South Australia: Cage Diving with Great White Sharks
- Waves of Wonder
- Mar 30
- 7 min read
Monday 3rd February 2025
4:58am
It was early. I was excited.
It was the day I have been waiting for my whole life. It was the day I hoped to see a GREAT WHITE SHARK, willingly and up close. Cage diving with Great White Sharks has been on my bucket list for many, many years. This was it…
I got up and ready for the day. I had packed my cameras and snacks etc the night before so only needed to put my swimmers on, get dressed and (for the first time in months) put a jumper on! Eventually I made my way downstairs to the hotel lobby, greeted the reception staff and waited for my shuttle to the Calypso Star Charters Headquarters which was a 10-minute drive away.
We were picked up at 6am sharp and transported to headquarters to check in, get tea or coffee and buy souvenirs (if you wanted). Once everyone had checked in, the crew took us over to board our boat for the day. Despite the early time of day, everyone was quietly buzzing about the prospect of the day.
We boarded the boat just as the sun peaked above the horizon and were greeted on board by our skipper, Andrew. He told us the usual safety information and reiterated that sharks are wild animals and there is always a chance we won’t see anything despite everyone’s best efforts. He said that if we didn’t see a shark by 2:30pm, we would have to packed up and make our way back to port.
7:00am
The engines kicked into gear and we set off on the 3 hour journey out to sea and down to the Neptune Islands. The crew (Brooke, Sophie and Riva) served breakfast of ham and cheese (or cheese and tomato) muffins and a selection of fruit. Everyone settled in, having various conversations, getting to know each other, taking photos and videos of the sunrise, and napping. With what Andrew had said as we boarded at the back of my mind, I took sightings of dolphins and sea lions as a good sign of what was to come.
We had to make a brief stop of at Grindal Island to collect some more passengers that were doing the combo tour and had just been swimming with sea lions (more about this in the next blog).
10:00am
We arrived at the Neptune Islands and got anchored. Andrew gave us a demonstration of how to get in and out of the cage, and told us what to expected while we were at anchor and the cage was in the water. We were put into groups (I was group 4 of 5), the cage was then lowered into the water and the first group was called to get kitted up and ready for their first cage dive. The crew started chumming (fish guts and blood, gross I know) the water and the first chunk of bait (fish gills and tuna heads) was thrown in. Now we just had to wait…
13:00pm
Finally, it was my turn to get in the cage. So far, we had had no shark sightings, but I remained optimistic. Being the brave Brit I am, I decided not to go for a wetsuit (the water was around 20 degrees Celsius) and went in in just my swimmers. I had my photo taken as I was entering the cage, was given my regulator (the breathing apparatus used for scuba diving) and finally I was in. I got into my position – you are wearing a weight belt to hold you down and there are bars to tuck your feet under for that extra stability. I made sure to look all around and under the cage just in case, but no luck. We had kingfish and silver trevally swimming around us but no sharks. My group was in the cage for around 30-40 minutes. We got out, sad not to have seen a shark. We gave our weight belts to the next group and settled back on deck until our next go.
Just as we wrapped our towels round us and got chatting with the others on the upper deck, we hear Andrew shout “ON THE BAIT! ON THE BAIT!”
Finally…
But we had a loooooooooong wait until we could get back in the cage…
The shark stuck around as each group got their turn in the cage. Some groups got better views or more shark time than others but that’s the nature of working with wild animals. It was getting to a point when I was worried I wouldn’t get to see one from inside the cage. From the surface, the shark was SO hard to spot (even with my new polarised sunnies). I was thinking, “please, just a glimpse of a fin and I’ll be happy”… then one breached! It had come up so quick, poor Riva hadn’t had time to react quick enough and the shark took the bait. This meant that we had to wait 15 minutes to be able to bait the water again so in the meantime, the groups were swapped over.
15:30pm
Finally, it was time for my group to go back in the cage. We would be the last group of the day. Again, I was just in my swimmers and after 30-odd minutes in the cage, I was getting cold. So far, we hadn’t seen a shark and I knew they could tell us it was game over at any minute. As I started shivering, still looking around willing to see a shadow or anything shark-shaped, I gave myself a 5-minute warning – if I didn’t see a shark in the next 5 minutes, I would accept defeat and get out of the cage.
Then I looked down…
There he was… a 4-metre male Great White Shark. Lurking in the depths below the cage, the shark had come up from the deep with the small shiny bait balls (when fish swim together, usually in a circle) of trevally. I watched (while trying to show my cage buddies there was a shark) as he disappeared into the deep again.
I anchored myself in the corner of the cage, legs wrapped around the bar at the bottom of the cage, hand on the railing steadying myself in place, GoPro in hand recording a ready… “Please come back sharky”… Suddenly, he was there. Swimming rapidly to the surface, we could see him coming up but on the surface, no one saw him coming. He surfaced, taking the bait from the line, disappearing temporarily into the murky bait water in front of the cage. The stupid trevally were in the way and I couldn’t see where the shark had gone. Then Mr Shark came looming out of the murky water directly at me in the cage, I yelped then laughed at myself and wooped! FANTASTIC!! From the surface, the shark had taken the bait and came at the cage with a thrashing tail before sinking back to the depths.
We then got out of the cage and everyone was buzzing! The wetsuits, weight belts, masks and snorkels, and cage were all packed away and we set off back to Port Lincoln. As we all relaxed on the journey back, we swapped photos and videos of our dives and the sharks (we think we saw 2 different sharks).
20:10pm
After a long day at sea, we finally docked back in Port Lincoln and despite being well fed by the crew throughout the day (we had breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea), I was starving. We were taken back to the hotel and I went straight to the restaurant for dinner before returning to my room for a shower and to pack my bag for the next day (check out and sea lions, stay tuned for the next blog).
Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharius): A fact file
The Great White Shark (also known as a White Shark, White Pointer or Great White) is a cartilaginous fish found in coastal and offshore waters in all major oceans.
It is thought the name comes from their white underbelly. They have fantastic countershading which creates fantastic camouflage. The white underbelly blends with the sun when looking up from below. Their backs are dark grey, blue, brown or black, which again camouflages the shark when looking down from above as the dark colour blends with the deep.
Males are typically smaller than females, reaching a maximum size of 4 metres (13ft) and 5 metres (16ft) respectively. One of the largest, and most famous, White Sharks recorded is known as Deep Blue and she is over 6 metres (19ft) in length.
A 2014 study estimates that Great Whites can live for 70 years or longer.
While they are formidable apex predators in their own right, they have been known to be hunted, killed and eaten by Orca.
It was an incredible day out with Calypso Star Charters. The long wait for the sharks was so worth it – I am still buzzing that I got to see a Great White Shark so close and share the same water as these magnificent creatures. Great Whites have been one of my favourite animals since I was a small child and I can’t believe I’ve seen them in person. All in all, I had a fantastic day out and I hope to do it again one day! I will talk more about the experience and package I had with Calypso Star Charters in the next couple of blogs.
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