World Class Great White Shark Diving in the Neptune Islands
This year, was our best trip yet to the Neptune Islands! As soon as we put the cages in we had white sharks making close passes and the action continued until the last day.
Day One – Shark!
As always, the first day aboard is a travel day from Port Lincoln in South Australia to the infamous Neptune Islands. When we arrived in the lea of the island, the crew started chumming to encourage any passing sharks to stick around and sure enough, before long we had our first white shark circling the boat.
Day Two – Instant White Shark Action.
As soon as the cages went into the water, the sharks started circling. We started with three very excited 3m+ white sharks. By lunch time, they were joined by two more. There may actually have been more that five, but that was the number we could count at the same time.
It was a great day. Once the sunset we adjourned and enjoyed a hearty dinner in the ship’s salon, followed by a great presentation by the crew on white shark behavior.
Day Three – Epic shark encounters in the deep cage.
There are two cages on the back of the ship. One stays at the surface. The other is lowered to the sea bed so that the divers can get a view of the sharks in their natural habitat. The action in the deep cage was non-stop. Every time a group of divers descended to the bottom the sharks were waiting, and they were very curious, bumping the cage and making extremely close passes!
The photographic opportunities were spectacular!
Breaching White Sharks around the surface cage.
Meanwhile up the surface, the guests that were either not certified divers or divers waiting for their turn in the deep cage, slipped into the surface cage where they were treated to vertical attacks on the hang baits. It was an incredible sight to see these 3-4m long sharks exploding from the water!
Dominant Female
As the sun slowly sank into the west, the sixth shark of the day arrived; an enormous female named ghost, that had not been seen for some time. Fearless, she came straight at the surface cage, which I was lucky enough to be in at the time. Officially she is somewhere between 4-5m but underwater she looked like a Zepellin.
Shark Trivia
That evening we celebrated in the salon and competed in a lighthearted round of shark trivia that had everyone in stitches. It was a great group on a great white adventure, so it was impossible not to have a good time!
Day 4 – Exodus
Day four is always a half day at the Neptunes because the ship has to make the 8hr crossing back to Port Lincoln in time for everyone to disembark. We had planned to rotate the divers through the deep cage all morning, but to our dismay the sharks were nowhere to be seen. From the deep cage, there were reports of small gummy sharks and a lone catshark as well as some big eagle rays, but the white sharks had mysteriously deserted the area. This is why if you really want to see white sharks, it is important to join a multi-day trip!
Fortunately for us, the shark action on the previous two days had been so epic, that everyone was still in great spirits when we waved goodbye to the Neptunes and took a heading for Port Lincoln. We retired to the salon to download and edit the thousands of white shark images we had collectively taken, reliving the encounters with every new image.
Playful Sea Lions
On the way back to Port Lincoln there was one more highlight for the guests. We stopped at Grindal Island to snorkel with Australian Sea Lions.
Grindal has quite a small colony of sea lions so it does not attract the attention of white sharks. We spent more than an hour with these playful pinnipeds before returning to the boat and heading back to port.
A great way to finish off an excellent Great White Shark trip!
Big Fish Expeditions 2027 Great White Shark Diving Tour
White Shark encounters can be hit and miss at the Neptunes. After pouring over historical data from the last 15 years, the most reliable time to see sharks is mid October. There are no guarantees, but the boat has seen white sharks every trip during this window, so we’ve scheduled our 2027 trip for October 12-16. We’re also making the trip one day longer, which gives us an even better chance of success! We hope you can join us on our 2027 Great White Shark Cage Diving Adventure
