The idea to cage dive with Great White Sharks occurred by chance. I saw it in a brochure and since then, it burrowed into my mind; so I decided that I would not leave Australia without doing this. I wouldn’t say that it’s been a life-long dream, but I would have been a fool to not include it on my bucket list. Long story short, I saw the opportunity to take it and I did. Port Lincoln is known for 3 things: it’s tuna, sea lions, and sharks. If I had the opportunity, I would have swam with all three, but budgetary and time restraints forced e to choose one. I took the obvious choice. So for $500 (I know) I signed up for a trip with Calypso Charters- Port Lincoln’s premier cage diving experience.
A taxi picked me and two other people up at our hostel to take us to the marina at 6:20 that morning. Overall, there were only 12 of us on the charter that day, when there is usually 42. The boat was a big and roomy boat for 12 people, but for 42, it would’ve been packed. The trip to the Neptune Islands is about a three-hour boat ride, but the crew of three gave us breakfast, lunch, and snacks. On the way there, I spent most of the time talking to one woman named Jacqueline. She was about 30 or so, a former athlete, skilled surfer, and had tons of experience on boats. Talking with her kept my mind off of being seasick.
The weather that day was cold and windy. Being prepared, I took some heavy-duty sea sickness pills before I got on board. It was good that I did too; the swells that morning were massive. The whole boat was rocking non-stop. One poor woman got terribly seasick and her whole trip was basically ruined. I did get a little bit sick though. It was because I fell asleep; but once I yakked, I instantly felt better.
We arrived at the islands (which are about 15 miles off the Eyrie Peninsula) in the late morning and the crew began to find a spot and set up a cage. A fisherman told us that he spotted two great whites here, so that was a good sign. Great Whites are common here on the islands because of all of the seal colonies and tuna. The crew, after finding a spot, lowered the cage with a winch and attached it to the boat. They than began to bait the area with fish guts and chum. Calypso charters are the only ones in the area that are certified to do this as the islands are a marine sanctuary. Within 20 minutes of everything being completely set up and baited, I was in the cage and a shark was in the water.
First off, the water was freezing. Once you step into the cage, you grab a regulator (that’s connected to the surface by a hose) and descend. Visibility is about 10 meters. I was in the cage for about 4-5 minutes before a great white appeared. The guy was a 4.5 meter male that got nice and personal with us. I was in the right corner of the cage, which to my luck was from where he was coming and leaving from. And when I say he got close, I mean he got close. On multiple occasions he was less than six inches from me and on one occasion he even bumped into the cage. I could’ve reached out and touched his fin if I wanted to. Obviously, I didn’t because I’m not stupid. I wasn’t really scared during the dive either. However, the cage was super rocky because of the waves so it was so hard to hold on in there. There was one instance where the cage threw me forward and I had to fight all of my instincts to not reach out and grab the outside of the cage for balance, because the shark was heading right to me. After an intense 20-25 minute experience, they called us up to let the other group in.
On the surface we all shared our shark stories and then Jax, this one man, and I went to the top of the boat to watch the divers and the sharks. The cage is only a meter below the surface so the sharks were easily visible from the boat. One of the crew threw a piece of bait out and we saw a four meter Great White come from out of nowhere, and the next thing we knew, it jumped out of the water and in one savage snap took the bait into it’s jaws. Probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We continued watching as a 3rd and smaller Great White joined in. He was about 3-3.5 meters. By that time, we were able to go back in because everyone in the second group had seen enough.
I got in again and saw both sharks that joined the party. By now, the first one had left. I stayed in for about 10 more minutes and then called it a day. By then, my seasickness pills were beginning to wear off and the rockiness of the cage did not help in the slightest. I changed into my regular clothes, took my pills, and went up top to watch the sharks. By then, the weather made a complete 180. The sun came out, the wind died down, and the seas calmed. Once all the divers were done (there were 3 or 4 when I finished) they served us lunch and made our way back home. We left at about 1:30. The way back was an incredibly smooth boat ride and all the passengers on the charter passed out. After we all woke up, we got some nice snacks. We finally made it back at about 4:30 and after getting situated, Jax and I went to the Beer Gardens next door. They gave us a whopping $2 discount because we dove that day. Around 7 or so, we went to a thai restaurant where I got way too spicy food. I finished it all though, because if I can dive with three Great White sharks, I can eat a plate of spicy chow mein.