Shark Cage Diving – Gansbaai

My good mate Michael Moffit had his birthday party on the weekend. You read the header about shark cage diving and must be wondering how a birthday party and shark cage diving links up? Well, Michael had the great idea of taking 10 of his close friends to go shark cage diving as a birthday event.







Our crew of 11 people stayed at Michael’s house in Hermanus.

We had to be up early on Saturday morning to drive to Gansbaai where we would board a boat to go view the sharks from an underwater cage. Everyone was excited for the day though most of us had a bit too much to drink the night before. Amongst the excitement we were joking about how we would probably get motion sickness and feed the sharks.

Upon arrival in Gansbaai we received a big breakfast and coffee. The excitement started to grow as we were briefed about the day that lay ahead.

We jumped on the boat with about 25 other people and took of in the direction of Dyer Island.

At Dyer Island we through anker at a viewing spot and then waited for the sharks. The sharks live here in an alley called shark alley where they feed off the vast seal population. It wasn’t 15min before the first shark appeared and for the next 4 hours we would see almost 6 sharks making turns to visit the boat.

I went into the cage with the 3^rd group. By this time the sharks were prominent. The visibility was great and we could see for at least 10m in front of us. The sheer size and beauty of these animals can only be captured when viewing them in the water. Several times the shark would swim up to the cage and view you in the eyes. This did not feel like intimidation, but rather curiosity.

We had the opportunity to go into the cage twice. By the second time the sharks were almost against the cage. They were so close that you could see the detail on their skin.

None of us got motion sickness and after 4 hours we were back on land. This was truly one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. Thank you Michael for an awesome weekend!