Shark Cage Diving!

This is probably the most anticipated post on my blog to date!

Shark cage diving was probably one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. It was phenomenal and spectacular. I know, plenty of you back home have heard how shark cage diving is harmful to the balance of the ecosystem and to surfers here in South Africa. This might be true to some extent in South Africa. Enforcement of the laws that are established to protect the Great White Sharks in the area has been minimal due to lack of federal funds and in the area has been minimal due to lack of federal funds and the shear fact that South Africa has bigger problems of social unrest to tend to.

Anyways, we went with a company called Marine Dynamics. They are one of the only companies who operate on a consistent conversational basis. They work to with the Department of Marine and Coastal Management to identify individual sharks, track their movements and assist in researching these magnificent creatures! On each trip out to Dyer Island (which is where the sharks feed on the seals that inhabit the colony on the island), they have a person who photographs the shark’s dorsal fins. Each shark has a series of notches on their dorsal fins that act as a “finger print” to identify sharks. They also tag sharks with a harmless satellite tag that tracks the shark’s movement up and down the coast of South Africa.















On our specific trip, we saw a total of 10 individual sharks. Most were female and only about three of them were really big. One I would say was about 25 feet in length. The rest ranged from 10 feet to about 15 feet. To draw the sharks attention the crew of our ship has a sludge of fish guts that attracts the sharks to the boat. The second part of the lure is a tuna head tied to a line. They toss this out into the ocean and as the sharks swim by they pull the lure back towards the cage. This allows for most of the divers in the cage to get within touching distance of the shark. Although, touching the shark is strictly prohibited for obvious reasons (no one wants to loose a hand). We were on the water for about three hours. It was a wonderful trip. I have a link to their website (http://www.sharkwatchsouthafrica.com/) if you want to check out their tours. If you ever make it Gansbaai, South Africa you should definitely take a tour with these guys!