Humble Dive Tourism Beginnings!!

"If you thought that #Cape #Town had only #mountains and #vineyards to offer, well, think again. Vertigo and hangovers are just the tip of the iceberg. The #oceans is where it's really at - yes folks, oceans, in the plural- We have two of them. The beaches are reserved for beach bums and sand fleas, so that leaves the real oceans free for the tourists. The real oceans are about #exotic #coral #gardens, #hidden #treasures in #historic #wrecks and #rugged #reefs abounding in #marine #life. This is what PJ'S dive charters offer you; a whole new experience, a #rare opportunity to see the #Cape's #vast #underwater #wealth. PJ van der Walt will arrange and escort shore and boat dives along the west coast, round the peninsula and False Bay as far as Struisbaai. All dives are supervised according to internationally recognized standards, and instruction in both snorkeling and scuba diving is available to those who wish to learn. PJ's #exotic #dive #locations include #Cape #Town's #coral #gardens, #Justin's #Cave's and at least #15 #fascinating #wrecks around the #Cape #peninsula. #Wreck #dives vary in depth from $4m to #46m in depth, so you don't have to be related to #Jacques #Cousteau to qualify. For the intrepid explorers of the deep, who wish to venture further, and have the experience and certification to prove it, PJ can arrange something a little more challenging. #Shark #cage #diving with #Great #White #Sharks, as we are the #first and #only #operators offering this #unique #experience."

This was the press release at the opening of PJ'S Dive Charters. How little i knew that #Great #White #Shark #Cage #Diving was going to turn into a #million #dollar #industry internationally. Here in South Africa alone the industry turns over millions annually.

From then untill 1990 i was the only operator who offered this unique experience.

The first six months learning curve was very, very steep. Learn't a lot about how, where, what to do , what not to do, what Great Whites liked , what they did not like. Later the things that i had learn't, done and observed were latter published by many as new discoveries, and today recognized world wide.


I became a member of Cape Town Tourism, qualified as an Dive Master with N.A.U.I. during September 1988.

Great Expectations, no sharks!! The first 6 months we could not find any Great White Sharks, some days we would use up to 600 liters of chum ............. no sharks!! I really panicked, as i thought that these animals were really on the verge of extinction. How silly of me, later i was to learn that Great White Trophy hunting was prolific, and that these animals were very, very smart. I learn't that every time a boat was around with any form of chum or attractant, these animals simply stayed away.

My first sighting of Great Whites came after another long exhausting day of waiting and no sightings. We had been using Whale blubber to attract the White Sharks but, alas no sharks even came for a nibble. After we had hoisted #anchor and were under way with the #blubber left floating, no sooner were we 50m away and oh boy, was the water alive with 4 Great Whites fighting over those two pieces of blubber. Yea our 1st sightings of Great Whites. Wow were we excited, waned the skipper to stop but the wind had come up and skipper wanted to get home. Now i knew that the Great Whites were around, at last, 6 months later, and where i could find them.

The very next day we were off to #Dyer Island again. With more blubber, whale meat and seal carcasses. The excitement was palpable. I could just not wait to get out there to see what the day would bring. What a day we had two very large White's around both male and they played with us in the sense that when we had a piece of blubber tied to a line , then they would find the line, and bite it in half , between the boat and the float. So i started heaving unattached blubber over board and wow what a sight. These sharks went crazy, they loved the blubber and it bought the big sharks, 5 to 6m in length. These two sharks ate our entire 700kg of bait in no time at all.
Then disappeared. Back to the drawing board. So it went for the next 5 weeks as i experimented with different baits, methods of deployment, floating the bait to feed them and the last thing i did during those 5 weeks of experimentation was to see if i could feed these animals by hand, from the cage and from outside of the cage. Talk about an adrenalin rush.

George Askew, Mike Vincent and two other divers were in the cage, that day when i attempted this and boy o boy did my heart rush around in my body looking for a place to escape. A 6.5m something #Great #White #female, really got me by surprise as she appeared out of nowhere to take the "vaalhaai", a species of shark caught here #commercially in the Cape, from my hand. George and Mike getting some really great #pictures, even though the #viz was only about 2.5m.

Great now i could start advertising and this is the form it took with the first 4 x 3 day #tours. As always when anyone one starts any new venture a lot of running around is done trying to attract the #diving fraternity to come to #Cape #Town, #South #Africa to experience this unique offering.

It took a little time, but things started heating up and soon had people coming from France, Germany, America and lots of South African folk. Patriece Herud a French journalist for #Plongez le #magazine, was my 1st international client. He came to here to write an article about this, a unique first for and in South Africa, Great White Shark cage diving!

What an exciting time that was. The poor journalist was so sea sick that my crew and i ended up taking all his pictures for him. For the 4 days that he was here we had up to nine Great Whites around us. Part of that trip #film footage for 50/50 was shot, camera man MIke Vincent got more than he bargained for. Mike had spent the previous 5 weeks trying to get footage of Great Whites at #Bird #Island, just off the eastern ##Coast, and was really pessimistic about obtaining any footage. More about that later

This brings me to the end of this chapter of the beginnings of how Great White Shark Cage diving started here in South Africa.