White Shark Ecoventures - Cape Town - TravBuddy

Since we were coming all the way to South Africa from Canada, we decided to try something we'd never get to do at home.

Great White Ecoventures picked us up in a van at our hotel at 4 a.m. It's a 3 hour drive from Cape Town to the town where their office is located.

We were served a continental breakfast (this wasn't a good idea for some people) before heading out to sea. I'd recommend making sure you take Gravol or any other motion sickness medication BEFORE geting onto the boat. Even if you rarely suffer from motion sickness, and the ocean is fairly calm, it's better to be prepared than to add to the chum already in the water.

The boat was quite nice with 2 decks. The top deck was best for taking pictures. The boat was equipped with a storage area which doubled as a small crowded change room and another small room with a toilet.

They anchor close to an island that's home to a seal colony- one the Great Whites favorite foods. They start to chum the water as soon as the anchor is dropped. You will be given a wet suit and mask to wear while in the cage. I found the water cold even with the wet suit, so make sure you have warm clothes to put on after you get out. We were given the opportunity to get into, and stay in, the cage as much as we wanted. It will hold as many as 6 people but we found 3 worked best. The cage is secured to the side of the boat. It's 3/4 submerged in the water and is approx 7 feet tall. You can rest your feet on the side of it to keep your head above the water while waiting for the sharks.

They tie bait to a bouy with a rope and throw it away from the cage. When a shark goes for the bait fish, they pull the rope to bring the shark towards the cage. Our guide would yell "dive" and we would go underwater to see the shark come by the cage. One shark even rammed the cage while people were in it. Glad it wasn't me!

We stayed out for 3 hours and the trip cost 1325 Rand including transfers from Capetown for adults. On their web site they offered scuba for those certified to use it. However, it was never offered while on board, which was disappointing the those who had taken a scuba course especially for this day. All you need to do is be able to hold your breath -no swimming required!

After coming back to shore, we were taken back to White Shark Ecoventures office for lunch (terrible) and to watch a DVD (they sell these) of our trip. Most were still feeling a bit seasick so they passed on lunch-good call.
If you're looking to do something your friends probably haven't, look into this adventure while in South Africa.