Knock, knock.
"Hey, you guys,
you have to get going now if you want to make the shark dive,"
summoned Joe as she knocked on our hostel room door. Joe was
one of the girls who worked in Hermanus Backpackers hostel where
Ana and I were staying in Hermanus, South Africa, the whale
watching capital of the country.....and great white shark
territory!
We quickly gathered our gear,
locked the room, jumped in our rental car (actually "car" is
generous - it was more like a tomato can with wheels, called a
"Chico") and we began our short journey to a neighbouring town
called Gansbaai. After forty minutes of splendid coastline
driving we arrived. The instructions from Joe were, "drive
to Gansbaai, take the exit to Kleinbaai Harbour, then look for a
lady named Christine who should be wandering around waving her
arms". Sure enough, just as we had parked our little Chico
in the harbour parking lot, this lady walked over to us waving her
arms.
"Are you Christine," asked Ana.
"That's me. You're here for
the shark diving?" countered Christine
"Yup," I replied.
"Great! Go over to the
Carcharias shack and get your waver forms filled out."
Hmmmmmm.
As soon as we reached the shack and
joined the rest of the people who had arrived before us, a white
form on a clipboard was passed around for our careful review,
which was greeted by most with the standard backpackers blank hungover stare and a "Look,
just where do I sign?". That done, we were given the safety
briefing by Christine.
"Morning folks! Glad to see
you all here and welcome to the Great White Shark Cage Diving
Adventure! You will be going with Captain Brian McFarlane and
his divemaster Ughhh."
"Sorry, what's his name," somebody
asked.
"Ughhh", she repeated.
To the uninitiated, this would have
either sounded like nonsense or perhaps some sort of Neanderthal
greeting. But, knowing that the local language Afrikaans is
very similar to Dutch, and having spent a considerable amount of
time in the Netherlands surrounded by cloggies making bizarre
gutteral barking noises to each other, I reckoned the guy had an
Afrikaan name that the English language just couldn't handle.
Christine continued, "The most
dangerous part of your day is going to be leaving and returning to
the harbour as the weather and winds in this area are very
unpredictable. Captain Brian is a professional shark handler
and you have absolutely nothing to fear from the sharks. If any of you do happen to get seasick while on the boat, just
remember that if you are able to heave it over the side into the
water, that will help with the chumming effort and Captain Brian will offer you a
5% discount on the trip. Okay, you're all set."
Thus began our adventure. Ana
and I and the other eight people walked down to the the dock and
climbed aboard "Predator", the shark diving boat. It was not
difficult to find as there was a huge steel mesh cage hanging from
a large beam and pulley mechanism on the back of the boat.
Captain Brian was waiting for us and helped each of us on board.
He was a tall, solidly built, sea-worthy looking fellow whose
smile lines surely held a thousand tales.
"Welcome aboard the Predator!
My name is Brian McFarlane and this is my divemaster Ughhh.
Everybody find yourselves a seat and we'll be off shortly."
Divemaster Ughhh was somewhat shorter than the captain with a
slightly darker complexion. He didn't speak much, but when
he did it was with a very thick Afrikaans accent. He looked
like he knew a lot of jokes.
Once everybody was seated Captain
Brian hit the switch and the engines roared to life and we were
off to sea. And what a beautiful day it was! The sun
was bright, only a few clouds to the west, and hardly a breath of
wind. "This is the most beautiful day you can hope for,"
said the captain, "We're going to see a lot of sharks today."
After about twenty minutes we arrived to an underwater reef where
several other shark dive boats were anchored. The captain
continued past these boats with the expectation that the sharks
would be off the reef in the morning, so he found the spot he
wanted, anchored the boat, dropped the cage, and started preparing
the bait. As he reeled out several metre long strips of
strange brown gut chunks, he explained to us that shark livers
were the key to attracting the great whites. He packed these
livers into a burlap-like bag, sealed it then threw it into the
floating cage. He repeated this process but instead stuffed
the bag with various chunks of mako sharks then threw it into the
cage. He then told us that it would take up to half an hour
for the scents to work their way out into the ocean and begin
attracting the sharks so instead of waiting, he would release the
cage, attach it to the anchor rope, and we would make a quick side
trip to Dyer Island, home to a colony of 60,000 Cape Seals.
Captain Brian cranked up the engine
again and off we sped towards the islands in the distance.
As we approached the island a horrible smell came over the boat.
