Today we had a good feeling about shark diving. We went through the same safety briefings as our first trip and signed new waiver forms. This was it, we were ready (well Rich was, I was still trying not to think about it) and minutes later we were out on the boat heading for Shark Alley again.
“Before I knew it, we were in the cage listening out for the dive master to shout ‘down, down’.”
Now there are not many times that I’d thank Rich for being pushy but I think his headstrong approach for being the first on the boat in a wet suit and into the cage meant that I had no time to think about anything other than trying to keep up with him. This meant that before I knew it, we were in the cage listening out for the dive master to shout ‘down down’.
It didn’t take long for this to happen and with these words we held our breath and pulled ourselves underwater further into the cage.
The first shark we saw was about a meter and a half away and I’d say it swam past the cage rather serenely in fact. A couple of minutes later and we had our second shark encounter and if I wasn’t holding my breath I’m pretty sure I’d have sworn my head off as a 3.5 metre long great white shark, jaws open and haunting eyes glaring at us, swam centimeters in front of us.
As my hands gripped the bar inside the cage with fear, Rich somehow managed to film the action with the go pro. Although it has to be said, you can clearly see where even he gets a bit nervous as the shark approaches and his hand backs further into the cage!
With 15 minutes in the cage we had around 5 shark sightings underwater and saw even more whilst on the top deck of the boat, this time leisurely watching from a distance as others plunged into the 13 degree celcius Atlantic waters. At the end of the trip we were all smiles, having not only successfully seen the great white sharks but also having truly experienced their awesomeness up close.
Lambs on the loose 