Winter White Shark Season in Gansbaai

 
Gansbaai in South Africa is the only place in the world where you can safely go cage diving with Great White Sharks all year round. And believe it or not, the winter season is the best time to do this bucket list adventure.

White sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are large apex predators who occur in cool marine systems all over the globe. Gansbaai, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, is visited seasonally by various sizes and both sexes of white sharks. In summer, strong southeasterly winds cause the cold water of the Benguela current to enter the bay. In winter, the northward movement of westerly winds reduce upwelling and increase the leakage of the warmer water of the Agulhas current into the bay. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, during winter the water is warmer and the visibility is clearer.

WATER TEMPERATURE IS NOT THE ONLY REASON WHY WINTER SHARK ARE SO ACTIVE
-try beating a seal snack!

Great white sharks seem to make conscious movement decisions to acquire food and mates and to evade predators. Cape Fur Seal pups, in fact nearly 12 000 of them, are a very big motivating factor to return to Dyer Island, Gansbaai during winter.
Geyser Rock is home to resident seal colony of 60 000 which increase every December when 12 000 seal pups are born.
These seal pups grow rapidly and by winter, not yet “sea” wise, they venture on their own into the waters of Shark Alley, the strait formed by 2 islands; Geyser Rock and Dyer Island. This is what the sharks have been waiting for. Every trip has the thrilling chance of seeing a great white shark hunt a seal at the surface.

However, the southern tip of Africa is not without reason called the Cape of Storm and it is these winter storms that made it notorious for shipwrecks. We encourage winter cage divers to plan a few possible dates for their dives as winter is characterized by these winter storms.

Ready for serious shark action?
Book online now and learn why great white sharks are the real stars of winter!