The Fashionable Frequent Flyers

Swimming with sharks in Oahu was one of my favorite experiences on the island. I’ve snorkeled plenty of times before and even swam with whale sharks in the Philippines (side note: swimming with those giants was unforgettable)! But whale sharks are friendly, they don’t have any teeth so there’s a lot less danger!! Hawaii has approximately 40 species of sharks and most of them have teeth. Kind of scary right? Nonetheless, for adventure seekers, if you are looking for a place to go shark diving, Oahu is THE best spot to go to!

Shark Cage Diving

Justin and I wanted to ease into the experience by observing sharks through a cage, just to get the lay of the ocean. That experience was a bit terrifying, you’re basically crammed in a cage with 6-8 people and maybe half of them are screaming and just as scared as you are. The sight of them was initially intimidating, but as time passed, my fear shifted into admiration. They also seemed to not care about our presence. I mean, these sharks (Galapagos) were pretty much unbothered. I was kind of hoping a great white or at least a tiger shark would make an appearance but nope, it was ‘Galapagos City’ that day. After that experience, we felt we were ready for the next level, open water shark diving! Note that the waters in the North Shore can get pretty choppy, we HIGHLY suggest taking Dramamine an hour before the activity to help with the motion sickness.

Open Water Shark Diving

This time around, my fear level had increased because there were no cages! Luckily, the safety divers were knowledgeable, professional, and informative throughout the whole trip. They gave us a crash course on shark behavior and instructions on how to conduct ourselves while diving. For starters, we were told we have to maintain eye contact– if the sharks know that you are aware of their presence, they are less likely to ambush you. Then, we were told to avoid splashing and to move calmly, which was hard for one of the attendees because she started to FREAK OUT while in the water. I ‘calmly’ swam away from her because I felt like she was most likely going to be their next meal the way she was moving. Don’t worry, she’s still alive. During the dive, we encountered the same species of Galapagos sharks, so at this point, I felt extremely comfortable because of my familiarity with them. The sharks were very curious too and swam under and around me. Not going to lie, I felt like a Disney princess.

The Takeaway!

This experience forever changed my perspective on sharks. I grew up terrified of them because of how they were portrayed in pop culture movies (Jaws, Open Water, etc). Truth be told, they don’t even like humans, most of the time if they do attack, it’s due to a misdirect in feeding attempts-basically confusion. Looking back, I enjoyed my time swimming with the sharks, something about sharing the same space with these beautiful, magnificent, apex predators excited me. A few months later, we ended up going back again just to hang out with them one more time. To be honest, we would do it every weekend if we could. If you’re ever in Oahu, I highly recommend diving with sharks (with or without a cage), it’s life-changing, educational, and offers you a unique sense of adventure. Don’t forget to pack a GoPro with you to capture all the epic moments!