Adelaide, Port Lincoln & Kangaroo Island
Port Lincoln Adventures
For 4D3N, I lived on a boat completely unprepared for the cold, with waters at 16 degrees Celcius. Besides permanent sea sickness (despite popping 5 - 6 pills a day), I also did not see any sharks my trip. I did get to swim with some sea lions off Hopkins Island nearby.
Dead tuna & fish guts (?)
There was chumming involved in an attempt to attract the Great White Sharks.
At the back of the boat (which I lived on for 4 days), there was a container filled with fish parts and a whole tuna.
Chumming in action
Everyday, a dead tuna was dragged behind the boat as it cruised around. Everyone was hopeful, but everyone was also eventually disappointed.
Swimming with the sea lions
We sat on one of those tiny tug boats towards Hopkins Island, where the shore was covered with a fair number of sea lions.
Sea lions are curious creatures. They moved towards us into the water and swam around us. The cold got the better of me after about 5 minutes.
Photo credits: Wilson, a Taiwanese friend I made on the trip. He only entered the water once (to photograph sea lions), and never tried the cage (due to the lack of shark sightings).
Additional photos taken by Wilson, and the other two by my roomie on the boat Katie.
Fully geared up
Overly optimistic & severely cold before I entered the cage.
Despite the hood, 7mm wetsuit (with an additional furry rash guard), socks and booties, I would spend the whole diving shivering and worrying about hypothermia.
My post dive ritual involved standing under hot running water for 30 minutes in the shower, to emerge shivering still.
Purpose of the cage
The cage to protect the sharks from the fury of Ms Chan?
I only used the deep diving cage. My regulator was connected to my own air tank. It felt like riding a cold, underwater roller coaster, but lacking the thrill due to the lack of sharks. >_<
Surface cage
Our boat was equipped with two cages; one surface and one deep diving cage.
The photo shows the surface cage here, where divers breathed directly from a regulator that was connected to the surface.
Port Lincoln adventure continues (on land....)
It was such a relief getting off the boat and finally being on land. The permanent feeling of nausea was finally gone! I had two days to explore Port Lincoln on land; I booked two day tours and had Paul as my tour guide.
Besides shark diving, Port Lincoln is a small city town that is famous for their fishing industry. In particular, the hold a yearly festival (dedicated to tuna) called Tunarama. Apparently the town gets really busy then, but it was not Tunarama when I visited, so it was quiet and peaceful.