I thought perhaps it was the pail of chum at the back of the boat
boiling in the sun but the intensity of the odour increased the
closer we came to the island. "What do you guys think of the
smell of seal shit?" laughed Captain Brian, which explained the
mystery. It was easy to see how the shit could accumulate,
considering the small rocky island were were just reaching was
blanketed with barking, coughing, howling and obviously shitting,
brown Cape seals. The noise of the creatures was incredible!
Besides the seals on the island were hundreds, no, thousands of
them swimming and diving through the waters on all sides of the
boat. Some were small babies, others were large cows, but
all appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely as they leaped
out of the water then dove deep only to return again to the
surface, rear their heads out of the water and bark "Hello!" to
these idiotic tourists hanging off the edge of the boat gawking at
the show before them. Captain piloted the boat slowly down
the length of the islands so we could see the immense number of
seals on this little island. He explained that during the
winter months you would not see a single seal in the water since
during that season the great whites would cruise up and down the
island looking for seals to eat. During the current season
all the sharks had moved to the reef area to breed and therefore
the seals were safe and they knew it. But even when the
sharks are around the island the seals still need to visit the sea
to find fish to eat, and that is when the great whites got lucky.
"One day," he said, "I was here with a boatload of tourists and we
saw twelve seals taken by great whites." I hoped to myself
that there had been a few Greenpeace loonies on that trip.
We could have quite easily stayed
there for hours watching the playful seals but we had sharks to
find! So Captain Brian turned the boat around and we cruised
back towards the anchored cage. Approximately half way back,
first mate Ughhh jumped to the bow of the boat pointing to the
starboard side hollering, "Whales! Whales!" Two
hundred metres from the boat were two Southern Right Whales with
their backs protruding out of the water. South Africa law
does not allow powerboats to come within 300 metres but since we
were already well within that range Captain Brian cut the motors
and we drifted forwards until we came to a halt. The whales
must have decided to come investigate because they turned toward
the boat, dropped just below the surface and moved directly
towards us. Seeing a whale from shore can give you an idea
of how huge they are, especially if you are fortunate enough to
see them breaching, but when two fully grown whales swim directly
beneath your boat you get a new appreciation for their size.
They were probably twice the length of the boat and even their
tail width was half the length of the boat. The "ooohs", "ahhhs",
and camera shutter clicks came from all the thrilled passengers
aboard. As they passed beneath us Captain Brian said, "If
they decide to surface now, we could be in a bit of trouble."
Luckily, once they were well clear of the boat the whales surfaced
and played on top of the water. At that point we could have
gone straight back to shore and I would have been very happy with
the tour. But our host said that it was time to go see the
sharks so off we raced to the main course.
We reached the cage and Ughhh tied
the anchor rope back onto the boat then repositioned the cage
directly beside the boat. Captain Brian pulled out "Gladys",
a rubbery seal imitation tied to a string and threw it out into
the water. "The great whites will see Gladys all the way
from the bottom and think it's a seal," he explained, "and when
they surface we'll lure them towards the boat with a piece of
shark meat tied to the end of another rope." He also threw
another pail of chum into the water...and we waited anxiously.
Fifteen minutes past. Thirty minutes past. Captain
Brian pulled out a mobile phone and called one of the other shark
boats anchored near the reef. They had seen no sharks yet.
An hour passed. Two hours passed. Captain Brian would
call the other boats every fifteen minutes for an update.
One of them had seen a couple sharks, but they had disappeared
after seeing the boat. Luckily, it was a warm day so most of
the others on our boat were just sitting back enjoying the
sunshine. "Don't worry guys, they will come. We just
have to wait," said the Captain reassuringly.
Ughhh finally piped up, "If anybody
wants to do a few laps around the boat, feel free as the sharks
really like that. And if the girls do it naked, they get the
trip for free!". Strangely, there were no takers.
Captain Brian decided that we would
have lunch and give the sharks thirty minutes more before we tried
a different location. So the sandwiches were handed out and
eaten promptly by the hungry and increasingly anxious guests.
As the thirty minutes passed, our trusty Captain made another
couple calls and found out that two of the other boats by the reef
had some "players", which is the word they use to describe great
whites that aggressively go for the bait and stay around the boat
for a long time, giving the cage diving tourists the show they
were waiting for. "I can't believe it!" he said in an
irritated manner, "I'm always the first guy to get sharks around
here! I don't know what's going on." Ughhh pulled up
the anchor and the dive cage and Captain Brian moved the boat over
to the reef where the other boats were. With anchor and cage
back into the water, they laced the water with a a couple more
pails of chum and we waited. And waited. Thirty
minutes passed. I noticed the wind starting to pick up.
