Blogs from Gansbaai, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa
Cage Diving with Great White Sharks
Published: December 5th 2011Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » GansbaaiWe are sorry for the wait! The internet has been quite spotty for us and we are too busy doing things to blog about them! I have decided to transcribe my journal entry for the day since it took up 4 pages in my little Moleskine, so it is pretty detailed. Here is what I wrote: "This experience lived up to my expectations and more! (Yes I do write like this in my journal....) We were picked up before dawn and had a taste of the Garden Route during the two-hour drive to Gansbaii. The Route is well-named as it's very lush with irrigated fields and stretches of vineyards as far as the eye can see. The boat ride out to the dive site was quite cold and windy with big swells and we spent the ... read more
Well what can I say.......... Shark cage diving was an experience that we will definately never ever forget. It was epic! The day started off pretty calmly, we had the most incredible weather which is really lucky considering how terrible the weather has been in Cape town this last week. We were picked up about 9:00am and started the 2 hour drive out to Gansbaai which would have been fine except none of the 13 people on a 12 seater bus realised the diving was two hours away. Lets just say we all got to know each other extremely well in that 2 hours. Needless to say the drive was amazing, absolutely beautiful. It was quite surreal for me to be driving through towns like Somerset West and Hermanus which I have memories of, but are ... read more
The day had finally come. Daddy had talked about this part of the trip for a long time. He had wished he had done this when he was in South Africa the other 2 times, but did not. There was no way that we were not going to do it on this trip.......the Great White Sharks. At first it seemed pretty scary, especially since he told me that most people on the boat go into a cage and the sharks come right up to it. When daddy called to see if I could go on the boat, not only did they say that I can go on the boat, but I could also go into the cage if I wanted to. NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAYYYYYYY was I going to do that, and daddy never asked me again, and ... read more
Cape Agulhas and...Great White Shark diving ?????
Published: July 5th 2010Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » GansbaaiAlright, I had been looking forward to visiting Cape Agulhas the entire trip. We were going there initially at the beginning of the trip, while visiting Cape Town a few weeks ago. But we didn't have time and figured we could go there after we knew that our path to the Final would start in Durban, go by Port Elizabeth and back to Cape Town for the semi-final. We got up early, got in the car and drove straight south towards Cape Agulhas. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and we basically had the place to ourselves. To be honest, there isn't much to see at the furthest southern point you can go in Africa. It's a coastline like any other, perhaps with a little more history, that has a little monument marking ... read more
Today was day 3 of my sickness. According to Galen who was sick before me, day 3 should be the turning point of the sickness. From feeling shitty, to feeling ok and just a little sick. I was definitely feeling better after taking massive amounts of vitamins and hot water and vicks and gargling 3 times a day with hot salt water. Today I woke up at 6:45 to accompany Danny to the airport to drop of the Peeks so I could cash my traveler checks and pick up my round of 16 Cape Town ticket!!! We returned back around 9 o’clock with 20 minutes to spare before we embarked on our shark diving! The bus was similar to the wine tour bus and we drove around cape town picking up other individuals before heading to ... read more
Diving with Great White Sharks
Published: May 22nd 2010Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » GansbaaiJust outside of Cape Town you can go diving with the Great White Sharks. They lower a cage next to the boat and you drop yourself into the cage and the sharks swim right up to you and stare you in the face. They attract the sharks to the cage with fish blood and guts called Chum. They even put a large fish head on a rope and try to get the shark to lunge at the cage as they pull the fish towards your face. The cage is one foot square iron grids so the shark's nose even goes inside the cage a bit if the guy handling the fish head is good. If you put your hands or feet outside the cage even a few inches, the sharks can have a bit of you ... read more
Well, only just arrived really but quick update. I flew into Cape Town after a flight taking in total around 18 hours! didnt get much sleep, not fun. So kinda caught up once I reached my base, well for the first night anyway, a hostel called Zebra Crossing, which seems pretty cool. Only there for 1 night as the next day bright and breezy I was picked up (4.30am) to be taken to The Great White Shark Project in Gansbaai, a few hours east of Cape Town. We arrived and straight away were given jackets and our uniform and allowed on board to go see us some sharks!!! this time as clients next few times would be working. We headed out and within a couple of minutes our first Great White shark appeared - absolutely amazing! ... read more
Shark Diving in South Africa
Published: September 10th 2009Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » GansbaaiYes... We really did dive with Great White Sharks. We had a very early morning, picked up from our hotel at 5:45am. We drove about 2.5 hours to a little town called Gansbaai to board our catamaran style boat. Luckily we had taken our sea sick tablets because the waves were huge. We headed out into the ocean for about an hour. Once we had anchored up the skippers started to "chum" the waters with Tuna juices and fish to attract the sharks. Within 10 minutes while we were all getting fitted in our wetsuits there were already sharks around the boat. We decided not to go first and watched the first group in the cage from the top of the boat. There are 6 in each cage and you are attached to the side of ... read more
A Dinner Date with Man-Eaters
Published: December 27th 2008Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Gansbaai"This is madness." - Sam We have come to Gansbaai, South Africa, with Dyer Island on the horizon - home to one of the world's densest populations of Great White Sharks. The Man-eating Shark. Carcharodon carcharias. And we're strapping on wetsuits. Sam is right. This is madness. The Great White Shark, one of the greatest predators alive, is considered an endangered animal. Humans have hunted them to "vulnerable" levels. Even here at Dyer Island, sightings of full grown sharks (up to 20 ft long and over 4000 lbs) are rare nowadays. The Great Whites' diet is carnivorous and eating habits are legendary. If you believe in reincarnation, it's probably best not to wish to come back as a sea lion. The shark speaks with its teeth. They don't have hands, so they use their mouths for ... read more









































