There is something truly exhilarating about being in close proximity of a wild and dangerous creature, while being in a secure place. It is like watching a lion in the Kruger National Park from your vehicle – seeing, hearing, even smelling it passing right beneath your window, sniffing at your tyres. It might roar and make the earth around you shake, but you are safe and sound inside – in awe and  wonder, yet out of danger.
 
It is the same standing on the deck of a boat and suddenly seeing the dark, but clearly distinguishable shark-shaped-shadow of a great white in the deep blue water of the Western Cape splashing against the boat’s port and starboard. You see the sinuous movement, you know how deadly it is – you know you are privileged to be so close…and you realize gratefully that you are out of its reach!
 
Seeing a photo or video of a huge great white breaching almost entirely and forcefully splashing down again, is wildly exciting in itself. Being close enough to feel the drops and feel the adrenalin rush has to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
 
This is a possibility for anyone who wishes to experience either simply watching the sharks from the deck, or actually submerging yourself willingly into the cold water the cage at the stern of the boat sinks into. You see the bars of the cage and they look strong enough (which they are!) but then you think of JAWS and you still wonder…could it possibly…?
 
A scenic drive hugging the coastline, a little over 40km from Hermanus in the Western Cape of South Africa, is the seaside village, Gansbaai. Several boats from different operators depart from the quaint harbour of Kleinbaai, a picturesque adjacent village. Boats carrying highly strung tourists, fervently hoping for a good day at sea: windless, warm, with sharks on show – preferably performing!
 
Dyer Island is the spot boats aim for. The Island is a 20ha Nature Reserve, 8,5km from the shore and furthest east of the chain of seabird islands of the Western Cape. The island is recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA), with the same status as an IBA anywhere else in the world. Some of the birds breeding on the island are the endangered African Penguins, Bank Cormorant and Roseate Tern.
 
But… it is not the birds most tourists are straining their eyes and craning their necks for: it is the bulky, dark shapes of some of the densest and most accessible populations of great white sharks in the world, threateningly making their way to the island, home to the colony of about 60,000 Cape Fur Seals on Geyser Rock.
 
Shark Alley….place of promise for humans shark-watching. Place of terror for hapless seals: favourite take-away for their most formidable enemy, the great white shark.
 
As Dyer Island is a protected reserve, visitors are not allowed on the island. Viewing from a boat is the closest you’ll get to the birds, but the cage is how you get close to the predators!   
 
You don’t need any training for shark diving. What you dó need, is guts, appreciation and respect for creation and a warm, comforting set of clothes for after the dive…and consider a hip flask with a few drops of something to calm and warm!
 
· Hermanus is approximately an hour and a half from Cape Town by car. A further 40min on the road and you enter Gansbaai and the adjacent Kleinbaai where boats launch from.
 
· The shark viewing facilitators do not feed or handle the sharks. This would not only interfere with nature, but also cause the company to lose its permit to facilitate these tours. Observe, take pictures, marvel and then return to land with fresh respect and fitting awe.
 
· Shark cage diving in South Africa can be done throughout the year with the best underwater visibility from April to September (the autumn and winter months).