Possible to dive with great white's without cage?

[scubajunky17]

Is it possible to dive with great whites in SA without a cage? I'm arriving in SA in 10 days and will be there for three weeks. Also where is the best place for cage diving and breaching whites? many thanks

 

[nimoh]

they don't lock you in, you could just open it up and swim out, then apologize to the captain later...if you're still around.

 

[graham_s]

Certainly, the real question is, can you do it twice.

 

[ocdiver1]

I did a great white cage dive in SA on a trip a couple of months ago..so I can give you some info that I either found on while looking into it myself or from just in conversation with the operator and other passengers on my trip--hopefully all correct but it's not as if I'm a local... I did mine out of Gansbaai, one of two choices to go from, the other being False Bay. From what I was told, False Bay is generally considered better for viewing "predation," including breaching which you mention, while Gansbaai might offer a better overall chance of encounters and had a bigger population of great whites. For False Bay/predation type trips, a South African friend highly recommended apexpredators (www.apexpredators.com), but since I did mine out of Gansbaai I arranged mine through Pisces Divers (www.piscesdivers.co.za). They in turn used another company whose name I can't remember...but if you talk to Pisces they can set you up through them. I would really recommend them...we saw 3 different great whites on a day when other boats came back seeing nothing..I also had a friend go a couple of weeks later with someone else and he saw nothing as well..apparently the experience of the captain and crew make a big difference. You can have the option of including transport to/from Capetown (about 2 hours away) if you don't have your own transport or prefer to stay out there.

A couple of words about the "dive"---you'll see it couldn't be further than an actual dive. The cage is attached to the side of the boat and you get in with probably four other people and stand shoulder to shoulder so that the water is probably chest deep. When a shark approaches there are lures of a bag of fish heads and of a small seal that are then maneuvered around to try to get the shark to surface/breach and to get as close to the cage as possible. When the shark is near the cage someone on board will shout out something like "shark right" and you'll pull yourself underwater and hold your breath and look. It's all rather hectic, vis typically isn't very good, and it's very hard to take photos..but we got great close, literally "you could reach out and touch" type views. You additionally got great views from the boat of the sharks at the surface. As you probably know, the water is incredibly cold around CT..count on 15 degrees and less! I really don't think that anyone offers any type of trip without a cage. But definitely worth it..fantastic experience..here's a pic from when i went.

 

[Rooster59]

Y'all be nuts ...

 

[farsidefan1]

Is it possible to dive with great whites in SA without a cage? I'm arriving in SA in 10 days and will be there for three weeks. Also where is the best place for cage diving and breaching whites? many thanks

Sure. Don't mind if they keep pronouncing your name bait. You won't have to listen to it for long. All the "air jaws" footage you see is from the False Bay area, at least that I have heard about.

 

[AaronRiot]

[video=youtube;HpMFSL7fivI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpMFSL7fivI[/video]

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

I did my cage dive in Gansbaai many years ago. Our skipper pointed out an American researcher who didn't use cages. (he was mostly snorkelling). Six years later I actually saw the television news run about that same researcher getting eaten.

I actually figure that diving with great whites most days over a period of six years before getting a bite means that the odds of getting eaten are pretty low.

 

[drbill]

About 12 years ago Jean-Michel Cousteau freedove with great whites under the direction of Andre Hartman in S.A. He's still alive to tell the story. While diving buddied up with Wyland to film giant sea bass, I had a 14 ft great white swim by... and, of course, I'm sure there have been others outside my vision while diving here!

 

[Lemna]

Fred Buyle, a freediver who participates in shark research, claims that he would never scuba dive with Great whites, since the bubbles interfere with your ability to spot them when they approach you from the back. He finds freediving to be a much safer and more effective method. I believe he organizes trips in South Africa.

[video=youtube;uGzrETzRp5E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGzrETzRp5E[/video]