After finding out late Wednesday evening that our shark dive would be going ahead Thursday we awoke after a restless night dreaming of great white sharks and were picked up bright and early for the 2 hour bus drive to Gaansbaai for our diving adventure. With a sunny day finally greeting us we were dismayed to find that the longer we travelled down the coast the darker and wetter the weather got. By the time we made it to the jetty it was freezing cold, mildly raining and 10ft swells thanks to a storm offshore. It wasn't until we dropped anchor near a small seal colony island that we started to feel the effects of the swell and the skipper's instructions to watch the horizon to prevent sea sicknes didn't help considering the horizon seemed to disappear with each roll of the waves. After the twenty minute briefing Kane was greener than the sea. Feeling sick and extremely cold there was a moment when we considered not going in, the idea of changing into an already wet wetsuit and jumping in freezing water seeming more and more crazy. But the sight of the first great white shark swimming gracefully up to the side of the boat, so close you could practically touch it was all the motivation we needed and we quickly got changed and jumped in. The cage was a narrow rectangle with rounded edges that could fit 4 people. Once in the cage we would wait with our heads above water while the spotters looked for the sharks. When they saw one approaching they would yell "DOWN" and we would duck down into the cage and watch it swim right past us. You could see every scratch on it. One got a little too close and actually brushed right up along the side of the cage in front of us, forcing us to move our fingers out of the way in fear of losing them.

The experience was unbelievable! and although Kane was dry reaching even in the water it was an absolutely amazing experience. We were lucky to getseveral different white pointers with the size ranging from three to four and a half metres, which we were told we were lucky to get a large female as usually it is only the young sharks that come to the surface. We were human icicles by the time we got back but it was worth it.

And yes folks it is all on DVD.