Are there any Great White Sharks left in False Bay? Cage Diving South Africa
#cagediving #sharkdiving #greatwhite
Cage diving with great white sharks is something that I've wanted to do for a long time, and what better place to do it that the Western Cape in South Africa, specifically False Bay or Gaansbai?
Or so I thought....
Cape Town and its surrounding waters is renowned for great white sharks and the ability to throw yourself into a cage to see them up close and personal with them. At least it has been for many many years. However, more recently, the sightings of white pointers in Gaansbai and False Bay (traditionally some of the best places to go cage diving) has fallen dramatically.
Supposedly there are a couple of orcas called starboard and port that have been decimating the great whites (i.e eating them). I had heard the stories but guessed that a smaller population isn't zero and whilst my chances may be lower than in previous years, it's still worth a go.
So I booked a trip with African Shark Eco-Charters out of Simon's Town: https://ultimate-animals.com. After shopping around, most of the operators charge between 3000 and 4000 ZAR for a half day trip - my one was to False Bay.
Whilst there are still seven gilled sharks, bronze whalers, makos and others, the main attraction is surely the great white? After all, that's what is on all of the marketing material, the classic shot of a Great White breaching the water. When I turned up and asked though, they not only hadn't seen a great white that year, but in fact they hadn't seen a great white in 4 years!
Either way, we got on the boat and headed out.
Wetsuits on, water chummed and hooka system rigged up, we jumped into the freezing cold water.
Luckily for us, a shark turned up straight away and since I was in the first group, it was pretty active. It was great to see a shark within inches of your face and whilst it wasn't quite as thrilling as I had hoped, it did give me a taste of what it must be like if you swapped it our for a great white.
It's still a trip that I would recommend to anybody visiting Cape Town, especially if you haven't seen lots of marine wildlife. However, it has whet my appetite to try and hunt out other places to actually see the apex predator of the oceans (or maybe that's now that orcas!).
My final recommendation would be to go with an operator that has a hooka system (scuba). It means that you can stay under the water for as long as you want and ultimately.....see more of the sharks!
0:00 - Are there any great whites in false bay?
2:11 - Chumming the water and prepping the cage
3:27 - Shark diving in Cape Town
7:23 - Heading Back
7:52 - Is cage diving worth it?
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