Day One on the Boat

Getting ready to get in the cage! 

This shark came really close to us! 

Bait for bringing the sharks in 

Just like out of Jaws 

            Today was my first day officially out on the boat with the great white shark project. For this first trip out, the two other new volunteers and I basically just played the role of clients, so we could get that experience first. Some of the fellow volunteers and staff had warned us about the possibility of seasickness while on the boat, but I thought I’d be able to handle the choppy feeling and large swells without getting sick. Long story short… I was wrong. My abs are still sore from heaving. And I certainly wasn’t the only one. Ryan also fell victim, and about five tourists on the boat. From what the crew and more experienced volunteers said, it’s fairly common for that to happen, especially on days with conditions like today, with really large swells.

            Now, putting that aside, the viewing of the sharks that we got made the seasickness totally worth it! It was about a fifteen-minute boat ride from the harbor to the area where we dropped anchor, and about another twenty minutes of chumming and preparing the cage until we saw the first shark. The cage fits up to six people, and I was part of the first group that went in. After pulling on a thick wetsuit and pair of goggles, five tourists and I jumped into the frigid, shark infested water of the Atlantic Ocean. I noticed that, as I was pulling on the wetsuit, my heart was pounding, the adrenaline was clearly flowing, and my hands were even shaking slightly. From what I’ve heard, a lot of people will get a reaction like that the first time, even if they don’t consider themselves to be afraid of sharks.

            The cage is held against the side of the boat and floats on the surface of the water, so getting an underwater view of the sharks is done by simply taking a deep breath, grabbing the inner bar of the cage, and pulling yourself down to the sharks’ level. The visibility of the water changes from day to day, and today it wasn’t too good. I did get some good underwater views of the sharks really close to the cage, including a great white whipping its tail right on the other side. The best thing I saw actually happened right above the surface of the water, and, even better, I was the only one in the cage to see it. When the crewmember that was pulling the bait rope would see a shark coming near the cage, he’d tell us to go down underwater to see it. At one point, he said that and we all went under. I came back up before anyone else, though, and my face pulled up a matter of inches from a great white’s face, which was biting the bars of the cage. He only stayed there for a second or two, so by the time the others came up, he was already gone. The fact that I was the only person in the cage to catch that moment made it all the more special.

            After about thirty minutes in the cage, my group came out to let the other people that wanted to go have a turn. The view from the boat was actually better than the view from the cage. Being higher, I could spot sharks easier up there, and could more accurately guess their size. At one point while I was on the boat, a really big female great white charged the bait several times, and she hung around the boat for a while. She was probably about four meters long, and pretty bulky; definitely an intimidating, powerful animal. She was the biggest one we saw on that trip.

            Eventually, after everyone who wanted to had gotten some time in the cage, we pulled up the anchor and headed back to the harbor. Upon returning, the volunteers all headed back to our house to clean up and relax until dinnertime, which we just finished. We need to be ready at six tomorrow morning for another trip out to sea, so no partying tonight for sure (the fun we had last night might’ve also contributed to me being sick on the boat today). I definitely am going to bring my camera out for this one, so hopefully I’ll get some good pictures to share on my next blog post. Tonight’s food for thought is one of my favorite quotes of all time: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”- Nelson Mandela