Hermanus: Great White Shark Cage and Whales

Trip Start Mar 17, 2005

124

Trip End Mar 13, 2006

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Flag of South Africa Hermanus, South Africa
Monday, August 1, 2005

Hermanus is about 2 hours down the coast from Cape Town and is home to the famous Seal Island. Simply put, Hermanus is one of the best spots to see Great White Sharks in the world. This was another one of those times where I (Matt) got to persuade Amy to help me fulfill a National Geographic level dream of being in a cage with these guys. Talk about adrenaline.

20 minutes off the coast we were anchored off of Seal Island, home to literally 60 thousand cape fur seals. It's like living in Safeway for a Great White Shark. 45 minutes after our guide had chummed the water immediately around our boat, we were surrounded by as many as 3 great white sharks at a time. No words can adequately describe the sight or feeling of seeing these guys breach the surface as they tried to grab the bait, or as they cruised past us in the cage. While Amy was in the cage one shark even hit her cage with his tail as it tried for the bait. It was unbelievable, and highly worth the drive out here and the ridiculously low (in our opinion) pricetag for such an experience.

Back on the shore in Hermanus, the big attraction is viewing the endangered Southern Right Whales that play in the bay about 100 yards off shore for months at a time. We found ourselves just sitting and watching them for hours, some of whom had calves as well. All in all, we felt like we were in a real-life SeaWorld in South Africa.

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