ON PAGES 122 & 123 OF THEIR EXCELLENT BOOK ON THE GREAT WHITE SHARK CARCHARODON CARCHARIAS, RICHARD ELLIS AND JOHN McCOSKER PROVIDE A WORLD MAP SHOWING ITS KNOWN DISTRIBUTION. ACCORDING TO THIS MAP, OVER TWO THIRDS OF AUSTRALIA’S COASTLINE IS HOME TO THIS SHARK, YET THERE’S ONE AREA THAT’S REPEATEDLY REFERRED TO IN THE BOOK AS THE EPICENTRE - PORT LINCOLN IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S SPENCER GULF. hooked on In June 2003 I travelled back to Port in the presence of the Great White - and Lincoln, seven years after my first visit, to that’s just what they do, grace you with try and realise a long held ambition to dive their presence - but let me simply state with the Great White shark. The Spencer that to see these sharks in the cold waters Gulf is one of only three places in the world of the Spencer Gulf is to see a creature in where it is possible do this with any degree total command of its environment. of certainty, the other two being the Farallon Islands in Southern California The whole experience is really quite and Dyer Island in South Africa. unique and one that has left an indelible impression on me. First of all I had always To be in the water, albeit from the safety of been under the impression that the Great a shark cage, with what is almost certainly White is just a totally ruthless killing the ultimate underwater predator is machine and it only required a few drops something I have wanted to do since I first of blood in the water for it to home in read about the incredible exploits of Ron from miles away and devour anything that & Valerie Taylor and Rodney Fox many was in the water. Well the reality that I years ago. found is that these sharks are actually very cautious and will often take a great Many people, far more eloquent than me, deal of time to actually take a bait and the have written about the experience of being best way I can think of describing them is divesites great whites ::TEXT AND IMAGES DON SILCOCK SPORTDIVING MAGAZINE 25 hooked on great whites basically they are a huge ‘non-linear’ force. choppy crossing to Dangerous Reef, the Great whites are magnificently equipped By non-linear I mean they are just not delicate aroma of burley drifting through due to aeons of evolution within their predictable unless they are hungry and it the boat severely challenged my stomach environment.Those famous (or infamous?) is how hungry they are that seems to retention capability! teeth are self-replicating, their sensory dictate their behaviour - they’re definitely organs are barely visible to a human eye not an insatiable monster that will devour However all that’s quickly forgotten when yet can distinguish particular smells or anything anytime it crosses their path. the sharks approach the cage to take one behaviour from great distances.Their of the tuna baits. I couldn’t get enough of range, mating or breeding habits are still The second thing that will remain with me this awe inspiring sight, so in January this largely unknown in both north and south is the smell and taste of the burley used to year I again travelled back to Port Lincoln hemispheres, but successful satellite entice the sharks to the boat. This evil to do the trip. This time we went to North tagging projects have been done in potion consists of minced tuna gills and Neptune Island as South Australia’s Parks Australia in recent years. guts, selected because they are and Wildlife Department has stopped particularly rich in blood – what can I say charter companies going to Dangerous Scientists at CSIRO Marine Research but it smells and looks awful! If that isn’t Reef. (CMR) are studying the movement patterns of white sharks in southern Australian enough, when you actually get in the water waters using a variety of different tags and you can taste the burley! After the second We had sharks in both locations, but there from the observations of both recreational day I found that it didn’t bother me too were more of them and they were more and commercial fishers. much, but on the first day after a night aggressive (hungry...) at Dangerous Reef The scientists hope to discover: spent in one of Port Lincoln’s hotels and a than they were at North Neptune. The * whether white sharks mix between different areas within Australia and whether they leave Australian waters (for example do the white sharks off South Australia move and mix with white sharks in NSW); * where they go in different seasons and whether that changes between years; * what areas are important to them (such as feeding, breeding or nursery grounds); * what pathways they follow; and * how long they stay in and how frequently they visit particular places. www.csiro.au They are beautifully balanced marine