Welcome to South Africa, my humble home, country of smiling people, song singing, African sun… and a bunch of wild animals 😀
Driving along on garden route and get to Kleinbaai (in English, ‘Small bay’, but no SA person will understand you if you say small bay lol). The drive is my favourite. It is super scenic and easy drive. Watch out for the speed limits!! There are lots of cameras on the way.
Hop onto a boat with fellow divers. Motion sickness is strong… The issue is probably more because of the blood chum that the staff put into the water to attract the sharks. The chum is pungent, bloody and has serious nauseating effect. Looks like our shark friends like them smelly?
In any case, time to suit up and await our turn in the cage. I am too small for everything that they’ve got haha. I am 158cm and weigh 43kg. It is really difficult to get into the damp suit. The wind is strong and cold. My fellow divers tells me that I look blue… lol there is no hiding when I freeze.
No Jaws action happens, won’t be alive to tell the tale, these cold blooded friends are carnivores. Hands and feet inside the cage. It is amazing to see them speeding up to the targets. Their expressions are stone cold. I don’t even know how to describe the experience. I guess I will need to invest in a waterproof camera to tell the story? Below is a short film from above the water (I filmed it using my phone).
In cases of being face to face with a shark and no cage, do not move or flap your hands / feet. So long you have no cuts on you, they are unlikely to bite you for food. Seals, sea lions and penguins are their favourite diet; high in fat. I know that this is against instinct, but flapping or swimming as fast as you can is actually more dangerous. Flapping / swimming makes us look like seals (sharks have poor eye sight). Honestly, even the fastest Olympian is too slow for even a baby shark. Throw away anything that blings on you immediately. If the shark is curious and brush their body against you, you will bleed. Those who fancy fighting a shark. The shark only has 2 vulnerable points – lung and eyes.
Diving with sharks, cage or not, does have risks. Do listen and obey the instructors. Accidents have happened before. These sharks are WILD.
Friendly advise:
If you know that you have motion sickness on a big ship/boat, take medicine before aboard the boat!
Don’t bother to make your hair nice. It will be soaked in sea water, next to smelly chums…
How to get here?
From Cape Town, drive along R43 & N2, aka garden route, for approx. 150min
There are several companies that does this type of tour. The one that I use for this trip is Shark Zone www.sharkzone.co.za
stephen@sharkzone.co.za Mobile: +27 82 585 7881
Photo / Video: Samsung Galaxy S3
This is NOT a sponsored post. I do not get any economical benefit from any clicks. This is a straight sharing post only.
My other South Africa post: Safe vs Dangerous photo – Safari, South Africa
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