Encountering The Great White Shark

Coming close to nature, understand more about mother earth (and sea) and being exposed to the wonderful world of animals were among the motivations for my excursion to South Africa. So far, we have seen a number of exotic South African animals, such as baboons, penguins, ostrich and antelopes. Along our road trips, we have also encountered signs about whale watching and shark alert….There are a lot of things that we need to explore around here!!! South Africa, especially Cape Town is also famously known for its offering of a variety of extreme sports. So with the desire to test myself in one of the country’s most extreme activities, and at the same time, satisfy my desire to expose to one of the most-feared creatures, I decided to go diving with the Great White Shark.

We embarked on a trip to the town of Gansbaai at 4:30 am in the morning. From there, we would be taken to Dyer Island, one of the places in the world where there is the densest population of the great white sharks. Warmly welcomed to after a 2 hour ride, with a continental breakfast, I thought to myself: “Eat, eat, eat all you can!!! …before you become the breakfast of the great white.” As soon as the sun started rising, and after a safety orientation, we were ready to go.

15 minutes, a fast but rough and bumpy ride (during which we were entertained by a tactful crew member’s show of feeding the hauk!) took us to the middle of the ocean. The crew began using all tactics to attract the white sharks to our boat: from scented trail (of ocean water mixing with tuna’s head) to the interesting thumb on the boat to lure them. We volunteered to be the first group of divers! ”Down Down, to the right”, a crew member, responsible for luring the shark with his tuna baits, commanded! Down we went, and were absolutely amazed by the “beauty” of the great white shark. Encountering the amazing creature in its own habitat was like a “dream come true” for me. 18ft in length, grey on top, and white underbelly, perfect camouflage body features with little black eyes and its sly grin, I thought the white shark was an "adorable" creature. Despite being “adorable”, a sly grin on his face communicated to me: “I know what you’re up to, seal people!This time…I’m getting you!”.


One of the most interesting thing we learnt about the white shark is that they have the special ability of power sensing. They can sense electrical fields that radiate from living creatures. The signals from their prey were sent to the shark’s brain and it would be able to determine, who’s panicking….Weak animals, of course are easy prey…This fact has resulted in Sia’s denial for her second dive with the great white.  Ana and I, however were happy about our second dive, thanks to our “intimate experience” with the great white. He came closer to us, and abruptly, for the first time, during our whole trip, was able to completely grasp the bait. Our crew members were “fishing” the shark as colleagues recalled from their view from above. As for us, underneath the water, it was an unforgettable experience. Never before has the shark been so close to us. We were able to see it jaws, its fins almost inside our cage. And in my head, I did think that “if only I could feel it right now…"Yes, it was not wise, but I was truly amazed by its beauty (Of course, not that beauty if my hand was bitten off)..

 I was guilty at first at the thought of playing around with nature for our extreme pleasure, but the experience also taught me that such activity in fact helps preserve this endangered animal more than harming them. To me, it also has a special meaning as the White Shark Project had a social purpose. It wasn’t a cheap adventure, but I felt better knowing that a portion of my investment would go into activities for poor children in township of South Africa.

Giving human the opportunity to be closer to nature, through the brand of “responsible tourism” is another success of SA in selling its beauty to visitors.