Up close and far too personal

To celebrate their 21st birthdays in style AUT journalism student Jenha White and boyfriend Kahu Te Whaiti had a heart-pounding marine encounter. It’s an adventure many people would happily go without – they’d rather watch sharks who are on the other side of thick protective glass. But as the pair discover there is more to sharks than scary movies.

Sharks are graceful. Sharks are curious. Sharks are peaceful.

These are three statements I never would have made a month ago. But after an incredible diving experience, my perception has changed completely.

Turning 21 on the same day as my boyfriend Kahu Te Whaiti was the inspiration. We wanted to do something unforgettable.

On a Saturday in March we nervously greeted shark chaser Boyd McGregor and seven others in Whakatane, boarded a boat and headed out into Bay of Plenty waters.

We didn’t have the ideal day. Grey clouds were strewn across the sky and the wind was up, but that just added to the suspense.

Where murky green water met clear blue, Boyd butchered some old tuna and threw the pungent smelling berley into the sea. A greasy slick appeared on the water as the scent spread.

The first of 11 didn’t take long to arrive. Out of nowhere we saw a dark shadow with a fin peeking out.

Suddenly the fact we were on a shark dive became very real.

Boyd hoisted the 2-metre by 2.5-metre aluminium cage over the side and, before I knew it, a weight belt was around my hips, a diving mask on my head and I was over the side too.

"What are we doing? This is crazy," I kept saying, but Boyd just chuckled. "Don’t pat the sharks," he said.

Thanks Boyd.

I jumped.

Hyperventilating and desperately sucking in air from the tank, eyes wide as saucers, I panned the ocean looking for the mako I’d seen from the boat.

There it was, sauntering through the water. I stopped hyperventilating and stopped breathing altogether.

I was face to face with a mako shark.

The mako moved swiftly through the water, inspected the bait for a while and then made a beeline for us.

Surely this was to be the moment of a frenzied attack. But surprisingly it calmly circled the cage, its black round eyes not as menacing as expected.

The mako was beautiful and peaceful, just like any other fish gliding through the sea, unlike pictures shown in the media.

Then suddenly a wetsuit-clad body splashed into the sea right next to it. Incredibly the mako wasn’t fazed.

It just kept doing its own thing, it wasn’t bothered at all by Shane Wasik, the professional diver from Edinburgh, taking photos.

Suddenly I felt very safe in the aluminium cage.

My breathing was under control and I watched the sharks in awe rather than fear, appreciating their graceful yet powerful movements in the water.

"Sharks get such a bad rep because movies like Jaws put images in people’s minds that create terror. It’s just because they’re at the top of the food chain," says Boyd.

He likened sharks to gang members. If you see a patched gang member in the street, you act with a bit of caution knowing what they’re capable of. It’s the same with sharks.

Diver Shane said on the rare occasion a surfer is attacked, it’s because they look like a seal when swimming on their board.

"Sharks don’t intend to eat humans, it’s just unfortunate they test with their teeth," he said.

The experience completely changed my perspective on sharks. I’m not afraid of them any more. I just see it as being really unlucky if any-
one’s ever attacked.

In fact, you’re more likely to be hit by lightning or win Lotto.

By the time my boyfriend and I got out of the cage we were emotionally and physically exhausted.

When we got back to solid ground, the seven of us went for a well-deserved beer – we had just had the most extreme experience of our lives.

- © Fairfax NZ News