Meeting Jaws

Our original itinerary did not include jumping into the cold Atlantic waters with the great white sharks, but after recommendations from at least two couples we met along the way in Zambia and Namibia, we decided to give it a chance.  After visiting Cape Alguhlas, the most southern tip of South Africa, we were off to Gansbaai (pronounced hahns-bye) where the sharks were waiting for us.

We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast right on the water, near the harbor. They let us stay a night for free since we booked the tour with them the next morning.  We woke up bright and early for the owner to lead the way to the harbor at 6:30 am. Here we were served breakfast while we got the briefing of the tour, and we were ready to go.

Our view from the bed and breakfast where we spent the night.

The small harbor in Gansbaai.  You can easily see how the rocks get in the way.

There were 17 of us total that boarded the boat called Nemo.  The harbor was extremely small and had several rocks. We had to take off before low tide or else we would have to wait several hours because of all the rocks in the water. Despite all of the boats needing to take off, we all managed to leave in time and were thrown into the huge rolling waves of the sea.

The Nemo! Of course I had to get in the way and ruin the picture.

We only rode in the boat for about 30 minutes before stopping so that the guides could start looking for the sharks.  The coast was still very much in view, which surprised us beacuse of how close we were (there was no beach in Gansbaai that we know of). During our briefing that morning, the owner stressed at least three times in a row that shark sightings cannot be guaranteed as they are dealing with wild animals. We are not sure if it was just the day we went out, but the guides had much more trouble than we anticipated finding any sharks in the area. We were out on the water searching for them by 7:30 am, but we didn't actually see any until almost two hours later.

During this time, both Sam and myself (and probably half of the other passengers) were just trying not to get seasick. Neither of us have experienced problems with seasickness in the past, but shortly after the boat stopped, we were just slowly rocking up and down. We were amazed the guides fed us such a large breakfast and gave us no warning for this. I kept my post at the side of the boat for a while, trying not to look at all the fish guts that were being mixed for the shark bate just a few feet away.

Mmmm...yummy shark bait.

Finally, a shark sighting!! The guides rushed to out the cage into the water and help the first 6 people inside. The cage stays attached to the side of the boat inside the water. When inside, you are literally completely caged in, including over the top of your head. The top of the cage extends about a foot above the water. Whenever a shark swims by to chase after the bate, the guides yell at you from above to go under water to see the sharks swim by.

They told us we viewed four different sharks in all.

We waited to join the second group in the water. Despite the thick full-body wetsuits, the water proved to be frigid. We only waited a few minutes before the first shark swam near. Sam was trying not to shake so he could take pictures with the underwater camera, but unfortunately the water ended up being cloudy that day.  We only got a good view of one of the sharks underwater whenever it was touching the other side of the cage as it swam by. Surprisingly, being so close to these frightening creatures was not scary at all.

Cheesing for the camera while we're shaking from the cold in our wet suits.

After about 20 minutes in the water, we were ready to get out and get warm again. We headed up to the top deck of the boat, where we were given the best views and pictures of the sharks from the whole morning.

Going after the bait!

The largest shark we saw was over 15 feet long.

During the excitement of seeing the great whites, the thought of our grumbling stomachs took the back seat, but nonetheless returned on the way back. Thankfully, we were back on land in no time and ready to make the short drive into Capetown.

(Written on January 20th)