Copper Shark near "Shark Alley" off the coast of South Africa

We had long wanted to go cage diving with Great White Sharks and finally had an opportunity this November when we were on a trip along the South African Garden Route - one of the best places to do this. Unfortunately, when we were there, the Great Whites had been missing for several months due to the sudden presence of Orcas. Orcas actively hunt and kill Great Whites who don't really stand a chance as they are largely solo hunters, while Orcas almost always hunt in packs. The Orcas had finally left and we did see a single, juvenile Great White, but couldn't get any decent photos. On the other hand, the absence of Great Whites did result in the presence of Copper Sharks (which I had never heard of) who normally avoid places frequented by Great Whites. They are somewhat smaller (only reaching a size of 3.3 m) and primarily fish eaters (the teeth are pointy, unlike Great Whites whose teeth are more like steak knives) but are still large, beautiful creatures capable of inspiring awe and responsible for occasional reports of attacks on humans. interestingly, they are also pack hunters, so when they visited our ship, we had anywhere from 4 - 10 at a time, which made the cage diving quite thrilling in its own way. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested as it is informative and quite exciting as a large 2-meter shark appears out of the gloom and approaches you in the cage.