So the next morning we had to wake up at 6am for our “Great White Shark experience”. I was beginning to regret flirting my way through such copious amounts of free gin the prior evening, but we had another adventure on our hands so the excitement helped get up in the morning (along with the desire to get out of that train cabin as quickly as possible).
We made our way to the harbour for what we thought would be the experience of a lifetime- cage diving with great white sharks. This is where you go on a boat and throw out some dead fish into the sea to lure in some sharks and then you get lowered into the ocean in a cage to watch them swim around you. Sounds crazy I know but when in Africa 🙂
There has been some controversy over shark cage diving in recent years as some people think that it teaches sharks to associate humans with food. Actually the shark lurers use what they call “chum” – mashed up sardine leftovers mixed with sea water – just enough to perk the interest of a shark but not enough to feed them.
Besides, many people (including marine scientists, I didn’t just make this up) believe that shark cage diving is a great educational tool used to spread the word about the importance of these amazing creatures. In South Africa they are greatly respected and have been officially protected since 1991 (the first country in the world to protect them), but in other places they are sadly poached and killed in mass numbers every year for the benefit of something as banal as a bowl of shark fin soup (which is ridiculous as according to some chefs like Gordon Ramsey there is actually no flavour in a shark’s fin as it’s pure collagen like our ears).
Great white sharks have also had a bit of a bad rep due to films such as Jaws portraying them as man eating monsters. Sharks actually eat everything but people- seals, penguins, fish, and other sharks such as hammerheads. And according to our shark guide, when it comes to the ocean they are the kings of sustainability. They mix up their food in order to keep a good balance. Although I can’t help but think they might just want variety, just like we sometimes feel like chinese takeaway and sometimes pizza; they sometimes feel like seal and sometimes like fellow shark.
So we started the day with a mini lecture from our shark guide. He really seemed to love great white sharks and was trying to instil the same love and excitement in us. Those of you who know me will know I am a very excitable person, so it took all of 5 minutes for me to go from not being able to point out a great white in a shark line up, to almost wanting to jump into the ocean and sacrifice myself as an additional meal on the sharks’ all you can eat. The only thing I was slightly sceptical about is what they call the “mouthing” process. The shark man was telling us how sharks are very curious creatures who want to check out everything in the ocean. So when there is something they are not familiar with, as they don’t have arms, they use their mouth and teeth to identify a substance. This is called mouthing and apparently it’s a very gentle bite in comparison to the alternative which happens when they’re feeding and looks more like total and ruthless decapitation. So for example with humans, they are not interested in eating them, they are just “mouthing” them to check what’s going on. Funnily enough I don’t think that comes as any consolation to those who have been attacked by a shark, nor does it put at ease those who are scared of being attacked. “Don’t worry babe, you’ll only get a little mouthed.”
So we made our way onto the boat with our smelly chum, ready to witness some ‘gentle’ mouthing. It all started off great, as Josh and I got to sit on the top deck of the boat with some pretty blond Swedish ladies (not that Josh had noticed or anything) and we floated along with the wind blowing in our hair and the beautiful horizon ahead of us. At one point we were even accompanied by a family of dolphins jumping alongside the boat (luckily before the sharks arrived).
When we anchored however, my troubles began. The wind was blowing heavily, and the boat was rocking big time. Did I mention I get really sea sick? Well I do, and with the disgusting stench of mashed up sardines I was now really beginning to regret the previous night’s boozing.
So for the following couple of hours I watched the shark man pour the chum into the ocean whilst heavily breathing and focusing on not contributing my own special chum to the load (who knows maybe the sharks would’ve come sooner but I wasn’t sure on the number of gin drinkers in the shark community).
We waited and waited and then we saw her little fin in the distance. I would say it was reminiscent of a scene out of JAWS but after my shark-ducation I don’t make those kind of associations anymore 🙂
This was a lady shark, and a shy one for that matter. She approached apprehensively as the first group of swimmers got their wetsuits on to get in the cage (yes, the pretty blond Swedish girls). I took a couple of snaps and then left my phone inside so as to be totally ready for action when duty called.
But duty didn’t call. The “shy” shark (just our bloody luck) circled and circled around the bait (there was also a meatless tuna head I should mention) but never ‘mouthed’ anything. Meanwhile, I was sitting on the edge of the boat, cursing the day I ever decided to go shark spotting and vowing never to drink gin again.
By this point 2 and a half hours had passed. The swedes were waiting in the cage lined up like Minions with their go-pros attached to their blond heads and I was still sitting on the edge of the boat a little further down staring into the water, almost falling asleep, and waiting for something to happen.
Then it happened. It scared the bejesus out of me. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, right in front of my face, this crazy motha-sharking beast comes flying out of the water and latches onto this little buoy from the side of the boat, literally one meter away from me. It was clamped down ripping it side to side like a rabid dog. I’ve never seen ‘mouthing’ before but there was nothing gentle about this.
I genuinely shat my pants. I jumped back from the side of the boat and ran towards Josh, as if the shark was going to jump onboard somehow and ‘mouth’ me (and even less likely that Josh would protect me rather than see this as an opportunity for a convenient accident). It all happened so fast and after a few seconds the shark was gone and so was a tuna head and half the buoy. I wonder how that tuna would feel about it’s ‘gentle mouthing’ experience.
Well I had certainly woken up and forgotten all about my sea sickness. But the shark had mouthed everything it was interested in and had left without a trace. So we didn’t get to get in the cage, and whilst part of me was disappointed another part was kinda relieved. That shark had the whole boat to mouth, including a cage full of humans but it chose to attack the exact point where I was sitting. Maybe even the sharks in Africa have a thing for Serbs, but either way I’m glad I didn’t risk it.
We got back to dry land, had a bite to eat and continued our journey, this time inland; away from the sea and the adventure and finally towards the grapes 🙂
NB. Unfortunately as I didn’t have my phone on me I wasn’t able to record the shark attack, but if you google great white shark attacks you will see something similar
This is exactly what the shark looked like