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RE: A moment in the bay

in #travel7 years ago

I have heard Cape Town is one of the most densely populated areas for great whites! YIKES! you are brave. I have a mental block when it comes to swimming in the ocean with out a board. I am a very strong swimmer and I have actually had to be rescued because I was panicking and losing control of my breath. I am following you now, and looking forward to more under water photos!!

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The White sharks are normally the other side of the peninsula, in False Bay (the Indian Ocean side). Camps Bay is on the west (Atlantic) side of the peninsula where Whites are much more rare, although they have been sighted there occasionally. As a scuba diver, I've dived a lot with sharks - tigers, black tips, bull sharks, ragged tooth, etc. Humans are not a shark's natural prey. It's extremely unlikely that even a White will take a human in clear water. A friend of mine proved this point by swimming in the shark pool at the Cape Town Oceanarium (with two scuba divers under him, for safety). If a shark can see you, it would be EXTREMELY unusual behaviour for him to attack you. Most if not all shark attacks on humans happen in turbulent or murky water where a shark has mistaken a human for a seal or other fish. By the way, I feel a lot safer in the water WITHOUT a board. Surfboards or boogie-boards on the surface, with your legs hanging off the back: you look A LOT like a seal!! You're also floating stationary a lot of the time. Remember sharks are also scavengers. Something that's floating around and not going anywhere looks to a shark a lot like something that is injured or dead = lunch! A swimmer in the water has a much more different profile and rhythm, and is therefore much safer, IMHO.

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