About Us
The team at Shark Experience have been specialising in Shark cage diving and sightseeing tours in the Foveaux Strait out of Bluff, for the last twelve years. We are purely a business that offers the opportunity for our clients to interact with the natural world.
Our crew are committed to providing education, protection and the promotion of our special marine environment.
We also really love Sharks.
I’m Mike and I have been diving this region for nearly 30 years, having been born and bred down here. I have an intimate knowledge of this region and can take you to some of the best sights that Southland seas have to offer. I had a couple of Great Whites approach me on a dive a number of years ago and ever since then I've had a fascination with these awesome creatures.
Mike's qualifications and skills:
- Skipper - 33 years
- Dive Instructor - 32 years
- Commercial diver - 30 years
- Shark Guy - 15 years
“My spirit animal is a shark named Jawdles”
Jordan 's qualifications and skills:
- Shark Girl 2022-2024
- Dive Master
- Season Success 2022/23: All dives with no hood/gloves (including 10 degrees!)
- Season Success 2023/24: All dives with no hood/gloves (including 11 degrees!)
- Sign Language Guru
A shark never gives up; it just keeps swimming!
Clarice's qualifications and skills:
- Hostess
- Chief Cheese Roll Cooker
- Secret Shark powers
- Lowest Bait count 2022/3 AND 2023/24
Accidental Shark Lover! I came out for a tour in the summer of 2017 and ended up staying! Who would have thought I'd fall for a giant fish at the bottom of the world?
Nikk's qualifications and skills:
- Reservations & Bookings
- Chaos Creator
- Admin Chick
living everyday like its shark week
Maddy's qualifications and skills:
- Admin Chick
- Reservations and Bookings
- The Original Southern Isle Hostess (2016 to 2018)
I love everything about sharks - I cant just pick one thing...
Jorja's qualifications and skills:
- Dive Lead & Hostess
- New Kiddo on the block, but not the boat!
- First Great White Sighting of 2024/2025 Season
- Has a Shark Named after her.... Jorge!
Our commitment to Sustainable Tourism
The team at Shark Experience have the honour of working on the ocean, the home of some very special creatures, in one of the most pristine, untouched places in the world.
We are mindful that humans and our inventions are secondary to the natural going-ons in the ocean. We are committed to keeping our footprint, and those who travel with us, to a minimum so we can continue to observe, educate, promote shark and ocean conservation.
Click here to learn more about our commitments and plans 
About the Sharks
Great White Shark of New Zealand
Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as white pointers, have been fully protected in New Zealand since 1 April 2007.
As one of the world's hotspots for great white sharks, this protection is an important step towards reducing threats to this globally vulnerable species, which is in decline throughout the world.
The Department of Conservation is currently working alongside New Zealand and international scientists to learn more about this little-known species in the hope that this information will further aid conservation efforts.
White sharks are between 1-1.5 m long and 21-32 kg at birth. Females grow to at least 6.4 metres, while the males are no lightweights at 5.5 metres maximum length. Several large females estimated to be between 6.7 and 7 metres long have been landed, and while it is difficult to weigh such large animals two reportedly tipped the scales at a massive two and a half tonnes!
Great white sharks are apex predators - at the top of the food chain. Their diet includes a variety of bony fish, sharks, rays, penguins and marine mammals. In New Zealand a relatively large proportion of the diets of sharks over 2.5 metres long consists of New Zealand fur seals. White sharks also commonly scavenge whale carcasses.
Great white sharks can reach great speeds when in pursuit of prey and leap clear of the water. They also cover vast distances of ocean. A shark tagged in New Zealand travelled over 1000 kilometres in just one week.
Common sense dictates that any large shark should be treated with respect. As a general rule any shark over 1.8 m long, regardless of species, should be treated as potentially dangerous. Fortunately, shark attack, particularly one involving serious injury is very rare in New Zealand.
The Department of Conservation administers protection under the Wildlife Act 1953, and is the New Zealand CITES authority.