For years a few friends and I have had a game where we try and find underwater tunnels to swim through, and because of the ruggedness of the coastline in Cape Town, there are an unbelievable amount of hidden gems.
We often see sharks, and for the most part they don’t seem interested in us, so most of the time we’re pretty calm, and hang around. So when a diver bud told us of colony of 7 gilled Cow Sharks near to where we often snorkel, we jumped at the chance to go swim with them.
This species is one of the oldest shark species we know of, and are fast becoming one of the top diving attractions in Cape Town. They don’t have the greatest eye-sight and can be curious, which makes this an exercise in staying calm (AKA not crapping yourself) when you first encounter them. They seem harmless enough, until you find seal bones in the sand, and hope that they are in fact seal bones.
Here’s some footage a bud took during one of our dives, diving with Cow Sharks. Enjoy.
[note: this post was originally on Mantist]