What Is Shark Cage Diving?
Shark Cage Diving is one of South Africa's most famous water activities, and there's plenty of information about it online. If anything, I'd describe it less as "diving" and more as "Shark Hold Your Breath" — all you really need to do is crouch down and hold your breath to watch a shark feeding show from inside the cage. Before you get in the water, the operators run through a safety briefing on shore, covering things like not sticking your camera or GoPro too far out of the cage (or they'll haul you out), and the reason they don't provide snorkels — because the crew will shout directions from the boat, so they need you to surface, catch your breath, and listen to their instructions at the same time.
Gansbaai is very popular for Shark cage diving. There are lots of information if you google. I'd rather say it's more of Shark hold your breath than diving though. You dont really need to dive, just hold your breath and squat. A safety brief would be provided like your camera or gopro are not allow to reach out the cage too far. Or they give direction of the shark so that you need to stand up for instruction.
Pre-dive safety briefing for Shark Cage Diving
A Trip That Works With Nature
When it comes to trips that depend on nature, luck really does matter. We happened to have a pretty good day — between the two groups, we spotted 8 bronze whaler sharks, ranging from 2.5 m to 4 m in length. On the flip side, we weren't so lucky when it came to great white sharks: apparently, orcas had been in the area before I arrived, attacking and scaring them all away. Visibility in South Africa isn't great — the bottom is sandy — so if clear water is a priority, you may want to look at Australia or Mexico instead.
Luck is very important when working with nature. We saw 8 bronze whaler shark from 2.5 meter to 4 meters. It's a pity that I didn't have a chance to see great white sharks. Before I arrive, the Killer whale kill them and scared them away. The visibility is not good in Gansbaai due to the sand area. It is said that the visibility is good in Australia or Mexico.
Visibility for shark viewing is relatively poor in South Africa
The cage is generously sized — big enough for six people at once — and has handrails and foot braces inside. That said, wearing a 7mm wetsuit with no weights meant I simply couldn't sink, so I spent the whole time holding myself in place with a full ninja-pose grip on the cage.
The cage is quite large to fit in 6 in a role. There are also places to place arms and feet. Without weight, I cant barely dive myself underwater in 7mm wetsuit. So I posed myself like the picture below.
The German couple next to me couldn't stop laughing at my pose, and the guy tried to copy it — only to accidentally stick his feet out beyond the cage, where the sharks kept ramming into them. The water temperature that day was around 16°C, and the moment everyone got in, you could hear people shouting "cold!" in every language imaginable. Then, once the sharks showed up, those multilingual cries instantly switched to some very colourful exclamations.
The German couple next to my laughed at my pose and try to imitate me. However guy's feet was obviously longer then mine sharks kept on hitting the guy's feet. When first got in the water, I heard a lot of cold in variety languages as the water temperature was only 16 degree Celsius. When sharks came, it became a lot of holly ****
Sharks cruising around the cage
I'd highly recommend grabbing the spot directly beneath the person tossing the bait — that's the VIP front-row seat, and it is an absolute blast! You get the full-on thrill of sharks charging straight at your face, plus enormous fish-head bait flying past overhead on repeat. If you watch the video you'll probably think I'm incredibly loud — but every single time a shark came charging through, I just couldn't help screaming to let out all that excitement.
Highly recommended the place under the bait. SO MUCH FUN I had to scream to express my excitement of a shark face to face experience and that super big fish head bait.
A up-close, face-to-face encounter with a shark
Activity Info & Details
Located in the small town of Gansbaai, approximately 2–3 hours' drive from Cape Town.
R2150, including round-trip transfers from Cape Town, lunch, and on-board equipment.
Further reading:
Frequently Asked Questions
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