Cape Town

CapeTown: African Shark Eco-Charters Shark Cage Diving Experience

Name: CapeTown: African Shark Eco-Charters Shark Cage Diving Experience
Brand: African Shark Eco-Charters
SKU: 60680P1
Price: 199.56 USD
Rating: 4.5 (127 reviews)

Cape Town, South Africa

African Shark Eco Charters Shark Cage Diving Cape Town

4 hours 30 minutes
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Dive with sharks off the coast of Cape Town during this small-group excursion. With an experienced captain and crew in the lead, you'll be perfectly safe and listen to guided commentary on the biology and behavior of the sharks before you get in the water. A small group makes for lots of personalized attention and an intimate atmosphere.

Use of all equipment included
Snacks provided on the boat
Small group for an intimate experience
Learn about shark biology and behavior

What's Included

Use of Scuba equipment
Snacks

Please bring own towels

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

1 Wharf St, Simon's Town, Cape Town, 7975, South Africa
We meet at the office on Wharf Street. Please enquire if you need a transfer to and from your hotel. NOTE: TRANSFER'S ARE AN ADDITIONAL FEE

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Not recommended for pregnant travelers

No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Operated by African Shark Eco-Charters

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Mandy_D

The boat passed by sea lion island where there we so many sea lions sun bathing and swimming by the boat. We also crossed though a huge pod of dolphins on the way to the dive site. We saw 3 different sharks during our dive. The crew was wonderful. I would definitely recommend this to everyone and do it again. The water was so cold but worth it.

Reviews

4.5

127 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 127 reviews

Great experience

Mandy_D, Apr 2024

Excellent Customer Service

Justine_M, Feb 2024

Unfortunately we were unable to go on this particular tour due to bad weather but Nadine was amazing and found us another tour in a different location.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you so much for your kind words and lovely review. Yes, it is important for us that our guests get to experience this incredible adventure, even if it is not with us. Glad we were able to make it happen :-)

No sharks but still a great morning

karyn_s, Feb 2024

Even though the sharks were eating breakfast somewhere else, we had a great time. Saw thousands of seals and a few penguins, and even some dolphins came swimming by. The whole team was extremely nice and disappointed for us as well. Hopefully we can get back to South Africa to use our voucher!

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you for your kind words. Yes it is sad when the sharks do not reply to our WhatsApp messages, but we sincerely hope to see you again soon to make use of that voucher.

Absolutely amazing experience with a highly professional operator.

Dominic_H, Jan 2024

We decided to book shark cage diving with African Shark Eco-Charters whilst on holiday in cape town. We had the best experience imaginable with this company and the team were polite, friendly and professional and they made the whole experience completely worth the money we paid for. We booked at short noticed and they got back to us later that night saying our booking was confirmed. We showed up the next day to their office in Simons Town and completed the sign in process. The best thing about these guys is that they have scuba gear to allow your to stay underwater and see the sharks clearly rather than other companies who use snorkels. The Captain and crew of the vessel were top notch and we had amazing luck on the day being able to see 30 bronze whaler sharks on our dive. snacks and refreshments were available on board as well allowing for a comfortable journey back to the harbour. 10/10 would recommend these guys again and when we come back to Cape Town later in 2024 we will be booking with these guys again.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you! What a fantastic trip this was, and we are just thrilled we were able to share it with you.

Awesome experience

Austin_W, Jan 2024

This excursion was breathtaking! So many sharks so close to you! And the quick stop by seal island was so cool! Also the seals swimming next to the sharks was an unexpected but awesome surprise. Highly recommend this trip.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you so much for your review

Worth it

Simona_P, Jan 2024

sharks and great team. Everything was well organized, informative, great guides, and of course great experience. Met great solo travelers on this trip, too. I think being used to scuba diving helps

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you for your review, we appreciate you

No Sharks Due to Weather; No Accommodation To Us

Robert_J, Jan 2024

Shark cage diving was the most important event of our stay in Cape Town. We arranged all other tours around it, taking a great deal of effort. Then, three days before the tour, the operator said that the weather was going to be too rough and cancelled the tour. The operator said that he might be able to re-schedule us with an unidentified "colleague" in Gansbaai (a 6 hour round trip drive away) for the same price plus 3000 ZAR for the transportation. We understand that safety comes first and that weather precluded this tour. But this operator made no real effort to accommodate us by still charging us $936 U.S. plus 3000 ZAR in transportation to use some unidentified "colleague" at an additional charge. I would expect that an operator would value our business and go out of their way to take care of us; not upcharge us and make things far more difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Very disappointing.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

We are sorry you feel this way. Weather is unfortunately beyond our control and i am quite sure that had we gone out, your review would have been one of complaint that we took you out in those conditions. Not sure how are we to "accommodate" you anymore than we did, by giving another option? I guess we just can't please everyone all the time. Hope you enjoyed our beautiful Cape Town at least.

Dive disappointment

Robert_H, Dec 2023

The trip was cancelled days ahead by the dive operation. Very disappointed. Need a refund asap. Do not understand why a dive trip was cancelled 3 days before the dive.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Possibly because the weather forecast was showing unsafe and highly unpleasant conditions? Just a guess?

Excellent Trip - Highly Recommend!

