Shark Cage Diving Gansbaai

The actual shark cage diving takes place out at Dyer Island which is situated off the coast from Gansbaai. The months of May through October are considered to be the best time for white shark diving, although Great White Sharks are seen throughout the year!

This is due to the 30 000 strong Cape Fur Seal colony that inhabit Dyer Island, which is the Great White Shark's primary source of nutrition. The Great White Shark is a surface feeder and thus all the activity takes place on or very close to the surface, due to this, the surface viewing from the boat is excellent.

• You do not need any diving certification to do the cage dive.
• We limit the number of passengers per trip to ensure each diver receives maximum cage time. The average number of passengers per trip is between 12 and 15 passengers.
• The ride to the dive sight takes15 - 20 minutes where we anchor for about three and a half to four hours.
• For the first dive you are in the cage for about thirty minutes. Divers then have subsequent dives.
• We use a 5 person shark cage and so there is plenty of time to cage dive.

The best time of the year for white shark diving in Gansbaai is from April to September. Four to five sharks are usually encountered in a day with as many as 18 sharks having been encountered on some outings. We have a 98% success rate in terms of daily sightings during the high season. Great white sharks prefer a diet of game fish and from May to October the latter are in abundance. Great whites are also known to feed on seals and carrion. October to December, being the pupping season for some 30,000 seals on Geyser Island, results in an ample food supply of drowned pups in the surrounding coastal waters. Although great whites may be sighted during the low season, the abundance of food in the area makes luring to the boat more difficult.

The water temperature ranges between 55° and 65° F and divers take turns in the cage, each staying approximately 15-20 minutes. A diver can expect to make two to three dives per day if good weather, sea conditions, shark activity and visibility prevails. Visibility is between 4m to 6m on average, but may exceed 15m on a clear day. Sharks may brush the cage, but to date an attack on the shark cage has not been reported.

Read up on a recent White Shark Diving Review.