Diver Recounts His Encounter With a Cage-Breaking Great White Shark (Note)

Gabe and Garrett

 

New York Times articles

 

A scuba diver who was on a diving tour of great white shark habitats narrowly escaped an encounter with one this month when it broke through the bars of a diving cage and thrashed for nearly a minute until it freed itself.

The diver, Chan Ming, a Shanghai-based advertising executive who is a scuba instructor in his spare time, was among about 20 people on a five-day tour from Ensenada, Mexico, to Guadalupe Island. The main purpose was to see sharks, and Mr. Chan, 51, jumped into the water on Oct. 5 with a camera. He entered the cage hoping for a close-up.

During the encounter, which was caught on video and then shared across the internet, a juvenile great white leaps for a piece of tuna. Mid-leap, the shark slaps against the bars of the cage, entering and thrashing while Mr. Chan is trapped inside.

The footage was captured by the operator of the Gabe and Garrett YouTube page, an adventure-themed account for children. The boys’ father, who identified himself as Brian but would not give his last name out of concern for the safety of his children, said in an interview that two divers had left the water about two minutes before the encounter, which was “good timing on their part.”

In a telephone interview, Mr. Chan said he did not have time to take photos of the encounter, and could not see what was happening as the shark was thrashing because the cage was rattling so sharply. He said he was not afraid to be trapped inside the cage with the shark.

“Honestly at that moment I don’t have time to get afraid,” he said. “Because the shark is coming, a very sharp moment, two seconds.”

Instead, he focused on staying inside the cage. When the shark finally breached, Mr. Chan pulled himself up and out of the cage. In the end, he still had three more days of diving left. Did he go into the water again?

“The next day,” Mr. Chan said.

“I felt so lucky,” he added, “why would I be scared?”