Would You Go Cage diving with a Great White Shark?
Apart from females, needles and men in suits who seem to get off on talking at me about business finance I’m not really that scared of anything.
Needles is the main one, I HATE getting jabs before travelling, but they’re a necessity so I get them done. Other things that scare people aren’t so necessary, sky diving and bungee jumping for instance. I have no real issue with launching myself off of a bridge with nothing but a glorified elastic band tied around my ankles. I’d jump at the chance (no pun intended) to be able to hurl myself out of a perfectly decent plane whilst strapped to some rugged Aussie/Kiwi/South African who in turn is strapped to a fully functioning parachute. I love a good adrenalin buzz, give me height, give me speed, give me all of that shizzle! That’s right I said shizzle, and what? … sorry too much red bull.
Cage diving, the next big adrenalin rush
Cage Diving in South Africa
As far as backpacking goes bungee jumping and sky diving are pretty standard though aren’t they? I’m not knocking them, if you get the chance do one, sod it do both, but most people you meet on the road have usually done one or the other, and good for them! But having already got both a bungee and sky dive under my belt whilst volunteering and backpacking through South Africain 2005, I was on the lookout for the next big adrenalin rush. I needed my next buzz, but I wanted it to come from something a little bit different.
To be honest I hadn’t really researched South Africa before I went to Volunteer there, it was very much a last minute thing. All the way down the garden route from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town I looked for an activity that would give me that huge rush of adrenalin whilst being that bit different and eventually I found the one. It involved a two hour journey from Cape Town by road, and then another hour journey by boat out to the deep seas where I would be climbing into a submerged cage and saying a very close hello to one of the most savage predators known to man. Yup, cage dive!
The sea was pretty rough the day I took to the cage, I was the first in the water as seemingly no one else fancied it. The visibility wasn’t that great under the waters surface, but in a way that added to the terrifying nature of being yards away from an 8ft flesh eating monster. It would explode out of the murky water, chasing the mangled fish heads that tempted the beast to come so close to our little cage.
Dangerous and graceful
I snapped away with my underwater camera (sadly digital wasnt around then) and at one point even had the stupidity to think about trying to touch the razored teethed lump of muscle. I quickly decided that only an utter moron would attempt such a ridiculous act and so resumed my underwater observations with my hands firmly gripping the inside of the cage. I did feel safe in my little cage, but I could still appreciate that I was very very close to something that could utterly destroy me with very little effort. Dangerous and graceful, a lethal combination.
The deep dark eyes of the shark were terrifying and its speed just incredible, you wonder if anything would be able to hurt such an impressive creature, surely it was invincible. Sadly sharks aren’t invincible though. Shark finning is a major issue in areas such as south east Asia. Check out Ally Toulec’s page regarding this barbarian shark finning practice as she rightly puts it.
Highly Recommend a cage dive
I would highly recommend a cage dive if you’re into your adrenalin type activities and can appreciate nature at its most dangerous. Just remember that when playing with nature there are no guarantee’s …
