Kleinbaai is a settlement in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Kleinbaai is located on the Danger Point Peninsula and about 115 km southeast of Cape Town. This area is also well known for its whale-watching sites and obviously for the white shark cage diving.
We dived on a 6 people floating cage and we could have touched the great whites if we wanted… but we didn’t. When not in the cage, we enjoyed on board refreshments and watch the great whites and other sea life from the viewing deck of the boat.
As we arrived at the Shark Alley the cage was dropped in the water and chumming started attracting the Great Whites. We did not have to wait much and 3 to 4 sharks made their appearance. After a brief explanation of the procedure we put the wet suits and started our adventure. In our group there was not many of us intending to dive and therefore we could stayed as long as we wanted.
Shark Alley is the favourite feeding ground for the great whites, due to the abundance of seals from the nearby colony, as well as penguins from the penguin colony on Dyer Island.
We had the “luck” of being attacked by a great white. Frustrated by not being able to get to the tuna the sailor was using to attract the sharks close to the cage, the shark decided to give the tourists a fright by shaking the cage. I was in the cage and managed to catch the incident on video which you can see in the second page of this section.
The big advantage of diving at Kleinbaai is the fact that sharks are a mere 10 minutes from shore and therefore the all adventure last less than 4 hours. With so many sharks around the boat after 4 hours you are ready to come to the base and share all the stories.
After the dive we went to Hermanus for lunch (we started our dive at 6:30 in the morning) and a bit of sightseeing.
Hermanus (originally called Hermanuspietersfontein, but shortened as the name was too long for the postal service), is a town on the southern coast of the Western Cape along Walker Bay and only a few kilometres from Kleinbaai. It is famous for Southern Right whale watching during the southern winter and spring and is a popular retirement town.
The whales can be seen from the cliffs in the town centre. They were once hunted in the nearby town of Betty's Bay, but are now protected to ensure the survival of the species.
Hermanus has the world’s only Whale Crier, who sounds his kelp horn to announce where whales have been sighted. In 2005 Zakes Mda wrote the novel The Whale Caller in which the Whale Crier of Hermanus is the main character; a man who gets enthralled by a Southern right whale he names Sharisha.
Kleinbaai
The tiger of the sea
Western Cape coastline
Enjoying the scenary
