Great White Central

May God Bless Lloyd Skinner and his family.

As you may have noticed, I have not included any stories about surfing in the Cape Town area. There is good reason for this – the highest concentration of Great White Sharks in the world. This reality hit me in the face when I read the first mornings headlines. Lloyd Skinner, a 38 year old Engineer from Zimbabwe was swimming in about six feet of water within one hundred yards from shore, when a Great White approximately 16 – 18 feet long attacked him and completely devoured him. This happened about 3:30 PM on a sunny day in front of many beach guests and local homeowners, who witnessed it from their porches. One person described the shark as “like a dinosaur, it was so large”. The attack happened one week before we arrived and within sight of our house. The local community was still in shock, and each day other stories came out about other local sightings and the concern for summer swimming. The sharks usually stay out farther in False Bay, around where the seals live. But when the seals leave in the summer, there has been a noticeable increase in shark sightings along the beaches. Most everyone supports protecting sharks, because they are being slaughtered by the millions just for their fins, but some were asking why more was not being done to track down the culprit. There had been two other similar fatal attacks in this area and some felt that a single shark was responsible. You are still more likely to get killed by a faulty toaster then you are by a shark, but there is no more primal fear then being eaten alive. So I say “Bring on the toasters”!!

I have a healthy dose of respect for sharks, and I didn’t want this to be our only shark story, so I booked us on a Great White Shark cage dive. Sally decided to stay on the boat, but she was equally impressed by these incredible animals. Within five minutes of putting out chum, the first Great White showed up, coming straight up out of the water, trying to get the large fish head they use as bait. Over the next two hours, six Great Whites would be around the boat and sometimes two were visible at once. The visibility was only about six feet, so it was quite impressive when a ten to twelve footer would appear out of nowhere and come directly at the cage. Mat, Charlie, and I loved the experience and the ability to watch a true apex predator from a close but safe distance. As frightening as it must be to see one when you are swimming or surfing, it was truly enjoyable to experience them in this manner. I have included several other pictures in “Dr. Doolittle”. Safely onshore, we packed up and headed inland to our next stop – a working ostrich farm. Yee Hah!!