A few more phone calls, only to find that one of the other boats
had three sharks circling it! "Jesus, I can't believe this!"
said Captain Brian, exasperated, "I'm always the one who's
inviting the other boats to join me after I've found the sharks!
If we don't see anything soon we'll go and anchor beside that
other boat and share their sharks. That guy owes me. I
must have called him over to share my sharks a dozen times this
season!"
After a few more minutes with no
action our devoted Captain threw in the great white towel, pulled
up the anchor and cage and powered us over next to the other shark
boat interestingly called "The Shark Lady". By now the wind
had not just picked up, it was really starting to howl and the
seas were getting choppy. Anchor down, cage down, more chum,
and we waited hard. I was standing on the viewing platform
which was a small second level over the cabin when I saw a very
dark shadow approaching the boat. "Here comes one!!"
announced Captain Brian gleefully as he launched the piece of
shark meat over the side. The shark approached from the port
side with the dorsal fin slicing through the waves. And in
all his infamous grey splendor surfaced the first great white
shark I had ever seen in my life, luckily from the safety of a
viewing platform! The shark went for the bait but Captain
Brian pulled it away just as the shark's eyes were rolling back
and his huge mouth opening. "Oh yeah!!!!" somebody from the
boat shouted.
"Can we get the wetsuits on now to
go in the cage?" asked a skinny Englishman.
"Yep, you two get those suits on,"
he directed towards the Englishman and a Dane who was standing
next to him, "and make it quick as this is a nasty wind blowing
up." The wind had gone from a howl to a near gale and the
sea was starting to foam. The "Predator" was rocking wildly
with the cage bashing up against it. I was still on the
viewing platform holding tightly to the railing with one hand and
my hat with the other when I saw another dark shadow approaching,
except that this one was surely a small whale...or something, as
it was much too big to be a great white. The shadow came up
from the depths and towards the surface and I realised that it was
no whale. It was a great white shark. And it was
massive.
"Holy shit!" bellowed Ughhh, which
grabbed everyone's attention as he radiated all characteristics of
a seaman salty with experience and not easily impressed.
Captain Brian saw the beast and threw the bait in its direction.
As it hit the water the shark's huge jaws broke the surface and
his eyes rolled back, expecting to consume this little morsel.
The Captain pulled the bait away...but not fast enough. The
shark clamped down on the meat and began a tugging match with our
fearless captain. Somehow, Captain Brian managed to yank the
bait, or at least most of it, from the jaws of the monster and it
dove back down into the ocean then resurfaced and circled around
at the back of the boat trying to figure out what happened to the
rest of its meal. Several other sharks appeared and the
captain continued throwing the bait out and tempting the sharks to
bite. Sometimes they would surface and go for the bait while
other times they followed the bait for a few seconds then shied
away. I was quite surprised at how slow the sharks were
moving. They appeared more to be pushing water like a barge
rather than gliding through it. But I was to soon found out
just how fast they could move it they wanted to.
A medium sized shark was lured into
the bait and went for it. The Captain pulled the bait away
but the shark carried on toward the boat until it was directly
beside us. A huge gust of wind pushed the boat right into
the shark which obviously scared the hell out of it. It gave
a powerful thrust of its tail and soaked everybody on the lower
deck, but principally Ana who was the closest to it, and shot off
into the ocean.
By now the wind was screaming in my
ears, the temperature had plummeted and huge waves were rocking
the boat. All the other boats had reeled in their cages and
anchors and were heading back to shore before things got worse.
In a space of thirty minutes the day had gone from dead calm to 80
kilometer per hour winds, something I had never experienced
before. Captain Brian was still bravely firing the bait out
and luring sharks in, but the water was so foamy from the smashing
waves that the sharks could hardly be seen. Just then the
two jokers in wetsuits came out from the cabin and were motioning
for Ughhh to open the cage so they could jump in. They must
have either been blind or completely suicidal as the wind was
causing the cage to swing around wildly and bash into the boat.
"I don't think you guys want to try getting into that cage,"
suggested Ughhh, "You'll end up falling in the sea and I don't
know how long you'll last with these players circling the boat.
I'm definitely not coming in after you."
At this point the captain said,
"Well guys, I hate to say it, but I think we better pack up and
get out of here before things get any worse. I don't want to
jeopardize your safety. And since none of you were able to
get into the cage, we'll give you a discount on the trip. Is
that okay with everybody?"
