After being picked up at 5am, and not having the quietest night before, my head was a little tender and the idea of being inches away from a massive fish that may or may not want to chomp my head off (depending on what you believe) seemed a little weird. I wasn’t sure whether to be nervous or excited. Luckily the trip up to Gaansbaai where the dive takes place, was a fair hour or so, giving me a little extra time to get a bit of sleep in, and I took my cue from some others around me to do just that. Upon arrival in Gaanbaai we all started to kick into gear and looking out over the sea I imagined all the sharks I hoped to sea cruising around under the deep blue somewhere on the horizon. Actually being so close to the event really got the blood flowing and any hangover or sleepiness from the night before was fading fast. The whole group of us filed into the White Shark Lodge where breakfast was served over an informative lecture given by the team’s marine biologist.

After the lecture and a quick safety briefing we all boarded the boat and headed out to sea. The area we would be diving is known as ‘shark alley’ and has one of the highest concentrations of great white sharks in the world, partly due to the huge abundance of Cape Fur Seals which make the island (I forget the name now) their home. After we made it to shark alley we started ‘chumming’ the water, which is basically chucking fish oil and guts into the sea to attract the sharks. The captain told us he thought the conditions were good as the slight breeze would help to spread the slick of ‘chum’ out across the ocean, making it more likely that a shark would pick up the scent. Sure enough, within 15 minutes we had our first shark sighting and we all rushed up to the fly bridge to get a better look. I was really amazed at how quickly the shark moved through the water, and realised that my notion that were I ever to encounter a shark in real life while swimming I would be able to see it and somehow fend it off were completely stupid. These things are fast, and it really is quite disturbing to see such a large creature moving so swiftly through the water. Within minutes we had 2 or 3 more sharks around the boat and the cage was quickly launched and the first group of divers started to get into their 5mm wetsuits, picking out goggles and delegating photo duties amongst those still waiting their turn. After watching the first group in the cage I could hardly wait to get under the water and when my turn came I scrambled eagerly into the cage, fighting off the irrational fear that the bottom of the cage had just suddenly fallen off, leaving me as bait for the salivating fish beneath me. Eaten by a fish, what a creepy thought... I barely noticed how frigidly cold the water was as a 4m shark made a pass right next to the cage and I ducked down to see its massive jaws cutting through water within a meter of me. I’d always imagined the length of a big shark to impress me, but what really stood out to me was the breadth of their jaws and body, these things are massive! Even from within the safety of the cage, I still couldn’t resist the urge to press up against the bars behind me as the shark swam straight at us, following the chunk of tuna being trailed in front of it by the captain. After about 20mins under for each of us on the tour, we headed back to shore with the dummy seal in tow to try and entice a shark to breach behind us. Unfortunately we weren’t so lucky, but in total we witnessed 6 sharks up close with the largest being close on 5m.

All in all, the trip was definitely worth while and I’d seriously recommend it to anyone with the time in the area to do it. The sharks themselves are even more dramatic than you’d imagine and you really gain a healthy respect for what beautiful creatures they actually are.