Shark Diving

March 18, 2008
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would stare into the eyes of a Great White Shark of the Indian Ocean. However, during our stay in Simon’s Town many of us boarded the bus by 5am so that we could reach the shark diving location in good time. We started off with a good breakfast served at the base, and then with a quick briefing we headed out on the boat. The sun was already shining and it appeared that we had a good day ahead of us. The boat took us out for a good 45minutes till we dropped anchor at the spot where we would wait eagerly (yet patiently) for any sort of sighting. I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up because we were told there was a chance we wouldn’t see any sharks. It was a bit discouraging when by noon there was still nothing.
But then the time came. We had to face our fears, climb into a wetsuit, strap on a pair of goggles, and jump into a 6-person cage off the edge of the boat into the frigid water. While the crew threw bait over the edge of the boat, and there were sharks circling in the water right in front of our very own eyes! It was a huge rush, since you didn’t know how long the shark was going to stick around.
Our group was very fortunate. We saw two whales, one jellyfish, many seals and four sharks! By the time we started heading back we were all exhausted but still excited about what we had just experienced. We got back to the base and had a delicious lunch which ended off our day. All in all Shark Diving was an awesome day and something that I know is a once in a lifetime experience for me.
Submitted by Sarah Janzen

Sarah

The gorup waiting for the sharks to come.

There's a fine line between "suntanning" and seasickness, here it's hard to tell which is the case.

Tessa on the deck of the boat before seasickness hit her.

Kyle lounges on the boat.

Julia and Brittany enjoy the day at sea.

Carissa, Ryan, Jen and Stephanie.

The boat

Brent, Amanda, Steve enjoy the ride.

Kim and Chantel suit up to be lowered into the shark infestic Atlantic waters in the cage.

Reuben and Justin opt not to wear the wet suits.

Kyle demonstrates that the ocean is in fact quite chilly!

The cage.

In the cage Kristi, Sarah and Darren. Ready for a close up of the sharks.

Justin, Steve and Tiffany

Mmmm lunch... thankfully this is the shark's lunch and not ours!

The bait and wait game.




"Here sharky"


and finally the moment we've all been waiting for!