Up close – and calm – watching a great white shark swim by
MOST PEOPLE are usually tucked up in bed at 3am, still fast asleep. Not me. Not this morning. Instead, I’m driving along the N2, a lonely road at this time of day. I’m off to Gansbaai to plunge myself into the cold ocean and get up close and personal with great white sharks.
Arriving at 6.30am, we make our way to Sharklady Adventures. Before boarding the boat, we are treated to a light breakfast and gather for a safety talk. I listen carefully, desperate to avoid becoming shark brunch.
The rules are simple: Don’t do anything stupid. Keep all your limbs inside the cage at all times and enjoy the spectacular feeling of seeing one of the world’s top predators in its natural environment.
Sharklady Adventures has been doing this for over 13 years. The owner, Kim MacLean, started taking people to see great whites in 1992, wanting to share her curiosity and respect for the sharks with others.
“I could tell even then that this was going to be a huge market. People just loved it. And ‘AWE AND RESPECT’: Gansbaai’s shark lady, Kim MacLean. I was right – after the international market caught wind, things got crazy.”
It’s become such big business, sharkcage diving companies take up to four groups of people out daily.
I’ve always been wary of sharks that roam our shores, and the Jaws theme tune pops into my head whenever I visit the beach. MacLean wants to change this. “My aim has always been to take people out who have a huge fear and trepidation in their hearts, and change their minds through the dive. I want them to come back with awe and respect for these creatures.”
Speeding through the waves, anxiety builds. By the time we drop anchor, my heart is beating in my throat. The instructor reassures us that sharks are shy, curious animals who have no interest in eating people. Chum is thrown into the water to attract them.
We wait for a shadow to appear beneath the water, or a fin to breach the surface.
Our guide breaks the silence. “Here we go!” he shouts. Everyone on the boat rushes to the gunwale, necks craning, cameras at the ready.
The shark is calm, gliding through the water slowly. It languidly swims closer before suddenly breaching the surface to grab the chum. Everyone on the boat gasps as its jaws close around the bait.
Hurriedly we shuffle into the cage, resting our hands obediently against the bars, waiting for the go-ahead. Our instructor shouts for us to go under and we push down on the bars as hard as possible.
A few seconds after slipping into the blue-grey emptiness, the imposing body of a 3m-long great white glides by. If I reached out my hand, I could have touched it.
All fear I may have felt disappeared the moment I saw the shark up close. There I was, in the shark’s natural habitat, face to face with this highly evolved predator that kindly obliged and swam by, giving us all a heart-stopping experience.
Underwater with the king of the ocean, I would never have expected to feel so at ease. MacLean seems to be on the right track. She certainly changed my perceptions about sharks.