THINGS COULD GET UGLY

Into the gully, finning hard against the surge, I descend, carefully trying not to breathe too heavily and use up my oxygen. Fifteen metres above me, mountainous waves are breaking across the reef and my adrenaline is pumping. Rounding a bend, I come upon a cave and swim closer to peer inside.

There it is! Just three metres away, a large, raggedtooth shark is staring at me. Dead eyes, jutting teeth in need of a dentist, and a long sinuous body with delicate spots. It is ugly-beautiful, a thing of menace and grace. We gawk and gape at each other for a few seconds, then with a lazy swipe of the tail, it glides past, out of the cave and into the Indian Oceanʼs ink.

My heart is hammering with joy at this, my first raggie encounter.

We had left Durban five days earlier in sweltering summer heat, heading north on the N2, our Land Rover packed to the gills and a cyclone threatening to sideswipe the KZN coast.

I was a guest of Dive Africa, a new dive centre and travel company that offers tours combining the best of land and underwater sightseeing around the southern African coast. Run by husband-and-wife team David Visagie (who looks after the Land Rovers and logistics) and Yue Chi