The next best thing to diving with the Great Whites...

I woke up before the sun had come up, which normally I would not be happy about. Not today, today I was grinning ear to ear. I tie on my suit, gather my snorkel gear and my 4/3 (a thin wetsuit), and hop into the car. We get to the dock on the western most point on the island just in time to see one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. Definitely was on my “top ten sunrises of my lifetime” list. I took a couple pictures, but it really didn’t do it justice. 

We take a look at the “cage” I’ll be diving in.  It had two thin round aluminum hoops on the top and bottom with thin fraying nylon netting around the sides and bottom of the cage.  The nylon netting was full of gaping holes.  My Mom started freaking out, to be honest it was much less than I was expecting too, and the captain assured her that they’ve never had an issue before.  I stepped aboard, hugged my Mom and Dad goodbye, and we headed out for a shallow reef about three hours off shore.

The weather was perfect, warm, breezy, and not too humid. The conditions were great too, little wave action, and the water was so crystal clear that we could see all the way to the ocean floor.  We drop anchor and started to bait the water.  An hour into the wait we started to worry that we may not find any sharks. We were going in pairs; there were two brothers, one southern girl, and I.  I was the youngest one there.  I started to talk to the girl I would be sharing the cage with.  I found out she was from the mid-west and was working on her bucket list. She too had missed out on great white dives due to water conditions so she wanted to try her luck with this. 

Finally we spot a huge dark mass, the captain tells us it’s a Tiger and we start preparing to get in.  By this time they had already given us all the rules and procedures.  I started welling up with excitement; my body was tingling!  I expected to be a bit nervous, but I wasn’t, not even a tad bit.  We would get three 10-minute dives in, alternating the two groups.  The two guys went first.  It was time for my dive partner and I to hop in. 

The water was cool and refreshing and really salty, much saltier than our waters here.  It was clear and clean, nothing but the occasional squid or fish head that we used for bait…and the sharks of course.  By the time I jumped in with Laurie, my new friend and dive partner, there were six female Tigers (the smallest was about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide), two Lemon sharks, and a Black Tip reef shark.  The Tigers were skeptical of us; curious but cautious. They were absolutely beautiful and the marking on their body were so perfect that they looked fake.  Their size was breath taking and surreal.  For being the second most aggressive shark in the world, I was surprised at how docile they were.  The tiniest Black Tip was by far the most aggressive out of the bunch, to my surprise. I had the very last dive all to myself; they let me stay in an extra twenty minutes. It wasn’t until I was alone in the cage on my very last dive that they started getting closer to the cage.  I learned a lot about them that day, being able to spend so much time with them.

It was a great experience and only helped fuel the fire in my soul, the passion that I have for the ocean.  The feeling I felt while I was apart of those gentle giants world is indescribable.  It was amazing and awe-inspiring.  I can’t wait to get back into the water with the beautiful beasts.