Great White Shark Diving in Gansbaai near Cape Town
Cape Town's East Coast is one of the world's best Great White shark diving regions and the quaint town of Gansbaai is known as the "Great White Capital of the World"
Take an up close and personal dip in shark-infested waters: Go do a Great White Shark Cage Diving Tour to Gansbaai.
Cape Town's East Coast is one of the world's best Great White shark viewing regions. The quaint South African seaside town, Gansbaai
(a few hours drive from Cape Town), is internationally known as "The
Great White shark cage diving capital of the world." >>Download information sheet .<<
A shark cage dive with Great Whites is
a truly exhilarating experience: Climb into a floating cage, decked out
in either scuba diving or snorkeling gear. Feel the adrenaline pump
through your veins as a shark swims towards you, opens its mouth and
bares its big sharp teeth.
While the brave can plunge into the shark diving
cage for a little rendezvous with one (or more) Great Whites,
non-divers can enjoy viewing Great White sharks from the boat. Great
White sharks are surface feeders and our shark handlers are trained to
bring sharks up-close-and-personal against the side of the boat (Their
heads and the jaws will be clearly visible).
A Great White Shark cage diving tour includes:
· Transport to Gansbaai
· Breakfast in Gansbaai
· Drinks on the boat
· Wetsuit & equipment
· Snacks & refreshments
· Diving equipment guidance by shark expert
· Scenic boat tour
· Shark Alley visit
· Optional DVD at end of the day
· Great White shark documentation
Please bring with:
· Waterproof sunscreen
· Towel & bathing costume
· Hat or cap
This is the real deal:
The CapeTownMagazine.com Travel Team has done extensive research to
sniff out the best shark cage diving operator. We can say with
conviction that a diving session with our operator is safe,
eco-friendly, fun and educational.
We do not offer the dirt cheapest
shark cage dive tour in Cape Town (it's about R50-100 more than the
cheapest shark dive), but we selected the best shark cage dive in Cape
Town. It is certainly the best price for the best shark cage dive tour
in Cape Town. That's more important to us.
Shark Diving in South Africa
I was one of those kids who obsessively watched The Learning Channel, especially when they featured a program on sharks. I remember watching “Jaws” with my hands over my eyes one night with my parents when I was about eight, and getting endless books from the Indio Library with pictures of sharks in them. I have always been fascinated by any kind of shark. So you can imagine my delight when I found myself in an underwater cage in the ocean waters of South Africa, mere inches from a great white shark.
Shark-cage diving is particularly good in South Africa, according to many Capetonians. You will see more sharks in a few hours off the shores of South Africa than many people will see on week-long sharking excursions in other places like Australia. It was something I had always wanted to do, and the experience was even better than I could have imagined.
I woke up groggy and excited at about 5:30 a.m. the day of our excursion. Over mugs of coffee, my friends Matt, Teresa and I discussed the potential threats of our decisions to shark-cage dive. “Do you think they can jump up and into the cage?” Matt asked. Teresa and I stared back at him, wide-eyed.
“I don’t think so,” I replied hesitantly.
We were picked up by a kind man in a van just after 6 a.m., and traveled about 2 hours from Cape Town to the small beach town of Gansbaai, an area where I saw more shark-cage diving companies than people. There we were treated to breakfast (all of this was included in our fee of about R1,000 or roughly $200) and we met the other 8 people who would be taking the trip with us. We were the only Americans, and besides a young Canadian girl, the only people who spoke English. We set out on a boat with our skipper just before 11 a.m., on a gorgeous February day - blue skies, blue sea and a forecast for good shark spotting.
Once out at sea, we were surprised to find that many of the people on the trip were more than happy to just watch the sharks from onboard the boat. We were among a handful who actually wanted to squeeze into scuba gear and swim down into a cage. After only about 20 minutes, we got a look at our first great white. She glided up to our boat after two young Welsh boys threw gaping, bloody fish bodies into the water (this was their job). Seemingly unafraid, she skimmed the blue surface of the water just feet from the boat, while we all scrambled to take pictures and get a good look.
