The Krauska Family Blog

This morning we woke up at 5am because we needed to get dressed and packed, ready to go at 5:30am. Our transfer driver picked us up at the hotel at 5:30 am to drive us to Gansbaai for great white shark cage diving! Our first trip got cancelled in False Bay, so they recommended we go out here because they were spotting sharks! We got to what they called the “white house” and had breakfast! After breakfast we watched a short video, got on our life jackets, orange rain coats and walked down to the boat.

Our boat ride was about 20 minutes to where we anchored, so not too far out. Brandon and I got in our wet suits and went in the cage with the first group. There were 8 of us in the cage at one time. We saw several great white sharks and even a saw a young one breech completely out of the water. While we were in the cage, 2 young sea lions can swimming and jumping around us. The experience of being in the water and that close to great whites was spectacular. The water was very cold but Brandon and I both got used to it pretty quickly.

It was hard to take pictures because of the waves and the only thing holding you in place was yourself, so it was a challenge! We stayed in the cage for about 20 minutes and overall our experience was incredible! After we got out of the water, we had some hot chocolate. I then started to not feel well and thought I may get sea sick. The waves pushed us around in the cage a lot so I think hat did it for me. I went up to the front and sat on the side of the boat so I could still see the sharks. I ended up getting sick a few times but still had could see the sharks and Brandon. I was ready for the last group to go, so I could get off the boat! Once everyone had a chance to go in the cage, they let one more group go and so Brandon got to go again! Brandon loved this trip and I did as well, just wish I didn’t get sick! These sharks were so cool. We ended up seeing 15 different sharks which is amazing! Typically a great day for them is seeing 5-7 sharks, so seeing this many was awesome!

Our boat then went over to seal island. It was covered in sea lions. There were so many sea lions in certain spots you could barley see the rocks. We then went back to shore and to the white house for water, bread and soup. We bought a few things at the gift shop and then got dressed and cleaned up because our transfer was taking us straight to the airport. We then arrived at the airport, got checked in and had dinner before getting on the plane! Our first flight was to London then we had a flight to Dallas. The flights were long but we could not wait to get home and see our kids! It took awhile to get through baggage claim and customs at DFW because our luggage didn’t make it back to Dallas, so we had to deal with that. But once through those, our kids had made us welcome home signs and I got to hug and kiss them which I could’t wait to do! It was so good to be home!