Jessica's awesome experience

I went shark cage diving the other weekend. At first I was a bit skeptical. I had heard and read various accounts about how unethical shark cage diving was. There were also some environmental concerns. However, when I was on the boat, at 6am, looking out into the ocean and the mountains and the sunrise, I realized that I would be in the cage, not the sharks. They had every freedom to swim away from the boat. Yes, it was a little strange when the skipper was drumming on the boat in order to attract the sharks or when the boat hand continuously threw out and then reeled back in a dead fish head on a rope. I found out that the sharks are really just curious about the noise and come by to say hello. APEX, the shark diving company we went with, doesn’t chum the waters so they relied on the noises and the dead fish head.

We went in groups of two or three and Emily, Alexa (my best friend from home), and I were deemed to go third. Out of four. We were told that the first group always sees the most sharks so we were a bit bummed.  The boat was docked and the cage was tied to the side of the boat and the first group got in. The first shark we saw from the top of the boat was huge and it was exhilarating to see it! Turns out, the second shark we saw was just as exciting! And the third and the fourth. Every time we saw a shark everyone would shout its location so the person in the cage could duck underwater and see some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet.

The second group was struggling. I think they saw one shark, so we were not too excited about going. We were shivering, Emily was sea sick and we were tired from waking up at four in the morning. We were over it. We squeezed ourselves into wet wet suits anyway and prepared for the plunge. When it was finally our turn, two people on the boat had already thrown up from seasickness. I was the first in, slid into the cage, put on my mask and got my waterproof camera ready. Emily and Alexa splashing in next to me and we shivered together in the water. We waited a couple of minutes and then we heard the screams from the boat. QUICK, UNDER LEFT BAIT. We ducked under, really having no idea where to look and THERE IT WAS!

Awesome is not a word that I like to use very often but it was literally AWESOME. No other adjective explains my emotions. I am not one to usually be in awe of wildlife, but I really was. There is something captivating about a creature, three times the size of you, just swimming by. It acted as if had no care in the world and really didn’t care about me or any of us in the cage. I absolutely love the feeling of being completely submerged in water. I would go under just to watch all the fish swim by. It was really an awesome experience.