Chum and Chunder

Earlier this week we decided to schedule something fun for Thursday to celebrate finishing our first round of finals. We decided it was time for shark cage diving because it has been on our to-do list since January. We have been waiting because June and July are supposed to be the best months to see sharks.  As some of you may know, South African waters are the most densely populated area in the world for great white sharks. On top of that, the most densely know region is Dyer Island, and that just happens to be about two hours away from Cape Town and where we spent our day. If any of you have ever seen a shark documentary there is an 80-90% chance that it took place near or around Dyer Island.

Some great white shark facts:
With one bite, they can gobble 14 kg of flesh
They can grow up to 7 meters.
They are the best-equipped predators on the world (or so we are told)
They hunt prey by picking up on electrical fields
They have two eyelids, some have three
They are extremely migratory and lead “lonely lives”
They are ovoviviparous = eggs grow inside the female, hatch there and continue growing until they are born

Before taking the plunge, we had been warned by some of our friends of seasickness.  So we knew to take some Dramamine before leaving to prevent all and any kind of illness and thank goodness we did.  When we loaded into the van at 0830,  we had no idea we would be in there for the next 3 hours before arriving in Gansbaai.  Along the way we picked up our fellow divers: 5 from the UK, 1 American, 2 Spaniards and 2 non-English speaking Europeans.

Our transport for the day

We were greeted by a little breakfast and a quick debriefing by the boat captain of how the day would go. The most important information, as we would later find out, was that if you felt queasy, don’t get sick in the cabin, please go to the side of the boat. This nugget of information was helpful for more than a couple people.

To attract the sharks, they use chum and it almost guarantees a shark spotting,  and in our case it led to constant attention from the massive beasts. Chum is tuna guts, fish oil and sea water and it looks and smells as gross as that description would imply.  But it does the job.

 Chum supplies and the chum bucket.

Once we anchored out in the water, we spent time on the top deck, watching the sharks come up to the bait line (basically a tuna head, tied onto the buoy) and swim around the boat while the first five people were in the cage.  Before we knew it, we were putting on 7 mm thick wetsuits (which is difficult to say the least), booties, weights and goggles and preparing ourselves to hop in. At this point we don't really think we really knew what we were getting into but we were excited.

Who knew we could look so good in wetsuits and huge goggles?

With the sharks swarming the boat, we were instructed on the proper technique to make sure we left the cage with all our fingers. Callie was first in, followed by Alex, then Kristine and lastly two of our European friends.  The cage itself is attached to the boat and about two feet of it is above the water. We waited above water as we waited for commands from the shark spotters until we heard "down!" Then it was time to take a depth breath and submerge ourselves; this is where the weights come in handy.  The bait line slowly lured the sharks in close to the cage so we could get a good view.  Had we felt like risking our appendages, we definitely could have touched multiple sharks, they were THAT close.

This routine went on for a while and we must have made good impressions on the crew because they let us spend the most time in the cage. We don’t really know how long we were in the water but we were definitely in the cage longer than we were in the boat.

Attractive little fishies

Unfortunately, no one was safe from the chunder (this is what South Africans and English people call vomit). Four divers got ill on the boat and we unfortunately experienced the effects of this first hand while inside the cage (as you recall, we were instructed to throw up off the side of the boat). People both in the boat and in the cage were feeling the motion of the ocean. At the time, we were less grossed out than we are now looking back on it. We were annoyed by the murkiness it caused but were already accustomed to the chum water and the debris of the bait line. As a result, when a fellow divers breakfast appeared in the water with us in the cage, it didn’t completly faze us. With a few splashes to “clear” it out, we happily continued to go under to view the sharks. We were having too much of a good time to let a little vomit ruin it. Gross, we know.

Inside the cage

On the ride back, Kristine almost made the chunder count five but she held it together and once we were back on solid ground she felt fine.  Back at the shop, we were greeted with hot soup, cookies, coffee and tea.  We watched the video of our voyage at sea, bought a couple t-shirts and reflected back on our experience with fellow divers.

Too cool for school

Shark cage diving is the COOLEST thing ever! We all would definitely do it again and again and highly recommend it.  Here’s a quick video Callie took from below the surface. Tell us that's not cool.

By the time we arrived back at home, we were exhausted.  We ordered in sushi, which we thought was a little ironic, and we plopped down and watched some OC (Alex and Kristine have been on an OC kick lately).

With school over and only two finals left between us and freedom there will definitely be more adventures to report on in the near future.

As always,

Met liefde van Afrika

Callie, Alex and Kristine.

For more pictures, you know where to go (www.apieceofcape.shutterfly.com)