SHARK CAGE DIVING – SOUTH AFRICA

On an expedition in Africa in March of 2005, I caught up with some colleagues and a scientist from Cape Town University who were en route to Seal Island to study sharks in the wild…

Sunrise brought anticipation of the day’s main event: observing Great Whites up-close and personal during feeding time. We found Jenkins, our liaison, at the dock in good time and set out on a small skiff for Seal Island- infamous filming location of the Discovery Channel documentaries “Air Jaws” and “Shark Week.” 

We eventually tie up beside the Barracuda and scramble on board of the much larger ship as the rolling swell crashes the two boats together over and over.  The Capt. makes way for Shark Alley.   We watch from the top deck as the crew breaks up fish guts in a bucket of seawater to make the chum.  The air is thick with the smell of fish guts and seal shit.  Scottie, our resident naturalist, is explaining to Kevin and Stephanie that “like fishing, some days you get lucky with sharks and some days you don’t.”  A few minutes go by, maybe half an hour more…

“Shark!!!”  Suddenly pandemonium sets in.  The five of us are racing to get our dive suits over our bodies.  The crew has snapped into action with the chum and the cameras, and some of the others are climbing overboard into the cages.

The water is very cold in South Africa and this requires some extra insulation.  This is a thick wetsuit (5mil) that I’m fighting hard to get into even with all the adrenaline flowing… booties on… I take a moment to look overboard… Jaws is circling the boat… now pulling up the hoodie… atleast we will look more like seals.

I get suited up just in time to see Jaws making another pass.  This thing is massive!  He is so close I could jump on his back and ride him to the bottom of the ocean.  The thought occurs for an instant and I picture my epitaph, “Shark Rider Never Recovered.”  The idea quickly fades.  

Some of the team is already in the cages.  I hang back with Stephanie and John, our Aquatics Specialist.  Capt. grabs a big chunk of fish meat and ties a thick rope around it.  He gives it a good toss off the side—about five meters.  The shark makes a wide circle and then goes in hard for the meat.  Capt. yells “down, down, down!” and everyone inhales a deep breath and dives down to the bottom of the cage as Capt. pulls the meat towards the cage. 

The meat is instantly vaporized from the end of the rope and Kevin surfaces with eyes like saucers—damn that’s a fierce predator.  “Chase!  This is unreal!” he yells up to me grinning ear to ear.  “You gotta see this!”  Another chunk of meat is roped and thrown out and “Down, down, down!”  I can’t wait to get into those cages.  The shark makes several more passes that I capture on film, as I await my appointment. 

Finally I’m in, Stephanie and John are on either side of me.  The first thing I notice is the frigid water!  I fight the pull of the weight belt and cling to the top of the cage, wrestling to stay above the rolling ice bath.  A couple of minutes go by and suddenly it occurs to me that I’ve been using the cage opening as a footrest.  A @#$%ing scary thought!  I pull my toes into the safety of the metal cage just in time to hear “Down, down, down!”  I draw in a huge breath of air and dive down to the bottom.  I look out of the metal bars and spy a Jaws 12 feet away from me.  He is moving like a torpedo, closing in on the meat which is being pulled in my direction.  For a split second, I’m gazing into a black hole framed in jagged razorblades… then a quick, violent tearing of flesh and I lose my target in a sea of bubbles.  It happened in a flash, 5 ft. in front of my eyes and then wham!  Out of the bubbles the momentum of the attack sent the shark crashing into the cage infront of Stephanie!  I see her gasp under water and shoot to the surface.  I go up to see Stephanie ghostly white, with the widest eyes I’ve ever seen and in a panic.  “It came right in front of me!  I thought I was going to die!”  Incredible!  This went on for about an hour, the sharks delivering bone-chilling thrills with each hit.  I actually witnessed a shark clash teeth on metal in an effort to taste me or Scotty in passing, as we made our best efforts to imitate seal noises underwater.  –CM