Your Trip & FAQs

What to expect on the day of your shark dive experience and FAQs

On your trip with Sharklady adventures you can see a great white shark next to the cage
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SMALL, EXCLUSIVE & INFORMATIVE SHARK DIVING TRIPS

Sharklady Adventures offers small exclusive shark diving trips and educational tours daily. This means that your trip is more informative AND you’ll have more time in the cage. We are committed to being a responsible and eco-friendly operation. Sharklady Adventures complies with the strictest codes of conduct and safety for our clients, our boat, and the great white sharks, as laid down by local Marine & Coastal Management.

Shark cage diving is an awesome experience from both above and below the surface. Getting close to this most magnificent apex predator leaves you feeling exhilarated to say the least!

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The below FAQs will answers MOST of the questions you might have on your trip with us!

FAQs & Your Trip:

No. ALL shark cage diving tours depart from Van Dyks Bay, Kleinbaai.

The drive from Hermanus to our Sharklady Adventures Crew House in Kleinbaai is about 40min / 50km (traffic dependent).

Your shark cage dive trip starts in Kleinbaai, just a few minutes’ drive outside of Gansbaai.

Address: 14 Geelbek St, Van Dyks Bay, Gansbaai.

If you’re looking for our office in Hermanus: 61 Marine Drive, Hermanus.

Enjoy light breakfast snacks on location whilst listening to the dive and safety briefing. Choose your wetsuit and other gear to be loaded onto the boat before walking down to the jetty to depart. 

Cozzie (swimwear), sunblock, towel, hat, dry clothing, warm jacket.

Yes. No. Maybe. You fall in either of these 3 categories 😉

If you are prone to seasickness, we advise taking seasick tablets the night before your trip. You will be able to get seasick tablets from any local pharmacy.

The boat sets off on a 15-20 minute journey before anchoring near the coastline between Die Mond and Pearly beach.

The boat is at sea for roughly 2,5 to 3 hours depending on shark activity, weather and ocean conditions. Onboard you can enjoy the complimentary mineral water, snacks and drinks. No alcohol or smoking is allowed on any of the shark cage diving boats in Gansbaai.

No diving experience is needed to go for shark cage diving, as the cage is attached to the boat at all times. You only hold your breath whilst holding on to a rail, and submerge yourself for a few seconds at a time. No air devices are used – great white sharks don’t like the noise or sight of bubbles, and we want them to come as close to the cage as possible for your viewing pleasure.

Before you get into the cage you put your dive gear on – wetsuit with hoodie, booties, mask. Not all boats supply weight belts so make sure that you request this prior to your trip should you wish to use it.

No. Many guests choose not to cage dive – the viewing from the boat is exceptional and as a non-diver, you will also have an awesome experience!

As the sharks mostly circle the boat you will have more than enough dive time to view the sharks as they pass the front of the cage.
You will spend up to 20 minutes in the cage after which another set of divers will enter the cage whilst you enjoy the viewing from the boat. For those die-hard divers out there, you are welcome to enter the cage a second time (NOTE: subject to weather conditions, shark activity & behaviour).

After anchoring, the crew starts to chum for the sharks. Chum is a mixture of tuna heads, pilchards and fish oil – all mixed up and blended with seawater. This mixture is thrown overboard almost continuously throughout the day in order to create an oily chum slick. The chum slick gets carried into the current and when a great white shark swims across the current and smells the chum, it swims up to the chum slick towards the boat to investigate and scavenge on this “dead animal” that it had smelled.

It’s for this purpose that the crew now also throws a tuna head on a rope into the ocean. The shark sees this and then stays interested in the boat as otherwise, it would circle the boat once or twice and then leave. The bait is NOT fed to the sharks but it is kept in the water in order to keep the sharks’ interest in the boat and cage.

Absolutely. We are the oldest operator in the industry (RSA) with over 30 years experience. We have a 100% safety record. We are professionals, and know exactly how to operate in a safe and responsible manner.

The boat is operated by qualified and competent crew members. The crew includes a skipper, divemaster and deckhand. The crew members are also trained in skills such as firefighting and first-aid.

On the return trip to the harbour you get a chance to view the day trip DVD whilst enjoying snacks.

The day trip DVD is filmed on the day of the trip. The film is of the entire experience of the group and you have an option to purchase this as a souvenir. It is immediately available after your experience at the Sharklady Adventures Crew House. Cost: R200.

The reality is that we are at the mercy of the day’s weather and ocean conditions. If the team deems it to be unsafe to go out onto the sea, the trip needs to be rescheduled.

If for whatever reason your booking needs to be cancelled (and we can’t reschedule for you), we have an optional activity that we can offer you…

Seeing that you’re in the area, we would like to offer you an Abalone Farm Tour and Tasting, for R500 (the remainder of the booked amount will be reimbursed).

More info on the Abalone Farm Tour and Tasting: learn about commercial abalone farming in Hermanus, put boots on and explore the farm, see live abalone (make eye contact), and have the tasting prepared in three different ways! Duration: 70-80min.

Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai

R2400 per person

R1200 for kids (12 years & under)

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Your credit card simply secures your booking (the process through Activity Bridge) – no actual payment is effected.

NOTE: we will send you a direct secure payment link (via email or WhatsApp).

Foreign tourists: kindly notify us by 2pm the day before your activity that you have arrived in the country.

*Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the actual trip date.

TRIP TIMES

1st launch EARLY MORNING

2nd launch MID-MORNING

3rd launch AFTERNOON

NOTE: above launch times are subject to change – it’s all tide- and weather dependant. Arrival time is 1h before launch!

The exact meeting time will be given the day before your trip (we just need to confirm that the sea conditions is safe for a planned date). Guests must check in 1h before launch time at Sharklady Adventures Crew House. Address: 14 Geelbek Street, Gansbaai.

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