Thomas_R, Nov 2023

Excellent trip, very well organised from beginning to end. The team are super responsive and communicate via email and/or whatsapp. The shark diving was brilliant spending a full 30mins under water in the cage with a respirator tank on board meant we saw ~20 sharks!

Response from Host, Apr 2024

We are so pleased we were able to facilitate this incredible adventure for you :-) Thanks for coming out with us

Amazing day with the sharks

Louise_B, Nov 2023

We had the day rearranged as the crew advised it was bad conditions and wouldn’t have been pleasant - we’re so glad they did! We had lots of sharks and seals and the crew were very friendly and professional.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Thank you for your review and for understanding that weather is not something we are able to control. We are thrilled you managed to reschedule and still got to experience this with us.

Great experience

Sonia_F, Nov 2023

Knowledgeable crew and great experience. We saw lots of sharks and seals. I’d strongly recommend taking sea sickness pills , most of the guests did but at least half of us still got sea sick.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Yeah, sea sickness is not fun, this is why we strongly recommend taking the tabs :-) We are glad you had a good day out with us and the sharks. Thanks for your review

Great experience

Caitie_K, Jul 2023

This was a highlight of my South Africa trip. We were able to see bronze whalers and I felt like we were able to stay in the water/cage for a good period of time. Would do again in a heartbeat.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you, it was such a pleasure for us to be able to share this experience with you!

Shark Diving

Symia_J, Jun 2023

Amazing Experience! The lady in the office was welcoming and informative. The workers on the boat were also nice and helpful. My only concern is the sharing of the mouth piece. That was a bit much. Even after cleaning it, the thought that there’s literally nothing protecting your mouth from the mouth being shared with others was something I had to not think about. I’m thinking something disposable to go over the mouth piece or investing in more for each person during the excursion. Overall, great experience. The water felt amazing as I thought it would’ve been freezing. I would definitely do it again..

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you for your review. We are able to assure you of every precaution taken with regards to the sanitizing of the mouth pieces, but we are thrilled that you enjoyed the trip and adventure with us

Amazing

Stephanie_N, May 2023

It was an amazing experiences. The boat ride was truly mesmerizing and I loved the additional stops especially seeing the small seals. We ran into a family of dolphins and it was amazing. Out of this world experience.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you! We just love enjoying the experience with you and seeing through your eyes.

Excellent and should not be missed.

Kitt_A, May 2023

The visibility was great that morning. Information given by the crew about the sea life made it very enjoyable. I used my own underwater camera to take videos. Overall it was an exhilarating experience!!

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you! We just love to hear that you had a great time :-)

They got a free $190 from me.

Keteva_H, May 2023

I can’t actually rate the experience because I didn’t go. I missed the pick up and was told I can reschedule but I would have to pay the $190 fee for the excursion again. Thought that was a little unfair. I will be scheduling this again but definitely with a different company.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Good day, and thank you for the review, albeit skewed and only mentioning some of the points around this incident. You were made aware, that the driver would be at your accommodations at a specific time. You were also informed, numerous times, that should you miss the transfer or the boat, the cancellation policy would come into effect. You were told that the transfer is not able to wait more than 10 minutes, as they have other people who also need to make the boat, so as not to have the cancellation policy come into effect for them. Eventually, the driver had to leave despite numerous attempts to wake you. We then offered to take you out again, if we had a spot for you in the days ahead, which is way and beyond what we were required to do, as per the agreement you signed when making your booking. If, for whatever reason you did not join us, we cannot be responsible for that.

Totally recommend!!

YOEL_G, Mar 2023

Excellent trip , sharp cage diving was quiet an experience. Sharps were very close and scary sometime . Totally recommend. We also spotted a huge group of dolphins on the way back. Crew was very good, nice, helpful and patient.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you!

Great day out and well organised

Bradley_B, Feb 2023

Well organised trip with some great crew! 10 of us were on the boat so not too crowded. We went into the cage in two sets of 5. 20 mins each under water to see the sharks - which we saw loads. Only downside was that the waters were a little murky so visibility wasn’t at its best. On the way to the area to do the shark diving we managed to catch a rare sight of some Orka whales - the crew were super excited and said they see them once a year if they are lucky! We also took a little detour to Seal Island which was cool too. Overall an amazing day out and would recommend to anyone wanting to do this. Crew were really helpful, informative and welcoming with some small snacks and drinks on board too.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you for joining us!

Have a backup plan.

Jill_L, Feb 2023

The review is based on the trip being cancelled the day before due to them anticipating bad weather. However the weather the morning of was great, sunny and very little wind.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you for your review. Allow us to respond. The weather on land, is very different from the weather in deeper waters, also, the specific conditions that we study, vary from just wind and rain. For instance, we will go out in the rain, but there are most certainly some sunny, what look like ideal weather days, where the ground swell is over 4 meters, which means the sharks will not come up and everybody aboard the boat, is sure to experience sea-sickness. There is a lot more to look at, when dealing with weather conditions suitable for shark cage diving, than just sun and wind , and of course, your safety is our number one concern.

Great experience

HAROUTIOUN_B, Jan 2023

Very good tour. Saw a lot of sharks, seals, dolphins. Staff was very respectful and knowledgeable about the sea wildlife.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thank you!