machines and cameras don’t accurately capture their true physical proportions. Anyone who’s seen them on the move in the water remembers their massive chests, their big efficient pectoral fins and the powerhouse of tensed muscle when they move in to take prey or bait. Marine scientists worldwide are endeavouring to map the habits of these 26 SPORTDIVING MAGAZINE visibility was typically around 5 metres I have never actually met Rodney Fox, but If Rodney Fox is ‘victim turned maximum during the four days at I have read so much about him that gamekeeper’ then Rolf Czabayski is the Dangerous Reef, which meant that these I feel like I have. Rodney is famous for original ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ - he creatures – and we saw a total of 10 narrowly surviving a savage mauling by a is a real character who is truly passionate different ones varying in length from 2.5 Great White off Adlinga Beach, south of about Great Whites he used to hunt as a to 5 metres – are almost invisible until Adelaide, in 1963 whilst competing in a champion big game fisherman. He started they appear in front of the cage. spearfishing competition. The actual story off his charters in a 35’ Bertram boat of the attack and how he survived is several years ago and then invested in his The visibility at North Neptune was much equally spine chilling and miraculous, current 57’ custom built motor cruiser better, which meant we could see much which when you add the fact that Rodney Calypso Star. Both my trips were with more of the five sharks that visited the was back in the water spearfishing three Rolf and I have nothing but praise for boat. months later and went on to become an what he does. Check out Australian champion the following year is www.calypsostarcharter.com.au for more. The Charter Companies nothing short of incredible. There are now only two operators offering Great White Trips - Rodney Fox and Rodney pioneerAustralian great white Rolf Czabayski, both of whom are very cage diving and now runs his expeditions interesting people who will do from Adelaide with his son Andrew everything they possibly can to make your aboard the Falie. Their website is trip special. www.rodneyfox.com.au/expeditions.htm SOUTH AUSTRALIA a l f l u u s G n r i e n TUMBY c BAY e n P e p e S r y REEVESBY ISLAND E Point Bolingbroke ROXBY ISLAND Sir Joseph Banks Group BOSTON PORT ISLAND SPILSBY ISLAND LINCOLN Cape Donington Maclaren Dangerous Point Reef TAYLOR ISLAND GRINDAL ISLAND TO ADELAIDE West Point T THISTLE hor ny ISLAND P WILLIAMS a s s ISLAND a Waterhouse g Gambier e Point Islands LOW ROCKS SOUTH WEST ROCK PEAKED ROCKS NEPTUNE ISLANDS OCEAN SOUTHERN SPORTDIVING MAGAZINE 27 Getting There GREAT WHITE SHARK FACTS & FICTION Port Lincoln is on the western side of the Spencer Gulf and about 40 minutes flight from SIZE: Great White Sharks are big creatures - Whales – dead ones – also provide Adelaide. It is a very prosperous town, with but just how big do they get? Before cage excellent opportunities for a very long many ‘tuna millionaires’and is well serviced by diving allowed actual interaction with them lunch and there have been many both Regional Air Express (REX) and Airlines of the sharks that were actually caught, and examples of packs of Great White South Australia. those that got away, established the sharks feasting on a dead whale maximum size.The former should be the carcass.The shark’s incredibly sensitive What To Take more accurate, for fairly obvious reasons, sense of smell can detect the intense and in their book Ellis & McCosker actually ‘aroma’exuded by a dead whale, Underwater photographic equipment is right at investigated in detail some of the legendary the top of my recommendations and you will monster shark tales - such as the ‘Azores spread by tides and currents, over great need wide-angle lenses to get decent shots of Giant’, a 29-foot Great White reportedly distances which explains why so many the sharks because they are big! Basically the caught in July 1978 off San Miguel Island in of them congregate at the carcass. wider the lens the better and if you have a full the Azores, 800 miles west of Portugal. So frame fish eye, take it because you will really be big was this shark that it was to go in the In their book Ellis & McCosker detail a able to use it in the cage. Don’t bother with Guinness Book of Animal Facts & Feat and reliably reported incident in October strobes as they get in the way whilst in the cage Richard Ellis actually travelled to the Azores 1987 when a pack of seven Great Whites and will only highlight the amount of burley in in the early 1980’s to try and find out if the working together in concert to push the the water! reported size was really true.