Great white sharks come when called
Be it fish heads or surfers in the water, great whites are curious and always ready for a meal. We saw them up close on a cage dive in South Africa.
Silly us! We used fish heads to attract great white sharks.
These surfers in the CNN video put their bodies on the line.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. Our South Africa great white shark divers crew team did it the right way. The San Diego surfers don’t look particularly worried around great whites in the CNN video, so they must have been doing something right, too.
But as they say, it only takes one . . .
My great white shark experience came in a cage, about a 45 minute boat ride off Gansbaai, South Africa. (Dyer Island rated world's best for great white sharks). The crew threw some fish heads in the water, in came the sharks and down into the cage we went.
The steel cage is connected to the side of the boat. Three “divers” at a time. No need for snorkels, only a mask. Just hold your breath and duck your head underwater and watch the sharks swim by.
Tours run from $150 to $250. The location is about a two-hour drive east of Cape Town, so we spent the night at the lodge the tour company runs. The tours use fish chum to draw the sharks; they don’t draw lots and cast the losing client overboard; that’s just gallows humor as you board the boat.
Though my brother did feed the fish when the sharks had our boat rocking.
We pretty much had nonstop sharks, so many that we got tired of taking turns getting in and out of the cage.
Until we saw the big one. We all wanted a look at that one.
We estimated the big shark at 20 feet long, as big as great whites get. It appeared so big that it could have swallowed a 12-footer whole.
We drove out to Mossel Bay that afternoon after the sharks had seen enough of us.
I hope the big one is not waiting for the San Diego surfers.