SWIMMING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

Come on in...the water's fine! Or not. A shark lunges out of the water during our snorkel trip.

A visit to South Africa simply isn't complete without a relaxing swim in the swirling waters of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Or so we were told.  

Not ones to miss an opportunity for some quality beach time, we headed two hours southeast of Cape Town to Van Dyks Bay, home to long stretches of deserted shoreline...and a cove famous around the world for offering visitors the chance to get up close and personal with massive, hungry great white sharks.

Yes, that's great white sharks, the ones made famous by Jaws, "Shark Week," and overblown newscasts from around the planet that make these apex predators out to be much more dangerous to humans than they really are. Of course, when you're underwater in a cage and a 15-foot long, 2,000-lb. killing machine passes less than an arm's length in front of you, you'd be forgiven for accidentally warming your wetsuit from the inside. Not that either of us did that. No, really, we didn't. Photos below. 

  

"Fishing" for sharks only a few feet from a metal cage filled with snorkelers. Though the sharks are not actually fed, trips like these remain controversial for their impact on shark behavior. Click here for a news story on the practice of shark diving. 

Kip experiences a close encounter with a great white shark swimming just beyond the bars of the cage. 

It was a good day not to be a neoprene seal.

When one of the sharks latched onto the fake seal used to attract them, a tooth lodged in the seal's back. The captain presented the jagged incisor to Liz, who was extremely excited about her new souvenir.