Watching the Great White Shark
Last year more than 100 000 tourists put their heads below the icy surface of the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town, South Africa to come within meters of the most ferocious predator on the planet - the Great White Shark.
Critics of the cage diving industry say that the tour operators, who lure the sharks with bait and chum, are teaching them to associate humans with food, but cage diving operators deny that their activities are fueling shark attacks.
Cage Diving in Cape Town
Cage diving with sharks in Cape Town is very popular and tourists are advised to book well ahead of time.
Two of the shark cage diving operators in Shark Alley in Gansbaai, South Africa are women-owned companies:
White Shark Ecoventures offer tours are that are not only exciting but also highly educational. This company was the founder of the Great White Shark Protection Foundation, a body dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Great White Shark globally and it actively participates in documenting valuable research information on Great White Sharks. Dive certification is not a necessary for cage diving, as they also allow snorkeling. Tours range from one to ten days and accommodation is in B&B’s.
Sharklady Adventures is led by Kim Maclean and Terry McCarthy. Kim holds all the relevant qualifications and is well trained in working with Great Whites. Kim's staff has the same passionate feeling that Kim has and has extensive knowledge working with Great White Sharks and organizing cage diving expeditions. On arrival at their Crew House in Kleinbaai, tourists will enjoy a talk given by the Sharklady on the anatomy, characteristics and behavior of the Great White Shark before the adventure.
Beside the normal diving cage, Kim, “The Sharklady” who pioneered Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai, South Africa in 1992 has come up with another Great White innovative idea, the crystal clear Lexan cage which offers the serious, qualified diver an experience of a lifetime. The uniqueness of the Lexan cage is that it floats away from the boat giving the diver as well as the sharks a 360 degree clear view.
Shark Bookings provides a description of most of the Shark Cage Diving operators in the Cape. It also lists their costs and websites, so it is easy to compare products and services.
Shark Breaching, a Popular Tourist Attraction
Shark breaching is another popular tourist attraction. This is a purely boat-based activity where the sharks are lured to jump out of the water (breach it). To do this, the shark breaching operators tow a fake seal (decoy) approximately 20 yards behind the boat and cruise around Seal Island waiting for the ambush. This is how Great Whites catch their prey. There are those who hope for a real seal kill on these journeys. “Air Jaws” was the topic of two popular Shark documentaries.
More articles about Sharks:
Diving with Sharks in Kwazulu-Natal
Karen Lotter - Karen Lotter is a journalist and writer based in Durban, South Africa. She has written profiles, features, advertising copy, ...
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