The Husband has wanted to go shark cage diving as long as I can remember. Every year we watch Shark Week, and he gets super excited over the idea of swimming around in a cage surrounded by sharks. In fact, sometimes he goes a little nuts, like the time we saw a Shark Week show with a scientists sitting ON TOP of a dead whale in the ocean, while great whites ripped chunks of meat from the carcass--the husband proclaimed that he wanted to do the same. Yeah right fool, you are nuts!
I've always told him there is no way I would get in a shark cage, seeing as I don't have a death wish. But then....I don't know what happened, somehow I warmed up to the idea. When I found out you can actually do this in Hawaii, I signed us up right away. As the days got closer and closer, I became more and more excited, while the husband was feeling anxious. My how the tables have turned.
So the day finally arrives for us to get in the cage, and we woke up super early, jumped in the awesome convertible we rented, and set out on the hour drive up to the North Shore. When we were about 10 minutes away, we got a phone call that the trip was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas. You'd have thought we were kids who just found out there is no such thing as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, all at once. But, we rallied, rebooked the excursion for our last day on the island, then went and ate shaved ice with ice cream and sweetened condensed milk (on a side note, I gained like 10 pounds while we were there).
Monday rolls around and we get in the Jeep (we drove 3 different rental cars) and again make the drive up the island, though we booked a much earlier trip this time. My Sea Bands strapped to my wrists, underwater camera charged, we jumped on the boat, ready to go. Rocky seas had me worried I would barf, but those silly looking wrist bands actually worked and I was fine. We pulled up next to the cage and immediately could see sharks swimming around in the water. Seeing their fins cut through the surface was thrilling! I couldn't wait to actually get in the cage and see them up close.
We were the second group in, and I was the first person in our group to get in the water. The guys running the show gave all sorts of instructions about getting in carefully and holding onto the cage; I totally didn't listen, and pretty much jumped off the ladder and swam around the middle of the cage, over to the side. OMG, the water was crystal clear, yet deep blue at the same time, and there were a bunch of huge sharks right next to us.
I apologize for the less than stellar photos. It is hard to take pictures when you are in a cage in a very rocky ocean that is knocking you all over the place. :) I banged my head into the bars several times and the husband swallowed lots of water, but I would do this again in a heartbeat.
This one was below us, I think. Sharks around and below us!! SO awesome!
Those aren't my toes. Maybe the husband's? I'm not sure; there were other people in the cage with us and I kept crashing into this other guy when the waves knocked into us.
Look at that guy!!! I wanted to pet them!
The husband said he was terrified as soon as he got in the water. I found it exhilarating!
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