The cage was a giant metal thing attached to the side of the boat, with an open top that was kept a few feet above the water. Three people were lowered into the cage at a time, and while the skipper kept a look-out for sharks, you treaded water and waited to dive at the sound of “Shark!” There were light weights around us to help us get deep enough to see. Teresa, Matt and I were nervous when we entered the cage, but hopeful that a shark would swim close enough for us to see. The water was frigid, even with a scuba suit on, and I tried to focus on keeping warm - instead of the fact that I was willingly being placed within feet of a hungry great white shark.
After about five minutes, we heard the skipper call down to us. “Shark! Dive!” I took a deep breath and plunged into the water. It was murky underwater, and difficult to see much of anything. I thought I saw a flash of silver, but couldn’t be sure. After about 45 seconds, I resurfaced.
“Did you see anything?” I called to Teresa and Matt over the sound of lapping water. They both shook their heads. We continued this patter - treading, diving, looking - for another half an hour until we finally hit gold. “SHARK! Dive!” yelled the skipper. We dove. Underwater I could see a blur of red from the decapitated fish. And then…from the murky blackness appeared the smooth head of a great white shark. She swam forward, mouth open, so close that I could make out her sharp teeth. She bit down on the fish, and just as quickly glided out of sight.
Although shark cage diving was one of the more expensive activities I did while in South Africa, it was by far one of my favorite. It was thrilling - something nobody I know has ever done, and something I will always remember.
Shark bites cage-dive operator
Cape Town - A world-famous shark expert and cage-dive operator had a close call on Sunday when a Great White shark bit his foot.
André Hartman, 52, was busy chumming - trying to attract sharks - during the incident.
According to JP Botha, a colleague who was on the boat with him, Hartman sat on the boat's engine and dangled his foot over the side of the boat.
Botha and Hartman were taking clients from the Czech and Slovak republics for a dive with the sharks.
"André watched how a shark approach the boat and then swim away. He looked away for split-second as someone on the boat spoke to him," Botha said.
"When he looked in the direction of the water again, he saw the shark going for his foot.
"After a stroke in January that affected his right leg, he couldn't move it as fast as he had to. For this reason he did not get his foot out of the water in time and got bitten by the shark," Botha said.
Botha said Hartman was not seriously injured, although the wound bled a lot. According to Botha, everyone on the boat stayed calm during the incident.
"We were about 2 km from the dock. We were back in a flash, and André was taken to the doctor's rooms.
'Freak accident'
The doctor treated Hartman's wound and he was sent home with 20 stitches to his foot.
According to Botha, Hartman wanted to go out on the boat again on Sunday. "He has to rest for a full week, however, to give his foot the chance to fully recover."
Botha, who describes the incident as a "freak accident", believes it's the first time in eight years that something like this has happened.
According to him there is no "logical connection between the throwing of bait" and what happened to Hartman.
There was an uproar earlier this year about the use of bait by shark-cage divers.
Those opposed to the use of bait are of the opinion that cage divers endanger the public because sharks start associating people with food.
It is feared that this could lead to an increase in shark attacks.
South Africa’s shark whisperer
Mike Rutzen dives with great white sharks – without a cage. While he isn’t the first to do it, he’s taken shark diving to a previously unimagined level. He does it not for fun, to win bets or for the adrenaline rush, but to prove a point. And the point is that great white sharks have a gentle side to their nature.
While great whites are protected in South African waters, every year hundreds of the fish, and many other species, are slaughtered by the shark nets lining the beaches of KwaZulu-Natal, which were place in the 1960s. Rutzen is a passionate crusader against shark nets.
“They’re decimating the shark population,” he says. “The Sharks Board’s initial purpose was protection by eradication, and they haven’t changed. It was understandable in the 1960s; no-one knew better. But now they should take them down.
“Gill nets are banned for use anywhere except on swimming beaches. They kill sharks, turtles, dolphins – everything. And they don’t really stop the sharks getting to the beaches. Most of the sharks killed in the nets are killed going back from the beach. So they’re really just killing them, not actually stopping them from getting to the beaches.”
