Swimming with Sea Lions and Great White Sharks!

After passing through The Grampians (which is stunning) and camping there for one cold and rainy night, we headed for Adelaide before finally reaching our destination of Port Lincoln.

Port Lincoln is a small town which caters for people wanting to adventurous things such as diving with Great White Sharks. It is one of the only places in the world to do such a thing, therefore it only felt right that we were to give it a go.

We arrived in Port Lincoln and pitched up our tent by the beach and got chatting to other travellers who showed us their pictures from their day of cage diving. It looked awesome and we couldn’t wait to get on that boat and into the sea! But first we had a morning of swimming with sea lions booked in. We opted to book through Adventure Bay Charters. Partly because they were the first company we came across, but mostly because of the reviews they had.

We got up nice and early and headed to the pier where the boat would leave at 8am. It was a beautiful morning and the sea wasn’t too choppy at all. We got to spend some time swimming freely amongst the colony of sea lions and it was one of the most magical days seeing these endangered animals in their natural habitat. We got very lucky as this was the last day anyone could swim with them this year due to the company only letting the boat out during certain times of the year to avoid making the area too touristy and to protect the sea lions.

After the swim we decided to book into a hostel so that we could get a good rest and treat ourselves to actual beds before our big day with the sharks!

The mini bus picked us up from the hostel at 6am on the Sunday and we, along with 12 other people set off on the boat for the open water. The sunrise was beautiful and I felt so so lucky to be here and due to the previous day being so calm I didn’t expect what was to come.

Around an hour and a half into the 3 hour boat journey I started to feel a little queasy so I went to the back of the boat to get some fresh air and watch the horizon disappearing behind us. I felt a little better so when we were all told to put our wet suits on as we would be there soon, I attempted to get into mine. Everyone else on the boat seemed okay and managed to listen to the safety briefing whilst I sat there with my sick bag (attractive I know!).

The cage was lowered and people were jumping in as fast as they could (including James). I was so jealous as all I wanted to do was hop in there too. But I was so sick, and nothing was making me feel better. I couldn’t move and sat there sipping water whilst trying not to lean over the side of the boat.

Five hours passed and I was still in the same position when the skipper advised us all we would be turning back to the pier. Three other people were ill and unable to go in so I just put it down to the rough conditions of the sea that day and decided that it was just not my time to swim with the sharks today. I did get to see five or six from the boat which kind of cheered me up.

James loved it though and I’m glad I actually got to see the sharks, even if I didn’t get to swim with them.

If anyone is heading to South Australia or wants to swim with Great Whites, I highly recommend Adventure Bay Charters. They are the only company in SA who do not use bait to attract the sharks (which actually makes them very aggressive) and use sound waves to bring their curiosity over, therefore they are in a much more natural environment and we are not disturbing their habitat.

Had I not been sick for 11 hours I would have absolutely loved this day. But it didn’t ruin my weekend and I can’t recommend it enough.