Custom Search

Scuba Dive or Snorkel with Great White Sharks

Join this tour for the underwater experience of a lifetime as you scuba dive or snorkel with the Great White Sharks of South Africa!
Take the opportunity during your stay in Cape Town to travel to Gans Baai and the channels around Dyer Island and get up close and personal with the animal on top of the ocean's food chain.
Click here for pricing...

Great White Shark Dive Cape Town facts

When to go?

There is a best season to shark dive. Cape Town autumn and winter.

The sharks are here year round, but the most spectacular great white shark diving activity is definitely in winter.

How long does it take?

Depending on where you go and what type of trip you choose, your great white shark diving can occupy the best part of a whole day.

Why flexible?

The winter weather in Cape Town is known for its storms and heavy swells spell death to shark dive voyages.

They get cancelled, and you get issued with a 'Join us Again' voucher. Obviously that's of no use to you if you are no longer in South Africa!

Where to go?

There are two locations to shark dive near Cape Town. Simonstown is the closest (and least known - for no good reason). It is on False Bay, the location for the filming of Air Jaws - watch the movie to get prepared!

GansBaai is the better-known destination probably because it has hosted some celeb names like Brad Pitt and Nicholas Cage. Where you decide to go depends on the season, and your personal preference.

Simonstown or GansBaai? Both. Depending on the season.

From mid-April to mid-September False Bay's Seal Island is a hub of shark vs. seal predation. This is where the documentaries Air Jaws and various other great white shark videos where filmed. So during that time period I would recommend you pursue your great white shark dives from Simonstown.

From May through August, your chances of seeing a great white are pretty close to 100%.

April and September/October are interim months, with less activity round the boats but still plenty of hunting seen.

From November through March, GansBaai may be a better bet. Your chances of seeing a shark are lower - around 50% - but the boats can operate closer to shore which makes it easier for low season spotting there.

Ethical Great White Shark Diving

Great white sharks are now recorded as 'vulnerable to extinction' on the Red Data list, and in fact little is known about these mysterious creatures.

Select a shark diving operator that operates according to good conservation principles if you decide to shark dive. Look at their track record and practices.

Ethical operators still need to make a profit, but they put conservation and research first and aim to observe the sharks without interfering with their natural behaviour in the name of entertainment.

In terms of specifics, the few practices I can identify are to avoid 'chumming' altogether as a method of attracting the sharks, or to use a watery fish oil fluid or a tuna head bait for this purpose rather than shark livers or blood.