Too bad he doesn’t realize I’m the youngest of five with a Nigerian Catholic mother; I am immune to guilt trips or petty insults. If you’re up to it, get as close as you can (safely) get to the great white sharks at Great White Shark Tours in Gansbaai. All views expressed in this piece are the writer's own. I never let a shark swim past me without maintaining eye contact all time. I was really amped up and I wanted to get underwater and film it, but one of the guys I was with told me I'd be crazy to get in the middle of feeding sharks. Except for one, and he has been officially banned from ever diving at Guadalupe Island again. When to Go: You can dive with the sharks at Seal Island from April to mid-September — outside those months they move inshore to feed on game fish and smaller sharks.Visiting between June and mid-August brings the best chance to see predation. Thirty-five minutes later, everyone is getting fitted for their wet suit and I am chilling in my white one-piece mesh bathing suit looking like a Nigerian goddess. I put on the wetsuit, everything’s fine; I put on the goggles, everything’s fine; I put on a TWELVE-POUND LEAD WEIGHT on my body, everything is NOT fine. I reassessed the scenario and realised he was right. He'd never seen a shark, apart from in my work or TV, and he'd never worn a scuba mask or breathed on a regulator. The fatality numbers each year from sharks are comparatively low— mosquitos kill exponentially more people—but sharks are still seen as the scariest creature in the sea. 'I Swim With Great White Sharks for a Living' | My Turn. Seeing great white sharks on TV as a kid, I thought they were fake, then I realized they're just so incredible that they look fake, like sea monsters. I don’t know what mental juju had just happened, but a lightbulb turned on and I thought, “Damn, he’s right! Every shark has a unique personality, so you do sometimes run into sharks who are not super friendly, and some who are really friendly and curious. I’m fine where I am; besides, I can’t even swim!” This man lierally laughs in my face and says, “You think learning how to swim would save you from a shark? The image is from Most Wanted Sharks, a show that features Andy Casagrande. Surface viewing of the Great White Sharks is just as spectacular as the great white cage diving, as sharks are surface feeders and can be observed closely and photographed from the boat. I studied marine biology in college, but after year one I realised it would take too long—I just wanted to get in the water and swim with sharks. “SHARK!! All diving equipment such as wetsuits, booties, masks, wet weather-protective jackets and clean dry towels are provided and are included in the tour price. Then one day, I find myself in a car on the way to Gansbaai, one of the largest homes to great whites. All in all, it was such an incredible experience, or it could be the cold water seizing my heart, but I had never felt that able before in my life! and Most Wanted Sharks – both shows will screen as part of the 2020 National Geographic SHARKFEST, which starts on July 19. (Feel free to re-read that last sentence again slowly to capture the true essence of my bad decision.). The Nautilus Undersea has an ADA friendly room, and as long as you are comfortable in the water, you could see these amazing sharks up close and personal. Dedicated to your stories and ideas. After Jaws, the phrase, "the only good shark is a dead shark" was used everywhere and people would go and kill sharks for fun because they thought they were ridding the ocean of these evil predators. My travel buddies made a comment here and there about going great white shark cage-diving, but I let it go in one ear and out the other. I climb into the 10-12 foot-long cage and confess my sins to the Almighty as the cage is submerged into the freezing blue water. Submit your writing to be published on Thought Catalog. I was too far away, and she was so focused on getting the shot that she didn't realize she was about to be decapitated. One thing I'd forgotten to tell her was never to take your eyes off the shark's face or its mouth. Emma, the most photographed shark in the world, socializes with divers. My travel buddies made a comment here and there about going great white shark cage-diving, but I let it go in one ear and out the other. Shark Cage Diving with Great White Shark Tours. It’s one of the few places in the world you can dive with 12 foot Tigers. Accessible Travel: Great White Sharks If you have limited mobility, you may still be able to go swim with Great White Sharks! Globally diving with great white sharks without a cage is not done commercially: there are no tour operators on the planet who advertise this activity due to the risks involved. Every day I think about how lucky I am. Operators: Apex Shark Expeditions runs small trips with no more than 12 guests and a maximum of two people at a time in the cage (breathing … A lot of their friends don't believe it, and their friend's parents definitely don't believe it—Jaws really screwed the world up! We now have a four-year-old and a six-year-old and they love sharks. From a very young age, I've had this bizarre and uncontrollable fascination with sharks. I moved to Cape Town, South Africa aged 21 and volunteered as an unpaid research cameraman at the White Shark Trust. Amazing actresses like Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron have some competition now! I took my four year old diving with great white sharks in Cape Town, in a cage of course, and we took both kids swimming outside a cage with hammerhead sharks in the Bahamas earlier this year.
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