I didn’t join in. An attack of seasickness that would have made death in the jaws of a great white shark a welcome relief had immobilised me a couple of hours out of Kleinbaai, 100 miles east of Cape Town, on this expedition to get up close and personal with one of nature’s most deadly killing machines.
As the White Shark Diving Company points out: “Wildlife don’t take bookings.” So even with the lure of pungent bait, including a large fish head on a rope, there was a lengthy wait on the south Atlantic swell. Finally I was able to raise myself from my prone position to look over the side and see a great white, at least 10ft long, approaching the boat.
Not that I was ever going to get into a wetsuit and allow myself to be lowered in a cage off the side of the 30ft deep-sea cabin cruiser while sharks swam inches from my face. That’s what you have teenage sons for, after all.
So, goggles on, underwater camera in hand, my son Cal and three fellow shark-lovers got into the cage, which was lowered to the point where the water came up to their chins. As one of the crew whisked the fish head around the cage and the shark followed it, they all took a deep breath and disappeared under the water. All I could see was a flash of grey fin as the shark swished by, and then, heartstoppingly, a pair of teenage hands poking an underwater camera out of the protective mesh.
“Don’t be silly, Mum,” Cal explained afterwards. “The shark wasn’t interested in the camera, it was after the bait.”
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So how was the experience? Cal reports: “It was really cold to start with, but then I saw the shark. It was schizzle-scary (whatever that means) but amazing. At first all I saw was a vague silhouette but then it came really close and I could see its teeth — all seven rows. It was different shades of grey and its eyes were like black beads. And at one point it bit the cage.”
Debate rages about cage-diving with bait: some people think it makes sharks associate humans with food and is the cause of a rise in shark attacks. But given the time we waited, it didn’t seem to me that one of the ocean’s most efficient predators was that easily lured from its usual fishy diet.
Yet when it did finally arrive, even from the deck, the sight of a great white in its natural habitat was worth the seasickness. As the lad said: schizzle-scary, but amazing.