All photos by Mark Addison

One of my really good mates Olivia Symcox has been moaning at me for years now, come shark diving with me? To be honest I had the same reaction as most sane people. Are you crazy?

This is Olivia with as she calls it, HER sharks!

After some long chats about the merits of protecting these amazing animals I started to get more interested in what all the fuss was about. Slowly after seeing pictures of divers in amongst these graceful animals my mind started open.

Then I did C2C4C with Mark Addison (shark whisperer) and his passion on the subject got me amped to give it a run. Well earlier this week I took the plunge and jumped off a boat into the middle of 25-30 black tip sharks on Aliwal Shoal on the South Coast.

I was lucky enough to go diving with the ultimate on Sharks in my friends at Blue Wilderness. Thanks to Gale, Mark, James and Marcus for looking after me.

The experience was utterly amazing. I really thought it was going to be quite out there but it seriously wasn’t. It is totally safe and the amazing people around me created a vibe of appreciation for these amazing animals and not one of fear. They way it should be when it comes to these amazing creatures.

I was amazed at how comfortable I became around the sharks in such a small time frame. Some 15 min off the boat I was diving down into the middle of what seemed millions of them. It almost felt Peaceful being in the shark’s presence.  A kind of mutual respect and sense of calm. Finding Peace in the face of chaos is not easy but if very rewarding. A life lesson I will cherish.

Julie with tons of black tips. This is what it actually looks like!  

I think I am in love! Sharks have to one of the most beautiful animals and coming with centimetres of them was life changing. I never got any photos from the dive but really hope these pics from Mark Addison show some of what I am talking about.

Thanks to OJ for lighting the fire andto Rusty, your comments were well worth the trip down south alone!

Blue Wilderness Specialise in Shark diving and their conservation. If you are interested in diving with Sharks please give them a shout. It is well worth it!  Check out http://www.bluewilderness.co.za

Also got to know some cool people on the dive who are trying to look after the sharks. Check out the cool work Julie and Paul are doing at Shark Angels here - http://sharkangels.org