The Jaws of Death

At 6AM, you wake up.

At 6:30, the minibus picks you up from your hostel in Cape Town for the 2 hour journey to Gansbaai, a small seaside village on South Africa's southwestern coast.

At 9, you board a twin-engined speedboat and head out across the frigid waters to an island several miles out to sea. The boat anchors in the rolling waves.

At 10, you put on a wetsuit.

At 10:15, you climb into a 10' x 10' x 2' galvanized steel cage. Minutes later you are lowered into the water.

Why do all this, you ask?

Because the water is teeming with Great White Sharks.

Shark cage diving has become a popular activity in South Africa, and June/July are the months to do it. At this time, the sharks congregate in this small area of the Western Cape in order to breed and feed off the local seal population.

Tourists looking to jumpstart their hearts can take advantage of this predictable migration by paying a considerable sum to be lowered into the sea inside a protective cage while the sharks feed nearby. The water is chummed using tuna carcasses attached to a rope that is held by a boat crewman. The principle is simple: put the people in the water, put the food in the water, wait.

You don't have to wait long. Within minutes, a 4m Great White appears in the vicinity and begins to circle ominously around the boat. Then, in an instant, it swings its powerful tail fin and swoops in on its prey, its jaws wide open to reveal a massive array of razor teeth.

As the shark attacks, the boat crewman pulls the rope on the brings the tuna to within inches of the divers' cage. The shark dutifully changes its trajectory and charges the cage, leaving the onlookers with nothing to do but gaze in awe at the fearsome creature as it passes by.

Can I just say something here? HOLY SHIT. This is not a fish, this is a prehistoric monster. Never in my life have I been witness to such an incredible force of nature as this. The cage may be made of steel, but as you stare into the glassy, sinister black eyes of the Great White, you can't help but think that you are truly at its mercy. Out here, the shark is king, and you are only a snack.

Like most activities that involve human/animal interaction, shark cage diving does have its nay-sayers. Thing is, the outcry is not over the safety of the shark, but instead with the possibility that you are teaching the shark to associate humans with food by placing tourists in shark feeding areas. Surfing is already a dangerous pastime in S. Africa, and shark attack incidents are increasing in number. I personally cannot attest to whether shark cage diving is the cause of this, though to be quite honest I felt as if the sharks were focused only on eating the chum and paid little mind to the warm bodies in the cage.

But fear not, surfers! I'm sure it's only a matter of a few generations before humans mettle enough with the delicate ocean ecosystems to sufficiently eradicate these beasts from existence. This despite the fact that sharks have been patrolling these waters for millions of years. Ha ha! Humans win again! Screw you, ocean life!