Diving with Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa

Awaking from a nightmare at 4.45 a.m. was not the ideal start to a day that involved leaving the house before dawn, on my own, for a drive across country to dive into cold Atlantic water with man-eating sharks ….

I was this close. Great White Shark diving, Gansbaai, South Africa. PHOTO Michael Rutzen’s www.sharkdivingunlimited.com

Photographing Great White Sharks, Gansbaai, South Africa

Six of us fitted into the cage at a time, flatteringly attired in wet suits and face masks. The cage looked sturdy enough but there were big gaps between the bars – big enough for a Great White to put his snout through! O yes. As the crewman reeled the bait towards us, one slammed right into the cage just a few inches from my right knee, I can still see it now, my knee / its snout in the same frame. In a spilt second I screamed inwardly “Get me out of here now!” willing there to be an ejector seat button under my finger.

Great White Shark diving Gansbaai. Each small-looking fin is attached to over two metres of Great White Shark!

Human bait. Were we mad? We took it in turns to climb into the cage and duck under the water as the Great White Sharks were lured towards us

The sharks – we were lucky enough to see two – slowly swam under or round the boat. And they weren’t small. The second measured a whopping 3.2 metres. I’ll say it again: 3.2 metres of killing machine.

But it was after the arrival of The Big One that I got back in the cage for the second time (how I’d forgotten about the ejector seat I don’t know!) The shark came steaming at us, his jaw opening and snapping shut, opening and snapping shut, chasing after the tuna head. I rammed myself to the back of the cage and in seconds he’d gone. That was scary. As we came up for air, me and the guy next to me screamed at each other “that was a bit f**king close!!”

Even when viewed from aboard the boat, I just can’t get over how big that Mother was.

The muscular flick of the shark’s tail reminds you of its strength. Great White Shark turning. diving Gansbaai

The force of the animal is something else. It swims along quite serenely but when it flicks its tail, you know about it; the cage rocked from side to side violently, even the boat did. You have to respect the power of that beast.

Senseless, ridiculously scary, these are all just words that frankly don’t mean anything at all. I leapt up out of the cage at one point screaming “F**K MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” and even then it meant nothing. I quite simply ran out of swear words and Ladies and Gentlemen, you know I know a few!

This simple silhouette measures over three metres in length. Great White Shark diving South Africa

The afternoon was bound to be an anticlimax after all that adrenalin yet there was more excitement on the way home as we passed a pod of dolphins. As the boat suddenly pitched to one side I threw myself onto the deck; there was no way I was risking being thrown into the sea – not now I knew what’s down there! I had to laugh at myself.

White sandy beach Western Cape South Africa, seen from our shark diving boat

Being in the water with the Great Whites was an amazing experience. Naomi, H’s South African nanny, was so dumbfounded that I’d been in the water with the sharks that when I told her about the crew ‘chumming’ the water to attract the sharks, she pulled a face and asked “what – with human blood?”

I mean – there are extremes and then there are extremes!

A quick limb count (two arms, two legs, a full set of fingers and toes) before driving back to Arniston with a detour via the village of De Kelders and the most breathtaking panoramic view across the enormous bay, Cape Town in the far distance. Two little Afrikaaner boys came running upto me, pointing excitedly to the coastline where a mother and calf Southern Right Whale (so named because they were the ‘right ones’ to kill back in the day) were lazily floating by on the current.

Great White Sharks, dolphins and whales – what an incredible day!