Chris Fallows: The Shark Whisperer Shares His Secrets

Have you heard of Chris Fallows? If you love Great Whites, then you undoubtedly have. Chris is a well-known shark specialist and the discoverer of the now-famous breaching behaviour that the incredible predators use to hunt. He and his wife, Monique Fallows, run a shark cage diving company called Apex Shark Expeditions which operates in the scenic region of False Bay.

In 1989, Chris started tagging sharks and established a catch and release programme with local fishermen that effectively resulted in the release of more than 1,500 rays and sharks. From 1992-1996, he worked at Dyer Island, before co-founding African Shark Eco-Charters in False Bay.

1996 was also the year when Chris and a colleague discovered the shark’s breaching behaviour in False Bay – the shark torpedoes its entire frame out the sea and then launches itself on unsuspecting prey. Chris and Monique started Apex in 2000 – a company that prioritises the shark’s well-being and aims to educate the public about these often misunderstood fish.

With over 1,300 trips to Seal Island under his belt, Chris is an expert on Great White behaviour and, together with his team; he has catalogued 5,500 predatory events, which is the largest database of its kind in the world.

You can also read Chris’s scientific papers to familiarise yourself with the behaviour of sharks or opt to go on one of his special ‘Sharks of Southern Africa’ tours, which are specially designed to cater for shark and wildlife enthusiasts. If you are interested in shark cage diving in Gansbaai or False Bay and want to go with a responsible company that emphasises the well-being of the animal, then you can’t go wrong with Apex.

Chris will be speaking and signing books at the Two Oceans Aquarium on the 27th February. The event promises to be an unforgettable one and includes a welcome drink, snacks and a tour of the Aquarium, which currently houses in excess of 3,000 living sea animals.

The Aquarium showcases the phenomenal diversity of life found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and has numerous colourful and informative displays for guests to enjoy, including the seal enclosure and penguin zone. It was established in 1995 and has grown from strength to strength; now recognised as one of Cape Town’s most treasured tourist hot spots. 

Original Source: Apex Shark Expeditions

Facing the Apex Predator with Shark Bookings

When talking about adventure, one imagines zooming down sandy dunes atop a Laminex sand board, plummeting towards the earth with a resplendent parachute whistling in the wind, or dangling off a rocky mountain while attached to a harness. But this is not true adventure, as some adventurists might say. True adventure is finding yourself face to face with one of the world's most feared underwater predators with nothing but a glinting steel cage between you and the apex predator. This adrenalin fueled experience is better known as shark cage diving.

While there are a number of adventure tour companies and shark cage diving companies in Cape Town, Shark Bookings has been around for over a decade and remains one of the most revered booking agencies for cage diving Gansbaai.

Based in the small Western Cape town of Gansbaai, Shark Bookings is ideally situated for diving experiences and encounters with the fearsome great white shark. Popular shark cage diving locations such as Geyser Rock, Shark Alley and Dyer Island are home to large numbers of great white sharks, which means shark sightings are almost always guaranteed.

Although Shark Bookings is mostly focused on shark cage diving in Gansbaai, they also offer diving packages in a number of other diving destinations, including Cape Town, Durban, Mossel Bay and the south-east African country of Mozambique.

Some of the carefully organized diving trips include: a Great White Shark Cage Diving package, a Whale Watching Ocean Safari, a Shark Diving and Helicopter Flight combination package, a Tiger Shark dive, and Manta Ray and Whale Shark dive packages.

To find out more about these and other cage diving Gansbaai and Mozambique dive packages, visit Shark Bookings or contact Dave or Elna Caravias:

Email: enquiries@sharkbookings.com
Telephone: 0027 (0) 82 466 4519
Facsimile: 0027 (0) 28 384 3763

Originally posted on: Travel South Africa Today
Source: travelsouthafricatoday.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/facing-the-apex-predator-with-shark-bookings

Shark cage diving

You get fantastic shark cage diving in Gaansbaai. and scuba diving tour packages. The Great White Shark Diving Company offers an experience of a life time which is definitely worth its price.

It is such a personalised experience to be face to face with the sharks. If you are a photographer this would be one of the best moments to get those perfect shots of the marine life, even while you are shark cage diving. Definitely one of the most frightening moments I’m sure you will ever experience in your life. If you are a serious shark enthusiast their company even offers five or ten day trips as well.

