Up Close and Personal

     On my fourth day in South Africa, I traveled to Hermanus to go shark cage diving. My roommate and I signed up for this excursion over the summer, and we have been looking forward to it since the start of the semester. My roommate, Alaine, is a marine biology major, so this is one of her life’s dreams. Although the great white shark lives on the coast of California where she lives, they are very limited in number, and there is no commercial excursions to dive with them.

     Once we got to Hermanus, we checked in with the main office, then traveled to the office near the beach we would be leaving from. There, we waited a very long time before receiving instructions because the group that went out before us was having a hard time finding some of the sharks. Apparently, sharks are best seen during their winter, which is our summer. Also, they have been very spotty this year, where some months they would not see some sharks for a couple weeks.

     Once the other group returned, we were instructed on what we would be doing as well as the many safety precautions that we needed to know for the dive. After this, we walked to the boat and went in the water. We drove the boat for about ten minutes to get to the cage that was in the water. Once we got there, the crew hooked up the cage to the side of our boat, and the crew started to throw chum into the water to attract the sharks. Next, the first group put on their wet suits, followed by the second group (which I was in), then the third and fourth. Once the first shark was spotted, the first group went into the cage. Before we got on the boat, I was very nervous to see and be in a cage with great white sharks. However, once I saw them in the water less than a foot in front of me, I was not scared. It was really exciting!
                                   
     After the first group went, it was my group’s turn. I was able to get a video of the shark swimming by me underwater. It was so cool! The sharks swam right in front of us, as well as under our feet. It was definitely one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever done. It opened my eyes to a creature people think of as a killing machine.