole Africa trip was when we went shark diving.  It was very exiting and a never to be forgotten day.

We signed up for this optional excursion to go shark diving.  Early in the morning we loaded onto our bus in Cape Town and then drove to the other side of the peninsula to a dive shop on the Indian Ocean side.  The Indian Ocean is colder than the Atlantic and that's where the sharks like to be.

That also means it's rougher.  When we got to the place they met us at the door to the shop and said it was very windy and we could get our money back if we didn't want to go.  I asked if it was safe and they said yes they wouldn't go out if it wasn't safe.  So I said, of course we'll still go.  Didn't find out till later that none of the other boats were going out.  It wasn't because of being safe.  It was because of the wind making the waves so rough.  The boat was rocking on the waves so much people started getting sick right away.  A lot of people were getting sea sick and throwing up, but we kept going.  We eventually got out to the place where the sharks were known to gather.  We think at least half the tourists on board were sick and some didn't even do the dive they were so sick.  After the dive I even got sick too (but not Jacquelyn).  The whole deck of the boat was awash with throw up but they simply threw buckets of salt water from the ocean onto the deck and swept it off into the sea.  And the dive went on, because we had lots of sharks there that day.  It was crazy wavy though and the boat was rocking side to side like some kind of thrill ride at the fair.

These were the size of boats we where on.  See the cage attached to the side of one boat.  They first threw out a bloody mix of chum and lures to attract the sharks.  And then we got to climb inside the cages.  We were ready to go down.

 Here's a picture showing people inside the cages, which were attached to the sides of the boats.  There were bars on the inside of the cage and you could stand up and see over the water and get a breath of air.  Or push down and be way under water, the bottom of the cage was about 6 foot down.  But you had to be careful to keep your fingers and toes inside the cage.

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We took turns in groups of nine going down.  Only it was so windy and the waves so bad that sometimes the sides of the boat were raising the cages up out of the water and then smashing down back into the salty ocean.  I was given the far right position and Jacquelyn right next to me.  We put on wet suits and goggles and we were ready to face the sharks.

They had meaty lures on poles that they lured the sharks with and teased them to chase the lure right up to the cages where we where waiting.  As they swam up we would push ourselves down under the water and be face to face with the hungry sharks.

 There was a swarm of sharks there that day.  We had one great white shark and about a dozen Copper Sharks. They were about eight to twelve feet in length.  And they had lots of teeth, I can tell you that.

 I had the perfect spot on the corner of the cage and they often lured the sharks right up in front of me.  A couple of times they actually bumped their noses right into the cage directly at my face, and they had their jaws open trying to get the lures.

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It was a great time.  The waves made it really exciting.  What a wild adventure with the sharks.