Laura noted that unlike some dive boats, the Belle Amie’ s cages were constructed of stainless steel with soldered bars. It reassured her in the face of earlier news that a shark had penetrated the dive cage of another boat with cages made of weaker aluminum bars that were only bolted together. The Mexican government had responded with new safety requirements, basically to protect the sharks from inadvertently being trapped in unsafe cages, risking the safety of both sharks and divers.
The Belle Amie cruised overnight before anchoring. Cage diving began at 6:30 am.“ The anticipation was huge,” Laura said.“ I’ d waited two years to make this dive, and this was only one of two places in the world to do cage dives, the other one being off the coast of Africa. The water was incredibly clear and temperate in the high 60s to low 70s, the ideal environment for great whites.
“ I wore my dry( diving) suit, which allowed me to stay toasty warm even while staying in the water for up to four hours at a time. I added about 45-50 pounds to my weight belt so as not to bounce around, up and down, in the shark cage.”
“ Our air supply was maintained in the boat. We submerged with our regulators, connected by a breathing line to the surface with backup tanks in the diving cage, just in case. Several of us climbed into the dive cage and the divemaster stood in the cage on a platform just above us. First, the boat crew threw buckets of chum into the water to attract the sharks. They came, swimming alongside and directly at us, and then under and over our dive cage. Clink, clink, clink, it’ s dorsal fin would hit the cage bars as it swam by.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017 gmhtoday. com
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