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Great White Shark Encounter, Cape Town, South Africa, April 2006

by Alison Boler

I would guess that most people of cinema going age in the last 30 years would admit to a fascination with the Great White Shark, whether it based on scholarly interest or outright horror. We have been lucky enough to dive with many different species of shark but have never had the opportunity to meet Mr Big,himself - until this year!

We were booked to go on a cruise holiday- not even a diving holiday - over the Easter Holidays, a sixteen day ocean voyage that only touched land 4 times. However, we were picking up the ship in Cape Town and some careful working out showed us that we had - just - about enough time to squeeze in a one day Great White Shark Encounter dive, see some of the sights of the city and still make our sailing. It was my daughter's sixteenth birthday too! What an experience - irrisistible!

It was going to be a bit rushed, but the timings went like this:
Friday 31st March - Pick up girls from school at lunchtime, drive to Manchester airport, fly down to Heathrow and pick up the evening BA flight to Cape Town.
Saturday April 1st - Land about 8:30, taxi to hotel, freshen up, sightseeing tour of Cape Town and Cape Point Peninsula
Sunday April 2nd - Great White Shark Dive, back to Cape Town by 5pm and sail at 6pm.

I looked at various operators offering one day dive trips on the internet, but in the end, after a lot of research picked Unrealdive. They seemed very efficient, answered my emails quickly and informatively, had impressive recommendations on their website. They even offered me a family discount. They were not a good choice however, as you will see.

Unrealdive offer one or multi day shark diving trips. The one day trips either operate around Dyer Island, Gansbaai (2 hours by road from Cape Town), or around Seal Island which is nearer Cape Town. It was explained that in the summer months (November - March) the Great White Sharks move away from the islands and are found closer to the shore. At Seal island the dive operators are not allowed to operate away from the island as there are a lot of public beaches and it would not be desirable to encourage the sharks nearer to them. At Dyer Island, there is no problem and dives operate here year round. So, we would be taken to Gansbaai.
You don't have to be a certified diver to go on one of these trips. It was explained that many people choose to view the sharks from the surface or use a snorkel or breath holding in the cage.

I explained that we were keen divers and photographers and we wanted to be able to get underwater pictures for an article I was writing for BSAC Travel Club. No worries - air would be supplied! This was very clearly understood, and confirmed several times in writing - or so I thought...

The price quoted was 1000 Rand each (around £93). This would include:
1. Pick up and return transport from our Cape Town hotel to the dive base in Gansbaai
2. Breakfast on arrival in Gansbaai
3. Dive trip lasting 5 or 6 hours approximately
4. Surface air supplied
5. All equipment
6. Lunch and drinks on board
7. Services of a videographer

It seemed like a very good deal. I was particularly impressed by their often repeated claim that they never took more than 8 divers out in their boat, unlike some other operators who packed them in. They made a big point of this - ironically given what actually happened. The boat was apparently a 12m purpose built catamaran with an upper viewing deck and a cabin and small head. They also said that they had a 6 man cage and that you could go back in the cage multiple times during the visit.

I was curious about the air delivery system for divers as it had been described as a surface demand rebreather system that minimised exhaust emissions so as not to frighten the sharks off!! This was really of interest as we had a new underwater camera and were really looking forward to getting some good shots.

Unfortunately, nearly all of these promises were not to be fulfilled!

On arrival in Cape Town, I rang Unrealdive as requested and they informed me that they would pick us up from our hotel at 930 the next morning. This surprised me as in our previous discussions and emails, I had told them clearly that we had to be back in Cape Town by about 4pm and they had been talking about a 0530 pickup (as per their quoted itinerary on the website). There was some whispering at the other end and the contact said that not to worry as they had some other people coming along from our cruise ship (which arrived that day) and we were all going to be together and would definitely get back in time for the sailing. However, he said, he would check up and text me with a confirmation of pickup time.

Some hours passed and a text arrived saying that they would pick us up at 0515!!

I called just to be sure, it was confirmed, and we set our alarms for 0430. The pick up went smoothly but we started to get worried when the minibus took our party of 4 to a hotel and picked up another 6 divers and then on to the cruise ship where it picked up 8 people. Hmmm. Maybe they had two boats!

No. The driver gaily revealed that we would all be together on the boat - all 18 of us! There were only 5 divers ie ourselves and 1 other! Our hearts began to sink....

