Shark Diving, Hermanus & Cape Agulhas

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The day we left Franschhoek was our first day of horrible weather as it rained all day. Our next destination was Hermanus. We arrived there in mid morning and decided that, given the weather, the best thing to do was to go for a drive. Cape Agulhas is the most southern point in Africa and we decided to take a drive out to there, which is about 150 km away.

This drive took us through some very rural, Afrikaaner areas and we stopped at a town called Napier to get some lunch. We went to a place called The Gunners, previously owned by an army pilot, which had all sorts of pilot memorabilia on the walls. The lady who had just bought the place wasn't local and she seemed to have lost a lot of clientele because of this.

After leaving the backwater town of Napier, we continued on towards Cape Agulhas. As we approached the rain and wind seemed to intensify. Once we reached there, we could see the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean meeting the dark blue of the Atlantic Ocean. Having been at the top of Africa at the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria a few months previously, it was wonderful to be at the southern tip. Because of the weather, we didn't hang around that long and drove back to Hermanus, where I lost count of how many games of pool I beat Dad in.

I had sigend up to go shark diving the next morning, but had been told it might not happen because the sea was so rough. At 7 a.m. I got a text to say that it was cancelled. However, a couple of hours later, I was told it was back on. I did wonder how the sea could be deemed too rough in the morning, but then acceptable to go out on a few hours later. Nevertheless, I drove out to Gansbaai, about 45 minutes to where the boat left to go shark diving.

There were nine of us on the boat and the sea was extremely rough. Our boat was literally bouncing along the waves for about 20 minutes until we stopped and anchored. The crew started throwing chum, a mixture of pilchards and sea water, into the water to attract the sharks. They are only allowed to bring out a certain amount, so that they are not deemed to be feeding the sharks.

It wasn't long before we saw our first Great White, as it came juping out of the water to bite the fish head bait on the end of the rope we had attached to the boat. We got on our wetsuits, but as the boat rocked wildly back and forth, I began to feel pretty sea sick. So much so, I was shortly afterwards over the side of the boat throwing up the sandwiches they had given us back in Gansbaai.

I managed to compose myself and jumped into the cage, which is attached to the side of the boat. We were just given a mask, as we could stand on the bottom of the cage and when the crew shouted, we ducked down to see the sharks passing. We saw 6 sharks in total, but saw each one numerous times. It was incredible how close they came to the cage. At one point, one had grabbed at the bait and as it went back into the water, came straight at me still baring his teeth and hit his nose on the cage right in front of me.

After about 20 minutes, it got pretty cold in the water, so I got out. As soon as I did, I started feeling sea sick again and was throwing up all the sea water I had swallowed. I spent the rest of the time, trying to get the "Jaws" shot, but was always just that second too slow. It definitely didn't get boring seeing them jump out of the water. Once all the chum was finished, we headed back to shore. This was a very quiet journey as everybody was freezing and some, like me, feeling the effects of being sea sick. We were given lunch when we got back and shown a video of our day.

I drove back to Hermanus and tried to warm up on the drive. Mum and Dad had spent the day whale watching and had seen dozens. I went out with Mum the next morning before we left to try and spot some before we left, but unfortunately had no joy.

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