The next trip took place in South Australia in Port Lincoln where I had the chance to be part of the Rodney Fox sharks expedition crew. I had to do different tasks from the dishes to supervising people in the bottom cage. Being part of the crew was a lot of fun: they were super friendly, passionate and really professional. I learned so much about sharks, seals and photography.

Rodney fox, the founder of the company, was attacked by a great white shark while spearfishing and badly bitten around the chest and arm in December 1963. Today he is well know as a film maker, conservationist and got inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of fame in 2007. The company is now run by his son, Andrew and it is still the only company in the world where you can see great white sharks from the bottom of the ocean. The bottom cage can go down to 25 meters. Diving in this cage was an unforgettable experience. The sharks get really close and it is simply magic to see them swimming in their natural habitat with the rays, leatherjackets and grouper. It is amazing for underwater photography as you get really interesting and unusual background. I expected to be afraid, surrounded by aggressive great white sharks. Not at all, they were slow, powerful and predictable. They are definitively not the bloodthirsty monster as movies like to describe them.

 

Besides diving with the impressive great white sharks, the trip offers the possibility to swim with the cute and playful Australian sea lions. Australia’s only endemic sea lion species.  There are only about 14,000 of these animals left in the wild, which makes it one of the rarest sea lion species in the world. Having sea lions playing with your fins or biting your strobe is always a lot of fun.