Today was technically our “free day” and we were able to spend the
sted at the house, and others went to church with our cook Ivy. For most of us however, today was one of the highlights of our trip and perhaps one of the most exhilarating events of our lives – shark cage diving.day relaxing however we chose. Some people took a trip to the mall and reThe group of us who went shark cage diving consisted of Hannah, Allie, Jackie, Maggie, Noelle, Bridgett, Carrie, Amy, Marissa, Diandra, Ashley, and myself, Ashlyn. We got picked up at 8:30 this morning (which was nice compared to our other option of 4 am) and mostly slept on the two-hour drive to the White Shark Projects location. We were treated with a great breakfast, preparation as to what to expect on the boat, and we saw the pictures of when Ricky Martin and Nicholas Cage were there a couple of years ago doing the same thing as us!
The boat drove about 20 minutes out to the middle of the waters, and through all of the mist, at first we couldn’t see any land – it made for a much creepier atmosphere! The process of attracting the great white sharks included throwing “chum” into the water and luring the shark with a tuna head. The chum is made up of mostly fish oil and pieces of tuna to make the sharks follow the smell towards the boat. The tuna head isn’t for food necessarily, just used as a visual and a distraction for the sharks to follow something right beside the boat. There is no real food or medicine involved – just the sharks in their natural state.
We all wore 7 mm thick wetsuits because the water was absolutely freezing. The wetsuits came with booties and a hood to keep us extra warm, and we each got a pair of goggles. As soon as we arrived to our destination we all geared up in case a shark came soon and we needed to quickly alternate spots. The cage was hooked onto the side of the boat and large enough for five people at a time. It was far enough out of the water so that our heads and shoulders were above water while we were waiting. We would climb in and hold onto the top of the cage, but as soon the instructor saw a shark they would scream “DOWN DOWN!!” and we had to grab onto the red bar about 2 feet under water. The water was so murky that in order to see the shark our faces had to be right against the edge of the cage – we could only see about 2 meters in front of us. This meant that we would be staring into nothing, unaware of what direction the shark was coming from, and suddenly see it swim not more than a foot away from us. Everyone in our group saw the same 3-meter shark, and it was a fairly big for the great whites they had recently been seeing, especially because we came at the slowest time of the year. Also, sharks do not live in one spot so there are no guarantees that there would be sharks at all.
The instructors were also telling us that great white sharks are on the top ten endangered species list, and are not expected to be around 15 years from now. It is because people hunt them for their jaws that can be up to 100,000 US dollars, and they hunt the biggest sharks so they cannot repopulate. Also, over 200 million great white sharks are killed every year for their fins. In many Asian countries shark fin is considered a delicacy, a sign of wealth, and some even think it can make you wise. If the sharks become extinct the entire ecosystem will change and could be detrimental. Unfortunately, it is in high demand and will be until more people are educated about the risks.
A couple of people in our group bought the DVD they made and promise to try and put it up on facebook so that more people can see the sharks. Also, a lot of us got great videos and photos.
The rest of the day consisted of more relaxing and eating, something our group needed. It was a fantastic day!