It’s largely to campaign for the removal of the nets that that Rutzen wants to change the image of sharks. In some places the gill nets have been removed, only to be replaced by baited drum lines that target bigger sharks – including great whites. Rutzen feels this is not compatible with their protected status.
But he’s not an airhead hippy claiming sharks are harmless. He is fully aware that sharks in general – and great whites in particular – are fearsome predators. But, he insists, they don’t target humans. If they did, a person would be taken out at least once a day.
“When we get in the water, we’re the dumbest, slowest form of protein,” he says. But we don’t taste good. White sharks are extremely selective in their diet.”
They’re not mindless killers, he insists, and he sets out to prove this by hypnotising them.
Body language
Rutzen slowly developed the idea of hypnosis while working on shark cage diving boats off the small coastal town of Gansbaai near Cape Town, where he now runs a cage diving operation. There he got to see sharks from the safety of the boat and, occasionally, from the cage. And while acting as a safety diver on film shoots, he also had the opportunity to join underwater photographers and videographers. It was while diving safety that he started to think differently about sharks.
“The body language thing started when I was safety diver for a cameraman,” he explains. “I started observing what the animal would do. Someone would do something and the animal would react to it. You start picking these things up as you go along.”
Rutzen’s ideas about communicating with sharks through body language are similar to the principles of horse whispering – the technique used to communicate with horses. But horses are domesticated animals and herbivores, while sharks are wild carnivores.
Some people think he’s crazy, and certainly it takes a great deal of courage to slide into the water with these large predators, but Rutzen approaches each dive calmly and philosophically.
“I have to be calm,” he says. “I have to be focused.
“I take small calculated risks to try to gain knowledge to learn about the sharks for conservation reasons. If you try to be Rambo in this game you will be dead. They’re not mindless man-killing machines, but they do have a shorter fuse than anything else I’ve dived with. They are the apex predator and nothing stuffs them around.”
When he enters the water, he curls up, cross-legged and hugging himself, making himself small so the sharks will not feel threatened. Then he reacts to their body language. If a shark approaches in an aggressive way he will stretch out, lifting his hands above his head and making hostile moves towards the shark to chase it away.
“These animals speak to one another in body language. If you can read that language you’re halfway there. The animal can read what your intentions are. It reacts in a way as if it understands your intentions. It’s a very basic communication method. So far it works for me.”
Alternatively, if the shark is calm and curious, he will reach out to it.
“When I first reached out and touched a great white shark and it reacted to me in a positive manner I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it. The moment I touched the animal in a placid manner the animal started treating me in a placid manner. That was a life-changing insight for me. When I touched it without aggression, it reacted to me without aggression.”
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Full Day Great White Shark Cage Diving
Diving and observing Great White Shark from such close quarters has got to be one of the most thrilling experiences in the world.
Under the right conditions and with the right guidance, Shark Cage Diving proves to be a memorable and rewarding experience, guaranteeing your return in the future with a great love and respect for the king of the deep.
This White Shark cage diving tour departs daily at 06:00am and returns at 17:00pm. Please note that this tour requires a minimum of 2 passengers and a Scuba dive certification.
Travel to Gansbaai for a unforgettable Great White Shark cage diving experience. Here you enjoy a light breakfast then proceed to Dyer Island. Surface view, snorkel, or scuba cage dive this magnificent predator in its natural feeding ground.
Go Great White Shark Cage Diving in Shark Alley
Shark Alley of Dyer Island off South Africa’s west coast is reputed to be the best place in the world to go cage diving with Great White Sharks. Dyer Island is one of two unique areas in the world, where the chances of viewing Great White sharks, are exceptionally high.
The shark cage diving takes place in a narrow channel, Shark Alley, which runs between Dyer Island and Geyser Island. Shark Alley channel is situated approximately 12km offshore from Gansbaai, which is 2 hours drive from Cape Town in the western cape of South Africa.
Once anchored in the Shark Alley channel, a securely designed 6-man steel cage is dropped into the water for shark viewing. The cage floats on the surface of the water, situating divers no more than 1m below the surface. At Gansbaai experienced divers can go scuba dive while inexperienced divers enjoy the same experience by snorkelling.
