(Via Email)
I noticed on your website that you have recently been diving with great whites in South Africa.

My wife loves sharks and we would really like to go diving with them at some point.

I was just wondering if you could offer any advice on how best to do this - any one you can recommend or we should avoid?

No worries. I have gone diving twice with great whites, as well as seen them in captivity and seen attacks off the California beaches. It’s a lot cheaper to shark drive in South Africa compared to the US.

Both times I specifically sought them out by diving I saw quite a few sharks. Both times were in Sept/Oct in South Africa. The first time, they were all pretty calm and just interested in watching us. The most recent time, last month, it was a much more violent encounter with ambush attacks on the bait, etc. I attribute the difference in experiences to the changes that have been made in law on the shark diving industry in baiting the sharks. The first time I went, they just used shark liver oil to lure the sharks, but now they are chumming to do it (lots of blood in the water). This is of course my personal hunch.

Both times, I went to the same location (Gansbaai, South Africa) and used the same shark diving company. I have a lot of info on the web about the experience (especially the past experience) in the form of pictures, video and audio podcast in MP3 on my website.

The long and short of it is this:

(1) It’s a life changing experience, but I have serious reservations about the environmental impact the tourist trade is having and so I doubt I will do it again, but I very much enjoyed seeing the great whites. I can recommend it to those who love sharks and want to see them in the wild, but keep in mind, its probably not good for the sharks. None of the tour companies are scientific endeavors. They are more thrill-seeker companies, so expect most of the people on board to be there for the rush, not particularly for the sharks.

(2) The chumming method can be very unpleasant to dive in and visibility is often very bad. So bad, you see the sharks much better from the boat than from in the water. Also, the Southern Cape especially has changeable weather, so if you decide to go, make sure you schedule enough time (at least 2 days) so you guarantee going out. Keep your schedule flexible and go at the right times of year. Ask your guides what those are, since they keep track of the weather.

(3) Absolutely check out the reputation of the boat crew and company. There are more and more companies out there, but some have very unsafe practices. The first time I was out, I watched the other boats nearby and was very glad I had chosen the one I had. Some of the boats were very difficult to get in and out of the cages. This was one of the reasons I stuck with the crew when I took my husband the second time.

(Via Email)

It was really useful to read about your experiences, and I've enjoyed looking at your website and listening to your podcast. Like you, I've been fascinated by sharks since childhood, but was put off marine biology by the likelihood of a career in a sea life centre (a chain of aquariums in Britain which are fine but not very inspiring compared to sharks!).

We've been doing quite a bit of research to try to work out which tour company to go with. One looks quite good, but when I emailed them about the diving they said that "You do not need any qualifications to do the cage diving as this is a very easy dive. You simply hold your breath and go down for as long as you can." Is this common practise? When you dived was it with scuba equipment or a snorkel, and how much difference do you think it would make? It definitely sounds worth checking out the company and crew for safety etc but I'm finding it quite tricky.

So most of the dive places say you should have dive cert, but then never have you use it.

The boats claim that the bubbles from the scuba gear scare away the sharks, so you get in a wetsuit with a weight belt and a mask, and you just hold your breath as the sharks cruise by. This is normal, because its near impossible to scuba dive at 1 foot below the surface anyway, in terms of buoyancy. So you don’t need scuba diving, but you do need to be comfortable in the water, and in a wetsuit. They do not give you a snorkel either, which I found a bit annoying.

I suspect this is partly because its easier/safer to just have swimmers in the cage. Less liability. Perhaps the sharks are skittish about the bubbles, but I don’t know.