Anyone swim with great white sharks?

[DamnPepShrimp]

I have always wanted to go in a shark cage and see great white sharks up close and personal. I am just gathering info now, but would love to look into planning a trip in a year or two. Just curious if anyone has ever done anything like this, with any sharks? I'd rather be great whites. I'm not certified to scuba dive, but will probably get that before I go in a couple years. I was looking at something like this:

http://www.incredible-adventures.com/shark_encounter.html

Anyone been there or similar? Would love to hear opinions or any other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[JonnyD91]

I just did this one in hawaii http://sharktourshawaii.com/

it was awesome. they video taped the whole thing. great whites would be even better

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

That is a lot cheaper, but I'd have to stay in hawaii, which is way more expensive. I definitely want to go to hawaii and scuba dive there some time, will definitely get out a shark tour too. Thanks for the info.

 

[sunfishh]

Jonny I did a trip with the other outfit on the North Shore and the it was great. No Great Whites but that day we did see a tiger shark. Here is the link:
http://www.hawaiisharkencounters.com/

 

[JonnyD91]

yea it was awesome. waiting for my camera to get developed. when i get it back ill post up the pics

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

I will definitely scuba dive hawaii at some point in my life (I'm only 23 so I have time). Jonny, would love to see some pics.

I have another thread going in the reef discussion section, I think I settled on this trip
http://www.seesharks.com/guadalupe.php
even though I'm a couple years away before doing it. Its a lot more money, but I think it will be worth it.

 

[JonnyD91]

wow thats a big chunck of change. For referance i went to hawaii on my honeymoon just recently and it was 7500.00 for 12 nights on 3 different islands. (oahu, kauai, and maui). So hawaii prob isnt as far out of reach as you may think. I thought we got a really good deal for such a long trip.

 

[DamnPepShrimp]

Yeah, it's not so much that Hawaii is out of reach ($7500 is a lot of money for me to be spending on anything though, but you got a great deal) it's just that there aren't any white sharks in Hawaii unless you dive deep (actually found at depths of 2000ft in Hawaii!). I want to see the great whites, then I'll go to Hawaii and see all the cool reefs.

 

[sunfishh]

You definately found the right trip to see white sharks

 

[dsun]

I went cage diving with GW in South Africa last year. I went to "Shark Alley/Junction" the place they do all those Discovery Channel videos on GW sharks. It was pretty cool in many ways but also a let down.

Cool: dude, it's a great white shark!

Let down: They've made it more like an amusement ride than a big adventure.

Now admittedly I've done quite a lot of diving in my past. I've been an instructor for 20 years now and dived all over the world including the Galapagos (that's the best place btw) as well as deep restricted wrecks like the USS Monitor. So I'll say up front that I'm pretty spoiled for big diving adventures.

Here is a rundown of how they did it in South Africa:

They take you and 10 others out to a general area where there are GW sharks. There's usually 2-3 other similar boats out there too. They start chumming the water and when one comes around, all the boats gather around.

Then they put you in the cage. The cage is tied to the side of the boat so you just go from boat to cage- no swimming in the water. You aren't diving, you are snorkeling. BTW, the water is fairly cold- low 60's I'd say. Unless you bring your own wet suit, you'll get one of theirs which inevitably doesn't fit very well so you get chilled pretty quick.

While you are in the cage, the GW shark is making passes. They are big animals and pretty impressive underwater. On the surface, someone is luring the shark in with a tuna head on a rope. Basically the throw the tuna head out and as the shark lunges for it, they pull it away. Think of a dog jumping for a treat.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much how it goes. You rotate in/out of the cage so that everyone gets enough time in. You can go back later but generally speaking the cold saps people's desire to stay. The shark trying to chomp on the tuna is cool as you see all the teeth and sharky stuff but after a while you get too cold to stay.

Sorry, hope I'm not being a downer on this. It was a lifelong desire to cage dive with GW sharks. I don't regret having done it one bit. However on the flip side, I probably wouldn't go do it again.

 

[JLAURIA751]

I Think the keys and the bahamas has the best shark diving. I would go there and try it first. why watch one shark in a cage when you can be surounded by 20 sharks with no cage.

 

[philter4]

I've never been in a cage, but I've dove with all sorts of sharks, both dangerous and not so dangerous. I try to dive every day the weather allows (some years up to 300 days) and on about one of every 3 dives see at least a nurse shark. I've never seen a tiger shark which is a goal, but I've had bull sharks take fish off my spears and once had a great hammerhead grab a jar of tropicals that was attached to my belt and drag me across the reef for about 20 yards only to circle me until I had to leave the bottom to surface (which startled the shark once I was fully extended and it took off, wish i would have thought of that sooner rather then crouch on the bottom).

I have seen great whites from a boat, and once as a child saw one on a dock that was taken by fisherman before they were protected. I've also stick fed one that was at Sea World in San Diego in the 90's, I used to have several friends who worked there and got lots of special treatment before staff changes and politics prevented me from doing things like that.

As most of you know I dove HI at least 2 times a year, but the only sharks I've seen were white tips which are beautiful but small and not too dangerous. After some of my experiences with dangerous sharks in FL and the Bahamas I have no desire to dive in a cage, even if that means I never see a great white while in the water.

 

[AMW]

Currently one of the best cage diving locations for GWsharks is Guadalupe island (Mexico)which is about 200 miles southwest of San Diego. Many people recommend the liveaboard SOLMAR V (read 5). I have yet to do this trip but many people have said that it is comparable to diving with GWsharks in South Africa.

 

[AMW]

Also, if you want an INCREDIBLE diving experience with tiger sharks and even bull sharks, consider diving with Jim Abernathy/the Shearwater in the Bahamas. This operation will get you CLOSE and PERSONAL to tiger sharks WITH OUT a cage!