Cage Dive w Great Whites - would you?

[chicago]

Would you or wouldn't you?

H and I will have five days in Cape Town and I'm wondering if we should do a cage dive with great whites. It seems to be a pretty popular excursion and we love adventurous stuff like this, but I feel pretty torn on it.

Pros: it's got the potential to be one of those once in a lifetime experiences

Cons: it's about $135 pp, so we're looking at $270; it's a 2.5 hour drive each way, plus the 2-4 hours in the water, so it takes up an entire day

Part of me really wants to do this and another part says it's a waste of a day. I wonder if I'm hyping it up too much - I mean, we've seen sharks before...but not great whites in the wild. Still, do I need to spend a lot of money and time so I can see some sharks swim past me?

What say the Travel Nexties?

[Deleted]

Personally-I wouldn't..lol but it does sound like a once in a lifetime experience like you described. The price is not too bad IMO. Do you have the time?

[alleinesein]

DO IT!!

A few of my coworkers did it a few months ago when they were in SA for work. They went with White Shark Projects and had an amazing time.

[KaraOrNot]

H really wants to this at some point, me not so much. $135 sounds like a good price. I thought it was more expensive when we looked into it.

[wise_rita]

It is my life's DREAM to do this!

For $135 per person I'd do it in a hot minute.

[Waffles]

I'm not sure I'd have the guts but the price is a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.

[klingklang77]

I wouldn't do it, but that's just me and DH can't dive because of a heart condition. I'd rather spend more time drinking at the vineyards. The area around Cape town has really good wine, and I love my wine!

[chicago]

Hmmmmm, maybe I made that price up? I'll have to go back and double check after work.

[balbacm]

$135? If swimming with a GWS is your thing, that seems like an awesome price to me. I've spent more than that to pet a dolphin! ha!!

[emilyinchile]

Nov 19, 2012 11:13:12 GMT -5 balbacm said:

$135? If swimming with a GWS is your thing, that seems like an awesome price to me. I've spent more than that to pet a dolphin! ha!!

Haha, me too. I'd do it!

[uscuba2]

ohh, yeah. I would do it considering you can do this out in Cali but it costs you a round $775 pp

[hz80408]

I would; this is on H's must-do-before-kids list. He's asked for diving lessons for Christmas. One of our friends went with a group to Cape Town a few years ago and was too scared to do a dive when most of the others in her group went, she said she still regrets not doing it.

[basilosaurus]

Nope. And it's not because I don't dive or don't dive with sharks because I've certainly seen them while diving. It's that there are legit concerns about habituating sharks to feeding around people, and I don't support this kind of excursion. I refuse to do it in Hawaii, too.

www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/22/116244/shark-cage-diving-stirs-controversy.html

[katieh]

In most cases, you won't actually be DIVING with them....

we did it (or rather, my husband did it...more on that in a minute) and here's basically how it goes:

- company picks you up crazy early in the am and drives you out there, you get breakfast and info on what's about to happen in the office and then you sign waivers and whatnot and then head to the boat

- head out on the water and put on your wetsuit while they try to attract a shark and lower the cage in the water

- at this point, I got very seasick and the boat was rolling and back and forth. for the remainder of the time out there, I, and every other female on board, took turns throwing up over the side of the boat. One woman managed to get her wetsuit on - she'd get in the cage, get out and throw up, repeat. I never even tried as standing up made it worse. And all this was despite having taken dramamine.

- once everyone is suited up, you take turns going in the cage. the cage is attached to the side of the boat. So you are floating with your head above water while they try to attract the shark and then when it starts to come by the cage, they give the word and you all stick your head under (our place gave us snorkel masks while I have heard of others that do have a ventilator thing under water, but still I wouldn't really say you are diving, you know? you are under a foot of water, in the cage on the side of the boat).

- on our boat, you had the chance to go in the cage 3-4 times. Then the boat went back to shore and we went back to the office where they served us lunch and then showed us the video of the tour (which of course you can buy)

My husband loved it and even though I was miserable most of the time, it was still cool to see the sharks up close. I'd say if you are interested, do it so you don't regret not doing it.

[chicago]

Oh man...looks like you guys are pretty split too! I guess the good news is we have a while before we actually go.

So, it turns out that it's around $150-160pp. The cons you all mentioned (possible sea sickness, not really diving...more like floating in a metal cage nearby, controversy, doing something else with the time) are things I'm thinking about. Sibil, thanks for posting the link to that article - that actually made me think quite a bit more about it. I keep reading the companies' websites where they say they don't actually feed the sharks, but the article suggests otherwise.

I'm still not sure where we'll land. The majority of reviews say it's worth it. We ended up adding an extra day to our Cape Town stay which is why I'm even considering it. $320 would buy us a lot of South African wine.

Thanks for your thoughts...going to mull it over a bit more and read a bunch more reviews, check out some video, etc.

Blessed, how do you like Cape Town? I think I remember reading about your move.

[hz80408]

Katieh- do you remember the company you used?

[katieh]

I don't, but we went out of Gansbaii with one of the major companies. At the dock we saw all the other boats and they were pretty much the same as outs.

[basilosaurus]

Maybe that company actually doesn't feed them, but I'm kind of down on the whole industry. I can admittedly be a bit nutty about such things. I wouldn't even dive with the whale sharks in Okinawa, something I'd always wanted to do, because I found out (by hearsay, since I couldn't check sources at the time), they fucking net them in for the dive operators.

320 can give you a lot of other awesome experiences. And wine. Wine with your experiences