We arrived at Gansbaai and were served an overly leisurely (in view of later comments) but good hot breakfast at a restaurant called The Great White House and we then walked a few hundred yards to the briefing centre just above the little harbour. More worries emerged here. The boat skipper made comments like
"We'll have to be very quick today because we've another party booked this afternoon"
"There won't be time today to go and see the seal colony"

By now we were all looking at each other and comments were being made about "customer service". The overall impression was that because they had taken the decision to overbook themselves, we were going to have our trip curtailed. A bad start.

Down to the harbour. Wierdly, given their comments on short time, the boat wasn't even in the water so we had to hang around while it was tractored down and launched. We all crammed on board. It wasn't going to be good. There wasn't enough room in the cabin for everyone, not enough seats, we rode out to the site crammed together and standing up like passengers on the London Underground in rush hour. We had been so much looking forward to this trip and I could just tell that it was going to be bad! I was absolutely gutted.

It was a calm day but the swell is relentless and I would strongly advise anyone even mildly prone to seasickness to come prepared. Lots of people were sick. Thank goodness, we weren't. Queasiness was not helped by the cramped conditions or by the necessity to have to don wetsuits in such conditions. It's never easy to pull on a wetsuit while crouching in a heaving, crowded boat! Obviously it would have been better to have got people dressed ashore, but time did not permit that. The trip out took about 20 minutes.

On site, they lowered the cage (4 man not 6 man) into the water and began to chum. This lead to more sickness for some people! We were kitted up in groups of 4 and you clambered over the side and into the cage. This was not easy for some of the less agile people and it was worse getting back again in the swell.
However, the main problem with the whole experience was that there was no surface air available at all. You were expected to hold your breath. Imagine the scenario: You are kneeling in the cage with your head above water.

The viewers on deck shout "shark" and you have to use both hands to pull yourself under and then hold yourself down with both hands whilst holding your breath and looking for the shark. As a shark viewing experience, it was ok. Exciting! As a shark photography experience, it was impossible. You literally had to shoot blind one handed at best.

We were extremely annoyed - and we were not alone. Other people had been promised a surface air supply and nearly everyone had cameras with them. When challenged the crew claimed that because visibility was not good, it was not possible "to have you guys bubbling air away" and "it would keep the sharks back". This just didn't make sense.

The net result was that we all spent about 20 minutes in the cage - certainly return visits were not possible because it took all of the time to get 18 people through the experience. Frankly, you got a better view from the surface - certainly all the best pictures were taken there. What the underwater time gave you was the adrenaline rush of being so close to the sharks as they swooped by within inches - an unforgettable experience.

We headed back in (no time to visit Dyer Island) and then had to sit in the swell outside the harbour for nearly 15 minutes while they let the King of Jordan come ashore from his trip. More people were sick!

Back on shore (after 4 hours), I expressed our massive disappointment to the Unrealdive representative who appeared to suggest that the King of Jordan had made a last minute booking with them and commandeered the best boat and the equipment. Was this supposed to be a consolation!

Having said all of that, the day was an exciting and stunning one and most people thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The girls were tremendously excited by the whole experience. We saw at least ten different Great Whites up close and were amazed and awed by the incredible grace, savagery and power of these enormous animals which are quite, quite different to any other breed of shark I have seen before. These were not the shy and retiring reef sharks, or the sleek and beautiful threshers or silkies. These were out and out hunting meat eaters which the murkiness of the water made even more sinister. Frankly, having seen them in action, there is no way I would personally go swimming anywhere nearby! Really chilling.....

They were attracted to the boat by the chum and then drawn close by a large piece of tuna on a line. The crew would whisk the tuna past the cage, drawing the shark in. Sometimes they would lift it at the last minute and make the creature jump out of the water.

Actually, having experienced this trip, part of me is perturbed by the whole practice. It was very clear that these sharks know that they are going to be fed by the boats and they are there expecting food in the water. Whilst, I appreciate that the boats are regulated as to how near the shore they can draw the sharks, I really don't think this can be a desirable practice either for the sharks or for people who go into the sea for pleasure or for a living. I wish we hadn't done it in a way. I wouldn't do it again.

If you are determined to go and dive with Great White Sharks in South Africa, I can't recommend that you dive with Unrealdive, due to all their false promises. I would recommend that you try and get some sort of guarantee out of the operator as to how many people they will take on the boat and critically, if you are a photographer, whether air will be supplied.

On a more positive note, Cape Town is an absolutely superb place to visit - beautiful scenery, marvellous climate, great food, hotels all at a very affordable price. We can't wait to go back again this time for much longer and really do the area justice.

Photographs: Allie and Bob Boler
Curtis from P&O Oriana

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