"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Ben and Sarah meet Carcaradon Carcharias

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Sunday, 30 January 2011 20:35

I love scuba diving and I'm also fascinated by sharks! When you think of sharks, the Great White automatically comes to mind. The brutal mindless killer!? I'd quite like to get in the water with one of those! After reading that you can dive with Great Whites in Australia I decided that we must do it while we are here. It turns out that the one and only place in Oz that you can dive with them is in the Neptune Islands 40 miles off the coast of a little place in South Australia called Port Lincoln. Up at 0530 on the day of the dive to be at the marina for 0630, it's been a long time since I've seen the sun rise so that was cool. We were greeted by a lady with a video camera, you can buy a highlights package at the end of the day. We boarded the Calypso Star and set sail for the Neptune Islands. We were fed croissants with ham and cheese, which was nice. They put on a DVD (not Jaws) about the company and what we were going to see, the rest of the DVD was clips from TV shows that they've been on, like Top Gear Australia. The hostess was asleep on the sofa next to me. A bit strange i thought. They could have spent the time telling us about the sharks! So after 2 and a bit hours we arrived at the Neptune islands. They put the cage in the water and the captain explained a few bits and bobs about safety, i think he said something about not putting you arms or head through the gap in the cage. Not sure why!? He asked who wanted to be the first in the cage, obviously I volunteered Sarah and I. They send in four people at a time so we had to share the cage with two Germans who had spent the boat trip eating sour crout and bratwurst, then feeling very sea sick, more on this later! Off we went to sign our insurance wavers and put on our 7mm wet suites. Then from the crows nest someone shouted 'Sheep' I was very confused by this, it turns out I'd just misheard them and a shark had actually arrived. I jumped into the cage, Sarah and ze Germans followed swiftly behind. We all stood there waiting for the shark to swim past. We waited... and waited after about 20 minutes of not seeing anything Sarah and I started sharing 'looks' I was getting a little worried at this point. One of ze Germans kept going to the surface. I thought they must be eating more sour crout, turns out it was the opposite! They were sick right above our heads! Chunks of cabbage and bratwurst were floating around us! disgusting! We continued to look around and then finally without warning. A Great White came from nowhere and smashed into the cage right where Sarah and I were standing. It really got the adrenaline pumping! Sarah being Sarah was screaming alot. Captured on video but it won't let me upload it. Rubbish! After that the action came thick and fast. The captain and a deck hand stood with bits of tuna attached to rope baiting the sharks. It was one of the best 30 minutes of my life! They are so graceful in the water, then in a flash they turn on the power. Sadly we had to get out of the cage, i could have stayed there all day! The action didn't stop all afternoon. It was almost as good watching them from the surface breaching the water to munch on some tuna. I'd been watching the action for so long that I missed lunch! I don't miss lunch, it's one of my favorite times of the day. We set sail back to Port Lincoln most of the others on the boat had a sleep. I just sat and looked at my photos! They put a highlights DVD together and played it on the way back. You could buy it for $50, It was shite! All the footage of sharks was library footage, they didn't even film underwater that day! I didn't buy it. We arrived back in port and decided in the spirit of the day we'd visit the local Michelin starred sea food restaurant! We both had shark steaks! Only kidding! We went to MacDonald's. I had a Big Mac! We were both knackered after getting up at 0530 so had an early night. What a great day! Oh wait how could I forget, after being asleep for a few hours we were rudely awoken to the tent being almost blown over. It was blowing a hooley as Sarah would say! I ended up having to drive the car in front of the tent and tying guy ropes to it! So there you have it. Today will go down in the annals of time as the day that Ben and Sarah dived with Great White sharks.