Overall, this entire week has been a whirlwind of activities that are all new and exciting. Yesterday, however, the words new and exciting took on a whole new meaning for me as I went nowhere near anything I have ever done before and took on shark cage diving at Shark Alley. A combination of building nerves and catching up with friends from home kept me up the entire night, right up until I was picked up at 6:30 am by the van. Going into the day without sleep was an interesting choice for me as I reached a state of complete delirium once we finally got on the boat. Honestly, I think it ended up being a good decision as my condition kept me from thinking about the intensity of what I was about to do, at least for the time being. When we got on the boat, we were given large funny looking orange jackets to keep warm in the wind. Then we were told that we were going about 9 kilometers into the water where the shark “hotspot” was said to be. Our boat took off with much more speed than I anticipated as I almost fell right on my face from the bump of the initial wave. We kept calm and entertained by singing songs, like “I Will Survive,” “I’m a Survivor,” “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” and whatever pirate/sea tunes that we could think of. To be honest, we were being rather obnoxious, but I was in my own little world and nothing was going to stop me from having some fun on the way out to our potential death.
On our way to the hotspot we passed by Seal Island, which much to my surprise, was actually quite fitting to its name as hundreds upon hundreds of seals covered the land. It was in fact called Seal Island, so why was I surprised? Well of course I supposed that we would see a lot of seals, but I did not anticipate that they would cover every square inch of land, some even positioning themselves on another. I actually found it to be quite disgusting as the wretched smell arose from the island and the sounds of mooing and shrieking hit the boat. After a few pictures and some videos of the animals stupidly waddling from side to side, I was ready to get a move on towards bigger and better things. When we finally anchored, we were given instructions on how to use the cage and how to best see the sharks passing by. I think this was the time at which my nerves were supposed to sink in as I realized what exactly I was getting myself into, but instead a rush of adrenaline ran its way through my body. This was a feeling that I had never experienced before because I was so foreign to the concept of shark cage diving. All my life I had been told to stay out of the water if the fin of a shark was ever spotted and now I was diving right into water deliberately filled with tuna blood and seal decoys to attract sharks? Did not seem to make sense, but I loved every second of it.
When it came my group’s turn to dive, I put on my sleek, oh so flattering, wetsuit and goofy looking goggles. Underwater camera in tow, I jumped down into the ice-cold water into the metal cage. Honest to God, right as I went underwater I was face to face with the beast itself. One of the sharks had come right up to the cage but had quickly raced away before I could get snap a picture. Wow. I was in for it now and there was no turning back. It’s funny I have never considered myself to be someone particularly good at holding my breath underwater, in fact I have always thought that this was an area in which I struggled, but let me tell you I think that I had to have been submerged for at least 85% of the time. As we listened to our instructor shout, “Left! Left! Left, divers!” or “In the middle! Near the decoy!” we raced our heads around to catch the preying sharks. They had no shame in coming right up to the cage and thrashing through the water, fighting for the lingering tuna. For my first shift, I was on the corner of the cage so I would see the entire shark’s body pass by me, inches away, to reach the bait in the middle. Their long, grey bodies racing by would send shivers up my spine, as I had to return up out of the water for some air. We would see one, two, three, even four sharks at one time, all fighting for the bait put in front of us. For some reason I was not scared one bit even as I saw their sharp white teeth grasping at and shaking the bait with strong force. Once my shift was over, we climbed out of the cage only to hear the sharks whipping around in the water that surrounded us. It was so cold coming back onto the ship and it was then that the fact that we were in the middle of the ocean really sank in….especially with my stomach. The slow rocking of the waves was not settling well as the nausea built up more and more. I ended up getting a little bit seasick just in time to make it to my next shift in the water. I struggles to get back into gear and was relieved to get back into the water, no matter how cold it was, and rid of that awful feeling in my stomach.
In this shift I was placed dead center of the cage. Now this is where all the action was. I had thought myself very lucky to be on the side in my previous shift and getting to see the build up of the shark’s attack, but the middle was a whole new experience. The sharks would come right up to me. Not their side, not their tail, but their face in mine, dead on. Their bodies would rise up right before my eyes and jump through the water for the bait floating at the top. It was truly amazing getting to see first hand these insanely wild, terribly feared animals living in their own world and attacking their prey. I know that we have all caught a few scenes of shark week here and there (which I am thankful I will not be featured on), but being able to see the sharks up close and personal really adds a whole new element. I know that I sound like a broken record repeating the same verse about how this was “breathtaking,” “the experience of a lifetime,” or “the best thing I have ever done,” but I’m not going to apologize because everything I have done here has been so incredible in its own way and I am just trying to take in every moment of it.
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