It offers you that once in a lifetime eye to eye contact with a great white shark. So if you are feeling courageous and daring enough, you should definitely go shark cage diving.

Source : Apex Predators

Diving Holidays

Get the best dive packages for diving holidays in South Africa or Mozambique. Experience diving as it should be.

You can get the following dive packages and diving holidays:

Great White Shark Dive & Stay

1 Night Stay at the Roundouse + Great White Shark Dive

Location: Gansbaai
Season: All Year
Experience Required: None
From R1700 per person sharing

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SHARK ALLEY EXPRESS

3 fantastic packages:

1 Night + 2 Dives

2 Nights + 1 Dive

2 Nights + 2 Dives

Location: Gansbaai South Africa
Season: all year
Experience Required: None
Price: from R2250

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Big 2 Combo

Fantastic combination of Shark Cage Diving, Whale Watching and accommodation

Location: Gansbaai
Season: July - December
Experience Required: None
Price: From R2550

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4 Night Shark Alley Express

4 x Nights accommodation

2 x Shark Dives

Car Hire / Transfers (Optional)

Location: Gansbaai
Season: All Year
Experience Required: None
Price: From R4100 per person sharing

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Shark Week Durban

Week filled with Sharks with up to 5 different species on any one dive!

Location: Aliwal Shoal
Seasons: All Year
Experience Required: Advanced Diver with min 25 dives
Price: R8,650 per person Sharing

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Source: Shark Bookings

Information on shark cage and great white shark diving

We dive out at Dyer Island which is situated off the coast from Kleinbaai (Gansbaai). Between the months of May through October is considered to be the best time to view the Great White Shark, although they are seen throughout the year!

This is due to the 30 000 strong Cape Fur Seal colony that inhabit Dyer Island, which is the Great White predators primary source of nutrition. The Great White Shark is a surface feeder and thus all the activity takes place on or very close to the surface, due to this, the surface viewing from the boat is excellent.

• You do not need any diving certification to do the cage dive.
• We limit the numbers per trip to exclusively '12' to insure each of our divers receives maximum 'Cage' time! (A larger vessel can be chartered if teams/groups exceed this number)
• The ride to the dive sight takes15 - 20 minutes where we anchor for between 4 and 5 hours.
• Diving time is unlimited, and for the first dive you stay in the cage for about 30 - 45 minutes
• We use a 5 person cage and so there is plenty of time to cage dive. (We can guarantee you at least 2-3 dives, depending on the shark activity for the day).

Scuba Diving With The Great White Sharks

Once the sharks are around, a specially designed, four-man shark cage, that floats right bellow the surface, is lowered into the clear aquamarine waters. Divers with at least snorkel or regulator experience, may enter the cage where they hold on to its inside ring still out of the water, waiting for the shark to approach closer. This part of the cage is still out of the water /40cm/. Only on the dive master 's command they descend. Divers are never more than 1 meter below the surface.

Divers comfortably step into the cage from the side of the boat. Once in the diving cage, they breath through the "hooker system" /air supplied from the surface on the extended hose, instead of BCD and cylinders on the back/, or just taking and holding their breath. According to our experience this is a well-suited method, providing the safest and most comfortable dive.

Shark Cage Diving

The best time of the year to cage dive with white sharks is from April to September. Four to five sharks are usually encountered in a day with as many as 18 sharks having been encountered on some outings. We have a 95% success rate in terms of daily sightings during the high season. Great white sharks prefer a diet of game fish and from May to October the latter are in abundance. Great whites are also known to feed on seals and carrion. October to December, being the pupping season for some 35,000 seals on Geyser Island, results in an ample food supply of drowned pups in the surrounding coastal waters. Although great whites may be sighted during the low season, the abundance of food in the area makes luring to the boat more difficult.

The water temperature ranges between 55° and 65° F and divers take turns in the cage, each staying approximately 15-20 minutes. A diver can expect to make two to three dives per day if good weather, sea conditions, shark activity and visibility prevails. Visibility is between 4m to 6m on average, but may exceed 15m on a clear day.
Sharks may brush the cage, but to date an attack on the cage has not been reported.

Read up on a recent White Shark Diving Review.

Source: Shark cage Diving