Great White Sharks

INFORMATION ABOUT GREAT WHITE SHARKS

Great White Sharks inhabit many areas around the world, the most prominent areas are those populated by Seals and Dolphins – the Great White’s preferred meal.

Gansbaai, on the coast of the Western Cape in South Africa is one such place where Great White Sharks can be found all year round.

The area between Dyer Island and Gansbaai is commonly known amongst the Shark Cage Diving operators as ‘Shark Alley’.

The reason for this name is fairly obvious in that Dyer Island is home to thousands of Cape Fur Seals – which are protected by the Dyer Island Trust..

Great White Sharks are the world’s largest predatory fish, reaching over 6 metres (20 feet) in length. Armed with a lethal mouthful of serrated, razor-sharp daggers and powerful enough to launch their 1-ton bodies clear of the water, Great White Sharks are the ocean’s top predator and are the most feared inhabitant of the sea.

Great White Sharks’ diet includes other sharks and marine mammals, including dolphins and Cape Fur Seals. With Shark Alley teeming with tasty marine life, the Great White Shark, normally a migratory predator, tends to hang around the alley providing us with an opportunity to experience this intriguing animal in its natural habitat.

When you see these magnificent creatures of the sea, you cannot help having a great amount of respect, the Great White Shark is not the monster it has been made out to be, but rather a beautiful, powerful and supreme king of the ocean.

The Great White Shark has many awesome features, and it is truly an amazing animal. The scientific name for the Great White Shark is Carcharodon Carcharias.

“The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached or exceeded 6 metres (20 ft) in length, and 2,268 kilograms (5,000 lb) in weight. This shark reaches maturity at around 15 years of age and can have a life span of over 30 years. The great white shark is arguably the world’s largest known extant macropredatory fish and is one of the primary predators of marine mammals. It is also known to prey upon a variety of other marine animals including fish, pinnipeds, and seabirds. It is the only known surviving species of its genus.”

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark)

The novel by Peter Benchley, JAWS and the high grossing Blockbuster by [L] Steven Spielberg created a reputation for the Great White Sharks as a fearful predator which preys on humans. The reality is that Great White Sharks have no interest in eating humans. It is only their curious nature which encourages them to investigate any movement in the water and, in particular, our heartbeats which draws them to us.
The Great White will do an investigatory ‘bite’ as we would touch, to find out what it is that stands in it’s path, those who have died from Great White Shark bites have died through bleeding to death, not because the Great White intended to eat them.

Great White Shark Cage diving was created to educate humans in the nature of these incredible beasts, to change the perceptions and to create a respect and love for Great White Sharks.
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Divers around the world descend upon South Africa to enjoy this once in a lifetime experience of coming into close quarters with the incredible Great White Shark from the safety of the Shark Diving Cage.

Diving with Great White Sharks is one of the most spectacular experiences anyone can imagine. Not only do you come into close quarters with Great White Sharks whilst in the Shark Diving Cage, but you also learn an enormous amount about Great Whites, about Shark Cage Diving and about the protection of the Great White and the importance of maintaining a high level of numbers of Great White Sharks in the ocean across the globe.

To learn more about Great White Sharks, take a trip on a Shark Cage Diving boat – whether you go into the Shark Diving Cage or stay on the Shark Diving boat, this experience will provide you with an entirely new insight into the incredible Great White Shark