S. Africa Cage Dive Trip

So even though this isn't a full picture of the great white breaching but I did get to see the full thing in real life. It was the most spectacular and amazing thing to witness. You can see the extra push of water coming from the shark. This is something they do when they atrack cape cur seals from below. It is truly breathtaking and happens soooo quickly! Seeing this on the biat qith Chris and Monique and hearing their excitement of getting the shot with their cameras was something the was so exhilarating down to my core. How many people get to witness such and amazing thing with their favorite shark photographer?

This was seen on a morning when we got to go out on the boat in Mossel Bay with Chris and Monique Fallows. It was our 2nd day in Mossel Bay with them for a morning predation trip so they could get some pictures. 1st day we didnt get lucky BUT 2 day was amazing with a full breach and a partial breach.

So on my last day in S. Africa we had the privilege of meeting with marine biologist Alison Towner at Marine Dynamics   who presented, Predator vs Predator , a presentation on the attacks of orca (killer) whales on great white sharks in the Gansbaai area (The peak season for seeing great whites is about March to September). This was a very unique and interesting presentation because this is a problem that has been seen in places such as the Farallon Islands but not in the False Bay area. This has really hurt & affected the great whites in the area and is something that researchers are now looking into. The researchers use the dorsal fins of sharks to identify them because they are like fingerprints - unique to each animal. Sharks, like many animals, release a death hormone when they are killed and this plays a big part in the disappearance of sharks after an attack. Great whites became a protected species in S. Africa in 1991 and so when a great white washes ashore dead ...

I can be seen around the 4 minute mark - I'm the one wearing a pink mask. That is when my group went into the cage. We got to spend a long time watching the sharks. This video shows the entire group that went on the dive that day, including my group from Apex Sharks. This video obviously doesn't show the entire 3-4 hr trip but there was a lot of activity this day with the sharks and we had some really cool "encounters" that didn't make it to the video. *I still need to sort through my GoPro videos and post videos from my perspective and what I saw*