Malcolm Nobbs - 2014 June

In June 2014 I returned to The Neptune Islands with Jon Shaw as part of a ginclearfilm dive group trip. The islands are located about 20 miles south of Port Lincoln and are in effect the meeting and focal point for Great White sharks of both South and Western Australia.

As in 2011 we motored there from Port Lincoln aboard MV Princess II with Andrew Fox, for three days of Great White cage action. Andrew knew that there were presently lot of trevallies at North Neptune Island and that they would form “a curtain” around the shark cage. So instead we headed to South Neptune Island. Unfortunately there was only one solitary “deep hugging” Great White there so after two disappointing cage dives, we relocated on Day Two to North Neptune Island.

As Andrew had predicted, our cage was soon encircled by trevallies but at least we had some Great Whites. On our first dive there, two circled our cage, the larger being about 4.5 metres long. The trevallies were a nuisance but they often parted to give us some really great close-up sightings of the Great Whites. Three more cage dives followed on Days Two and Three which despite the trevallies I thoroughly enjoyed. And that should have been it. It was getting late on Day Three, the weather was starting to close in and the skipper wanted to start the journey back to Port Lincoln but Jon pushed him to give us one final dive. Jon’s dry suit had acquired a slight hole in it and his quick emergency repair looked decidedly dodgy but the cage door closed and we soon dropping to the seabed at 24 metres. At first not a lot happened with just the pesky trevallies for company but then Godzilla, a 4.5 metre long Great White, began buzzing us. That got our attention! Of course I then forgot all about Jon’s potential leak. His suit did leak a bit but certainly did not flood. A good dive to end the trip on.