Shark Dive (7 June)

I did a shark dive, without the cage… INSANE!!!

Divers take you down to about 25m, and you stand with your back to some coral, and hold on to a rope (for protection?!). the guides go into the “arena” (about 5m in front if you) and open up a bucket with some chum and things just get wild. There is a HUGE swirling mass of fish – biggest kingfish Ive seen, hundreds of remoras, huge snappers, hundreds of smaller reef fish. I even got to see a huge Napolean Wrasse – if you dive, you’ll know thats SPECTACULAR. Then the nurse sharks arrive, and gently take the fish out of the guys hands! All the time there where two silvertips swirling around, checking us out… They take divers in two’s into this the baitball, right in the mass of fish, and I got to stroke a 3m nurse shark, top to tail! WHOOHW! And then later out of the murky waters, BANG! a bullshark hits the bait and rips into it. Right in front of me. its simply crazy! (South Africans call them Zambezi sharks – quite notorious). I was scared in the boat, but never in the water with the sharks. A child like fascination just takes over and youre full of adrenalin… Pic above is from the web, same place - but with a tiger! Pity I couldnt see a tigershark, there is apparently a real hog that hangs around...

I guess a lot can be said about the ethics of sharkfeeding, its been debated to pieces, but I simply was in awe and had a fantastic time. All things considered, I support it. It was mind-blowing…