White sharks have always fascinated me. They are greatest of ocean predators. Fast, sleek, and graceful, their senses perfectly evolved for ambush predation on large fish and pinnipeds. But sadly not all think of great white sharks in this way. Certainly in Australia, the white shark still has a very negative reputation with current governments considering introducing culls to reduce numbers. So the question is, how do we go about changing peoples attitudes about these magnificent creatures? Well I believe that we need to develop some understanding and appreciation for the white sharks. And this is where Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions comes in.
I was ecstatic to be invited to South Australia to help out with Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions, a company with over 50 years of experience in shark-sighting and cage diving. I had arrived one day ahead of the rest of the customers and had volunteered to help Andrew Fox get the boat organised. Funnily enough, it was actually one of the most memorable days of the trip, largely because it involved man handling over 1 m long slippery tuna from the bait yard into Andrews Ute and then onto the Princess II – very unique experience and one that my muscles and sense of smell did not let me forget! I then had the task of starting the boat shopping and you should have seen the stares I got as I filled up trolley after trolley. A total of eight trollies later and the arrival of Pato, our expedition chief, meant that the guests of Rodney Fox were not going hungry anytime soon!
Jayne arrived that evening with a large, incredibly fun and enthusiastic group of her diving friends from Sydney as well as Peter Janulis, son of previous American OWUSS scholar Ted Janulis. After one night on the boat we steamed out to the Neptune Islands, a well known New Zealand fur seal breeding colony approx. 20 km off shore. The surface cage was deployed into the water and the first candidates donned their weight harnesses and regulators while the rest of us were eagerly awaited the action. We didn’t have to wait long and within 10 min we had two 4.5 m sharks swimming around the cage.
It was finally my turn and interestingly at the same time as I was going in, everybody else seemed to be coming out… Hmm, tuna heads, chum and only a cage separating me from the most supreme sea predator around – what more could a girl ask for! With Tims help, I entered the cage and adjusted myself to the chilly water – thanks to my lovely Waterproof 7 ml, hood and gloves I soon forgot about the water temperature and could focus on the sharks. And boy were there lots! Within seconds there were three sharks in view and I remember thinking how seriously enormous they were. Strength, power, agility, and yet unmistakable grace is what made the sharks sooo incredible to watch. They were perfect predators and I could not wipe the smile off my face when I finally surfaced.
Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions is best known for its specialised bottom cage dives and the next day was our first chance to experience this unique type of diving. I could hardly contain my excitement as the cage hit the water and I had to remind myself to concentrate on equalising as we slowly made our decent to 24 m. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the first white shark moving towards the cage. It made a wide arc towards the me, no doubt checking out who we were, and what we were doing in their territory. The shark came closer and closer to the point that its nose almost caressed the side of the cage before turning away. What an incredible experience! Although the shark was close, I never felt threatened and while the sharks investigated the cage initially, they stayed away for the most part, choosing instead to swim amongst more commonly encountered South Australian marine life such as giant smooth rays, leatherjackets and South Australian blue grouper. The sharks also interacted with each other – a sight very rarely witnessed by human eyes.
One of the best things about Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions was the passion that the crew showed for the sharks. Each day Jen and Andrew would help us to determine which sharks we saw and if possible, which individuals were which. Detailed photographic records of different sharks kept by the Fox Shark Foundation helped in identifying individuals and one shark we saw regularly was Notchy, a 4.8 m female that had a distinctive notch on her dorsal fin. The Fox Shark Foundation also allows customers to “adopt” a shark which pays for an acoustic transmitter. During our stay our group adopted a small female shark that we aptly named Princess. This will allow scientists to learn more about her movements and residency time around the Neptune Islands.
As I was not an insured dive master, cage captaining was out of the question, however I did get the opportunity to help out with the diving side of things and also operate the safety line from the boat. I had many a good chat with Peter, our skipper during this time and also took a leaf out of Christian Clark’s book – I finally learned how to splice! It was challenging but thanks to some seriously incredible patience from Peter I succeeded.
After seeing White Sharks we were originally supposed to visit the Australian Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama) during their famous migration at Whyalla. Unfortunately cuttlefish numbers have been decreasing for the last two years and this year there were reports of only 60-100 cuttlefish in the breeding ground (as apposed to 10s of 1000s normally). While the real cause of the reductions is unknown it is thought that potential overfishing of these species and bicatch could be driving lower numbers. If this is the case, it would be a massive tragedy for Australia’s marine life and I urge people to try to find out more.
In place of Whyalla we headed to Kangaroo Island to check out the sea lions and leafy sea dragons. Unfortunately I forgot that computers and 2 m swells don’t mix and spent most of the evening warding off sea sickness in my bunk – what an amature!. Kangaroo Island is absolutely beautiful and we had a great couple of dives. I particularly enjoyed seeing a completely different community of fishes to that in Northern Australia.
To Andrew, Jen, Peter, Tim, Pato, Jayne, Peter Jr and all the Sydney gang thanks for an absolutely incredible experience. I greatly recommend anyone to who has an interest, passion or simple a curiosity as well as those who have a fear of white sharks to visit Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions. The trip will challenge you to understand these magnificent creatures and you will not be disappointed!