"YES!" was the group's reply.
I have spent enough time on the ocean to see that conditions were
getting worse by the minute and I was starting to get a little
nervous. Unfortunately for Ughhh and Captain Brian, they had
to reel up the cage and get the anchor clear. Captain Brian
started cranking the handle to pull up the cage while Ughhh
attempted to steady it. When they finally wrestled that in
Captain Brian started retrieving Gladys, the plastic seal.
As he started his retrieve a big shark bolted through the water
with jaws wide open and narrowly missed the seal, though did
manage to bite the rope clean off. "Goodbye Gladys!" said
the Captain merrily. I don't think it was the first time it
had happened.
Captain Brian fired up the engines
while Ughhh hauled himself to the front of the boat. Most of
us were cowering inside the cabin to keep out of the way and from
there I could not even see Ughhh through the front window for the
foamy sea spraying over the front deck. He eventually
somehow managed to pull the anchor in as the captain was
attempting to stabilise the boat. The two lads in wetsuits
were attempting to remove them when the captain said, "You guys
may as well leave those one, we're going to have a wet ride back!
Plus, great whites don't much like the taste of rubber."
They couldn't make up their minds whether to look relieved or
scared witless so they just laughed nervously.
Ughhh appeared out of the foam and
organised us inside the boat. He shoved almost all of us
into the small cabin and left the two frogmen in the exposed area
in back of the boat. The captain hit the throttle and we
charged up our first wave...and down with a huge crash! It
was actually quite fun, but not after a dozen. I could
barely see out the window for the sea spray, but at one point I
could make out a huge swell approaching. As Captain Brian
gunned the engine to make it up the wave he roared, "Hey, this is
just like The Perfect Storm all over again. Haarrrrr!!",
which inspired confidence in us all. Up the wave we surfed
then down we crashed, this time extremely hard. "I just want
to let you guys know," voiced the Captain as he furiously grappled
with the wheel, "that if this boat sinks into these shark infested
waters...I GET THE CAGE!" Good God. Was this a man or
a beast? Then, to keep my eyes off the threatening waves and
my mind off our impending doom, I started reading his operator's
license which was pasted on the wall of the cabin. The line
which begged my attention was, "..licensed to operate this shark
cage vessel in strictly calm and flat waters only". Ahhhhhh,
we're never going to make it back to shore! Not wanting to
spark a mutiny, I decided to keep this revelation to myself and
therefore decided to just close my eyes and hope for the best.
Captain Brian's mobile phone rang.
It was a distress call from a dive boat in a nearby bay which had
lost both engines and was being forced towards the rocks in the
bay. The captain of the boat could not get the engines
started and was calling desperately for somebody to help save his
vessel. Looking back towards the bay, Captain Brian told the
man that there was no way he could make it back there with a boat
his size, especially with a load of guests. Although we felt
sorry for the guy, I think that if he had tried to turn the boat
around to go back into the storm there really would have been a
mutiny. Instead, Captain Brian called a couple of the other
larger boats he knew were on the way back into shore. The
decided amongst themselves that they would all first return to the
harbour, drop off the guests, then head back out to try and help
the distressed vessel. He then tried to call the distressed
vessel back but there was no answer. That brought a wave of
silence from all of us sitting on that boat. "Don't worry
too much about it guys," the captain said, "it was a dive boat so
if they were getting too close to the rocks, they would have just
put their tanks back on and bailed out and swam to shore.
They will be fine. If anything, just the boat has been lost.
Or maybe he just dropped the phone overboard. Don't worry."
By this time we were through the
worst of it. We soon reached the harbour and amidst the
crashing waves and wind, Captain Brian and Ughhh got the boat to
the dock easily and quickly. Before allowing us off the boat
the captain said, "Well, sorry about the disastrous day folks."
I was thinking, "Disastrous??? We saw thousands of seals
playing in the sea, floated next to giant beautiful whales, saw
lots of great white sharks, and survived a flash storm. You
call that disastrous??". The captain continued, "How about I
give you all half your money back since none of you were able to
cage dive with the sharks?" There were no objections, though
I'm sure most of the people would have been happy to pay the full
price for a day's full of adventure!
Once the guests were off the boat,
Ughhh threw off the dock lines and Captain Brian maneuvered the
"Predator" toward the angry sea. And as the boat sped away
they both turned back to wave good-bye.
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