Chapter 11 - Diving with Sharks in South Africa

While driving along the Southern coast of South Africa, Toto decided to do something a bit crazy. I went diving not once, but twice, with sharks! The first time I got up close to the Ragged Tooth sharks, and the second time I was in a cage next to the Great White sharks!

The first dive with the Ragged Tooth sharks left from a town called Umkomaas south of the city of Durban. These sharks look really scary as their teeth jut out of their mouths in all directions. That’s why they are called "Ragged Tooth" sharks.

I put on SCUBA gear so I could swim and breathe underwater to dive to a coral reef called the "Cathedral Reef." This reef had a big open hole in the middle where large fish like to hang out to rest from swimming in the ocean current. When I went down to the bottom of this reef, I counted one very large turtle and nine Ragged Tooth sharks. One of the five-to-six-foot-long (2 meter) sharks swam right in front of me only three feet away while another swam right behind me. I couldn't look at both at the same time, so I watched the one in front of me. It would have been quite scary, except Ragged Tooth sharks are not very aggressive even though their teeth make them look like they are. It was quite an amazing experience to be swimming in the open water next to so many sharks in the wild.

Based on my next experience, I can tell you that I would not, however, choose to swim in the open with Great White Sharks! These are magnificent creatures, as you can see from the photos. They are very curious but also quite cautious. The boat captain had dangled fish heads tied to a rope from the boat into the water to attract the Great White Sharks swimming around the island. The captain bought the leftover heads of some large Patagonian Toothfish from the fish store in the harbor. The shark smells the fish heads and thinks it is one of his favorite meals. However, as we don't want to interfere with natural feeding of the sharks, the crew will try to pull away the fish heads out of the shark's reach just as he tries to attack them. Most often, when the Great Whites came to the surface to investigate the fish heads, they also would check me out. Fortunately, I was in a cage next to the boat with bars spaced too close together for the Great Whites to touch me. As Great Whites are cautious, they did not try to get to me in the cage, but they did swim only a foot away from me. Let me tell you, that is quite a sight to see a Great White Shark in the wild looking at you only one foot away and wondering if you are food!

One time while I was in the cage, a Great White actually grabbed the fish heads before the crew could pull them away. He started thrashing around right in front of me, trying to tear the fish heads off the rope. To protect its eyes from being hurt while attacking, the Great White will always roll its eyes back into its eye sockets. I saw this shark do so right in front of me as he started to go into a feeding frenzy. His twelve-foot-long tail was slapping around right in front of me. I knew his mouth was occupied and thought of reaching through the bars of the cage to touch his tail, but then thought it was better to keep my hands and feet within the cage!

One time a Great White Shark's head actually came out of the water to attack the food as the crew was pulling the fish heads towards the boat. Another passenger actually caught this picture of the shark out of the water. Again, I was glad our hands and feet were in the boat!

We went diving near Dryer Island, a habitat for thousands of Cape Seals. Can you see all of the seals on the rocks in this photo? They were very cute, as they had recently given birth to many cubs. We saw nine different Great White Sharks while anchored off this island. Unfortunately for the seals, they are the favorite food for the Great White Sharks, which is why so many sharks swim around this island. The sharks also eat lots of small sardines when these fish migrate off of the South African coast during the winter.

Dryer Island is very close to the tip of Africa. Here is a picture of me at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. It is also where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Sometimes you can see the two oceans colliding, as the waters have different colors. The Indian Ocean is also quite warm while the Atlantic Ocean is very cold down here. So the water was nice when I went swimming with the Ragged Tooth sharks, but quite chilly with the Great Whites. I was so excited, however, that I didn't notice the cold too much when the Great White Sharks were wondering if I was food inside that cage!

Southern Coast of South Africa Travel Questions:

1. Why does the Ragged Tooth shark have that name?
2. What are the two oceans that meet at the southern tip of the African continent?
3. Which shark is more aggressive - the Ragged Tooth or Great White Shark?
4. Why does the Great White shark roll his eyes back when eating or attacking prey?
5. Why were there so many Great White Sharks around the island where the Cape Seals live?
6. What other animal off the coast of South Africa does the Great White Shark eat?

Global Nomad Questions on Southern Coast of Africa:

1. Draw a picture of a Ragged Tooth and a Great White Shark in the ocean.
2. Research and list the names of five other types of sharks.
3. Find the Southern tip of Africa on a globe or world map. Which is further South, the tip of Africa or the tip of South America?
4. Research and explain why the Atlantic Ocean is cold at the tip of Africa while the Indian Ocean is warmer.
5. The Spanish explorer, Magellan, led the first ships to sail all the way around the globe, including past Cape Agulhas. Research his trip and write an essay about this remarkable journey.

Comments

[Ann McDonough]

We are excited to announce that we've chosen as our class service project to collect paper and pens/pencils for the students needing those. We found the teacher's address on ToTo Travels.

Ann McDonough, gr.2 teacher
St.Peter's Lutheran School
Marble Falls, TX

[Jordan Jumpman]

You are just brilliant, do you know this?