Yes, you read that right. Cue the jaws theme music because I’m about to talk about one of the craziest things I’ve ever done!
So yeah, that’s me. Splashin’ around with some sharks in Durban, South Africa.
When I found out I was going to South Africa in 2013, I jokingly mentioned that I was going to swim with sharks. But before I knew it, I was booked in a group with Blue Wilderness Adventures to snorkel with sharks twice my size. Not only had I never been snorkeling before, but I had never been to South Africa, and I was going on this excursion with people I had never met. Needless to say, I was nervous. Still, there was something so exciting about it all! I thought in this blog post that I’d share my experience with Blue Wilderness in case you’re on the fence about taking on some sharks!
When we first pulled up to Blue Wilderness Adventures, I thought “This can’t be it.“ I’m not sure why I was expecting a Sea World type of facility, but it was a rather small building with a small lot. an outdoor shower, and rack of wetsuits hanging up outside. Inside, there was one larger room with a receptionist, and a small hallway leading to one tiny restroom in the back. I tried to calm my nerves by reminding myself that we had driven past a ton of little shops just like this one the way in.
As the group started to pile in, we were all gathered for a briefing about the excursion we were about to go on. Actually, this was incredibly educational for me. Not only did we talk about how no touching of sharks was allowed and how we were supposed to swim (arms crossed with no flailing fish-looking hands), but we talked about the general fear of sharks most people have.
You could tell that the instructors were very passionate about taking care of the oceans as they listed off statistics, and they made sure to drive home that sharks don’t attack people. In this 15 minute briefing, I learned that there has never been one reported case of a human being found inside of a shark. This is because sharks need fatty meat, like seals, and if they ever bite a human, it’s only because they thought it was a seal, and typically they spit it out immediately because it’s not enough to sustain them.
Furthermore, the majority of shark attacks occur because humans “provoke” them. Not on purpose of course, but whether it’s an accidental bump, a heavy splash, or a surfboard in the face, sharks may attack when their territory has been disturbed. Rarely though, do they attack randomly.
In addition, I learned that while sharks are responsible for less than 10 human deaths a year, humans are responsible for upwards of 30 million shark deaths per year.
I promise, this isn’t turning into a shark article, but all of these facts really helped relax me as I was about to dive into the unknown with these supposed-to-be terrifying creatures.
Once we finished the briefing, we changed into wetsuits. If you have one, I would suggest bringing it with you as the ones they gave us were still a little damp and fishy. However, the staff were great at providing us all with wetsuits, snorkels, and flippers that fit well.
I would also suggest wearing a swimsuit under clothes. This may seem obvious, but quite a few people did not, and as there was only one small bathroom to change in, most were expected to change out in the open.
And my final piece of advice for before you take off would be to eat a good breakfast. You’ll get to Blue Wilderness pretty early in the morning and will be back early afternoon. You’ll be provided with a complimentary lunch, which for us consisted of small sandwiches and drinks. Personally, I’m not a huge breakfast eater so I didn’t eat a lot, and, my stomach was practically eating itself by the time we got back for lunch. Ya girl needed more than sandwiches. So yeah, eat!
And with that, we were off!
We rode in a van to the beach of Aliwal Shoal, where we made our way to the boat. The boat was a small pontoon-style boat where we pretty much all crammed in and held on for dear life. I have to warn you, the boat ride in and out is pretty choppy. I struggle with motion sickness and I wish I could say I made it the whole way, but even with Dramamine in my system, I may or may not have puked over the side of the boat on the way back.
The reason for the roughness is because you have to go over all the big waves to get to the still ocean. It’s about a 10-15 minute ride out, which was probably the furthest I’ve ever been into the ocean. There are ropes to brace yourself for the trip out, and let’s just say that my tiny hands were gripping those ropes harder than they’ve ever gripped anything in their hand-lives. The good thing is that you at least have life vests on, so at least you’ll float if you go flying into the netherworlds of the ocean.
Once we finally got to our location, we dropped the anchor and it was time to dive. This is going to sound crazy, but the instructors actually lured the sharks in by placing a chum bucket on the ocean floor. So not only were we diving with sharks, but we were diving with sharks while they were eating.
Now, there were all types of people in our little group. Some were very experienced divers, equipped with weights and a bunch of other diving supplies I knew nothing about. Others were brand new, like myself, to the whole experience. So, if you wanted you could start out in a cage that was strapped to the back of the boat. I decided not to, as the water was a little choppy and I didn’t feel like banging around into metal, but a few of the other snorkelers opted for the cage initially.
When it came time to get in the water, for some reason, I ended up being the first person in. The instructors were already out in the water holding their arms out to me as I clumsily slipped outside of the boat. And I kid you not. Within seconds of being in the water, I bumped into a shark.
I should probably mention that we weren’t diving with Great White Sharks. Though there are plenty in South Africa, they live in colder waters, either deeper out or off the coast of Cape Town, and we were in the warmer waters of Durban. We were swimming with Blacktip, Tiger, Bull sharks, which are actually the culprits of most shark attacks, but are around the 6 – 9 foot range. So, much bigger than me, at my 5’1 stature.
So anyway, back to bumping into a shark. I immediately started to panic, remembering during the briefing that we were specifically told not to jump on the sharks. Of course, I didn’t do it on purpose, but here I was, banging into a shark in the first moment of my dive.
Much to my surprise however, the shark merely swam away, as if I didn’t exist. I relaxed a little bit and started to flip my fins and get to snorkeling. For the next 45 minutes, I felt like I was in an out of body experience.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of swimming with this beautiful creatures. It was incredibly peaceful and exciting all at once. I wasn’t looking at just one or two sharks, but dozens swimming around the clear blue water. The instructors were diving down with weights to swim even closer to them, capturing photos and video footage, while the rest of us bobbed on top of the water.
The longer I swam, the less nervous I was, and I actually started swimming to the sharks so that I could get a closer look. I felt like I had spent a lifetime being lied to about these terrifying beasts of the sea, when really, there was nothing to be afraid of at all.
Like I said earlier, we were in the water for about 45 minutes. There’s no real time limit, being that there is only one tour per day, but it all depends on the weather conditions and the snorkelers. The website says you’ll be out with the sharks for anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes, but the instructors told us afterwards that most people begin to experience motion sickness around 45 minutes. And boy, did I.
I wasn’t the first to feel it, surprisingly. A girl swimming next to me suddenly needed to get on the boat because she was nauseous. Only about 5 minute later did I start to feel the same thing. Then, even people who never get seasick started feeling it. It’s because you’re literally floating on top of the water, being pushed, pulled, and bounced up and down, which most of us aren’t used to. I took some Dramamine in advance, which I would recommend for anyone, even if you don’t experience motion sickness, and I still felt pretty rough at the 45-minute mark.
Once we all piled back into the boat, we headed back to the shore. I almost made it, but about 5 minutes from shore proceeded to throw up over the side of the boat. Which was cool.
When we finally got back to Blue Wilderness, we showered off and changed back into our regular clothes. This is when we had the complimentary lunch, and in the meantime, the instructors edited together some video footage from the trip into a fun video. We all watched the video together and looked at the pictures, and you can choose to purchase them on a flash drive for about $20 USD. To me, it was worth it, considering I didn’t film anything myself. And besides, I needed proof that I actually swam with these sharks!
All in all, I would definitely recommend this adventure! Here’s one more thing to convince you: the whole thing was $15 USD, which is INSANE! Check out the website for Blue Wilderness Adventures here. You can choose a beginning cage dive, the intermediate snorkeling that I did, or, an advanced scuba session! If you’re in Durban, I hope you check it out and have a blast!
samanthanowhere 