The Blind Man Society

I was in a writing kind of mood this morning and cranked out another travel story (Great White Shark cage diving) excerpt to share.

It was winter in Gaansbai, South Africa and the wind was howling. Morning rain flew sideways as I walked out of my rented house to the van. I was going out for my first day of cage diving with the Great White sharks and I was thrilled.

The van arrived at a small café, where the people going out on an operator’s boat gathered to be briefed about diving and to sign the customary “sign your life away” forms. Once we had our coffee and breakfast and the forms were collected we drove to the docks.

Before I knew it the boat was loaded and I stepped on board. We pulled out from the dock and I was on my way to fulfilling a childhood dream. We were headed to a place called Shark Alley, located in between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock. Dyer Island had the African jackass penguin colonies and Geyser Rock contained the Cape fur seal breeding grounds. Both were great food for the sharks and they came every year to this location to feed during the winter months of June, July and August.

We arrived after 25 minutes. Anchor was dropped and the 12 to 14 foot waves were rolling the boat. Members of the crew began a chum slick of anchovy oil. The sharks could smell one drop of this in an Olympic sized pool. After a time, we spotted a fin and the captain grabbed a seal cutout named Gladys 21 (with 20 predecessors) sporting teeth marks all over. Whites hunt from the bottom, looking to the surface and regularly mistook the cutout for a seal.

Carefully, the captain began pulling the rope in and a pair of fins followed. When the cutout was 20 feet from the boat a bait hook with tuna was prepared and tossed over the side. The crew lowered the cage into the water alongside the boat, and we saw the sharks arrive. They breached the water, and I saw my first Great White shark face to face.

Those who were diving changed into their wetsuits and the oxygen tanks and long regulator lines were prepared and turned on. I changed into the full body wetsuit and froze my ASS off in the wind and rain while doing this. A passenger on board grabbed my camera and began taking pictures of me getting ready to dive and going down in the cage.

It was my turn. I climbed down into the cage and submerged. I was face to face with my first Great White Shark. He was a ten footer, and his black, doll eye was even with mine as he sat, frozen, suspended in the water about two feet from my face. I was so transfixed that it took a moment to realize that my back was being bumped and prodded. I turned around to find another gigantic face trying to get into the cage.

The bait hook landed alongside the cage. One of the whites went for it and threw his body against the cage, thrashing and twisting to get the tuna off the hook. We were bounced around the inside of the cage like a washing machine on spin cycle, and finally the shark tore the bait loose and settled back to cruising us in the water.

I was told to press the regulator purge valve if the sharks got too close. Whales are the only animals in the ocean that produce large bubble streams and as I pressed the button an explosion of air bubbles went shooting into the water. The shark backed off. Eventually the two sharks disappeared into the murky ocean water, and it was time to rotate out.

Back on the boat, the photographer said he got some great photos. I stayed in my wetsuit and observed as my boat mates took turns with the cage in pairs of two.

After an hour more of diving it was time to go home. The equipment was put back on the boat, the cage hoisted with an electronic winch and we weighed anchor. Brian drove the boat slowly past Dyer Island and there was a man walking almost naked on the shore. Apparently, he was a researcher and the lone occupant of the island. He had been there for so long that he was not right in the head.

Brian turned on Benny and the Jets by Elton John, and that was my final memory of Day 1. We left the island in our wake and the zig zagging shark fins following the boat slowly fell behind and submerged. It was time for a drink and to celebrate.