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Rodney and Andrew Fox have the unequalled experience, and facilities to give you the adventure of a lifetime, and the very best Great White Shark Experience available anywhere! With our vessel Falie, consider the following advantages on why the majority of the worlds prominent U/W shark footage and U/W photographs, have been taken in South Australia at the very same famous locations in which we operate!
"Sea Optics Australia is the region's only dedicated underwater photographic, digital and video equipment store. They have been providing professional sales and service for the world's finest underwater photo and video equipment for over 27 years"
This is the original "Great White Shark Expedition", the real thing! Our expeditions have been described as the ultimate adventure tour that Australia has to offer! After 37 years of operation we strive with every new cruise to produce the world’s very best Great White Shark tour, to adventurers, divers, and photographers, expecting the greatest shark experience possible.
It is only in South Australia, that Rodney and Andrew Fox provide these special live-aboard tours that incomparably maximise your "face to face" opportunities with Great White Sharks. Our special adventures depart from both Adelaide and Port Lincoln, and head out into the clear blue waters of the Southern Ocean. Here at isolated offshore islands, we find the breeding grounds for an array of wildlife, including many bird species, dolphins, thousands of fur seals, and the beautiful and rare Australian Sea Lion. These islands are the natural feeding grounds of the Great White Shark.
Our premier expedition vessel "Falie" provides the unmatched size, comfort and facilities to stay productively on location, in generally all weather conditions. These advantages are also combined with the reliability of 100% success rate of seeing Great White Sharks on all full dates starting from May through to September. In addition to this fabulous statistic, in the last few years Late May to September cruise dates have also seen sharks every single day at North Neptune Island, and have shown to be the most successful expeditions ever in our very long history.
Soon after his shark attack in 1963, Rodney organised the first ever "Great White Shark Diving Expedition". He designed and built the original shark proof cage, to make the very first ever films of live Great White Sharks, "Great White Death" and "Attack by a Killer Shark". This first film later inspired and helped raise the financial backing for Peter Gimbel in 1969 to use Rodney’s expertise in "Blue Water White Death". Producing Great Whites was again required of Rodney in 1973 for the live shark sequences in Spielberg’s and Peter Benchley’s blockbuster, "Jaws".
Just one year after the release of "Jaws" into the cinemas, Rodney lead the very first Cage Diving Expedition for non professional divers to experience the thrill of the Great White Shark "first hand"! Carl Roessler, with "Sea and See Dive Travel", bought out this first group of divers from the USA in 1976. This launched the ultimate diving adventure and is still generally regarded as the pinnacle in any diver’s career. This event continues in the very same tradition and spirit today where we strive to make each and every expedition an unforgettable adventure of a lifetime.
Fox Expeditions are proud to continue providing a vital research platform for field studies. Such long-term productivity by the Fox’s has contributed to the public education, imagery and resulting admiration that finally lead to the protection that Great Whites now enjoy worldwide.
Rodney Fox, for more than 35 years, has dedicated his life to major film, photography and research projects, for organizations like National Geographic, The Cousteau Society, Disney and Universal Studios. It is widely acknowledged that, in some way, Rodney has contributed to most successful images and research on live Great White Sharks in the 20th century. Cruises with Rodney are fantastic storytelling events, where Rodney draws upon an incredible and unparalleled diving career of funny, unusual, and thrilling experiences, including his own renowned shark attack story.
Andrew Fox is our cruise director. He has 23 years experience diving with Great White Sharks, working with leading shark researchers, photographers and film crews from around the world. Andrew also spends most expedition days with camera, trying to capture spectacular shark action in the water, and special people moments onboard.
Ian "Pato" Paterson, our friendly Expedition Dive Master, has overseen our cage diving operation since the mid 1990’s. Pato’s experience and knowledge as dive shop owner, SCUBA equipment technician, and photographic advisor makes him an indispensable part of our team.
Rachel Powell, our Expedition Scientist, carefully records all of our shark activity and compares this to the changing environmental conditions that we see each day. Rachel is also compiling and overseeing an extensive photographic identification index, and a tagging program designed to identify and track all sharks that come to our vessel. Rachel loves to share her extensive knowledge of Great White Sharks, and involving all those willing in helping her collect new data.
On special selected dates throughout the year, Rodney joins Andrew onboard "Falie". Most expeditions actually start the night before departure with a welcome gathering at "The Rodney Fox Shark Experience" Museum & Gift shop. Here amongst his unique collection of photographic memorabilia and other exhibits, is where most expedition members first meet Rodney, who also hosts most welcome gatherings for dates where he is not scheduled to actually be onboard!
On many dates, along with researchers and regular shark lovers, we also have film crews and professional photographers documenting every unique adventure. There is the opportunity to really learn something, or just relax and enjoy. Rodney and Andrew also regularly film parts of each expedition, available as a memento of your experience. We like to think that on any Fox Expedition, you never just join on a regular cage diving tour but become an expedition member of the greatest shark experience possible anywhere in the world.
Shark sightings have become even more reliable since the Great Whites’ protection in Australia in 1998. Great Whites have also been active at our viewing locations right from January in the last few years! We are therefore now very optimistic of running full length "Falie" expeditions in this season. The warmest water is found at this time, and it’s a pleasure to be out when you can regularly "get your shirt off" and enjoy the sun! Bronze Whaler Sharks are also seen on these earlier dates, fur seals are at their densest for breeding and pupping, and the generally calmer seas make shore parties onto the islands available on most days.
Although this time is usually the best for a weather/shark activity combination, we have occasionally seen a slow trip, including one entire "no show" date back in April/May 2001, and also strangely a few days again without sharks again in April /early May in 2002. This is one reason we recommend people try and do the full expedition rather than the shorter 4-day option! That said, some days here have shark activity equal to, or even superior than many days experienced in our later Peak Winter season. At the same time we can also possibly experience cooler weather for a few days here, similar to later peak season dates!
Great White sharks have been seen with 100% reliability every day at North Neptune Island in last few years during this time. Cooler, and sometimes windy weather is experienced on some days of most trips. Some crossings, particularly at this time, can be trying on people sensitive to seasickness. Also with the larger swells at this time, conditions are usually not suitable for landing Shore Parties, however we still at least manage to run small tender boat tours close to the islands to film the local seals, birds and other wildlife on all dates!
The last two years have also been very productive shark-wise at this time, with both the number of sharks and the level of activity often up to Peak Season levels recorded. In 2001 and 2002 seasons more sharks were actually seen at this time, than in May to August! Unpredictable weather is the norm; can either be grey and winter-like or blue and sunny?
Since 1999 we have been operating during our winter periods and seeing unprecedented continuous big shark action throughout. From the success of these fabulous seasons it seems we can confidently predict that the "Peak Season" for shark activity in our viewing areas is in fact from Mid May through to October. This change of time from our previous earlier month operating season is probably also linked to a large increase in the population of fur seals in the area. It seems the sharks like to congregate at our viewing locations in the cooler middle months of the year, when the seal pups are just learning how to swim out into deeper water. These pups were born at the start of the previous summer, but have stayed on shore near the safety of the shallows and rock pools until this time! We also find that our Expedition Vessel Falie is quite capable of comfortably operating through this time of occasional blustery weather!
Earlier in the year the "Off Peak Season" months of January through to Early May often has warmer milder weather, and the often calmer seas allow us to land shore parties more reliably. This period is the nicest time of the year to be out on the ocean, and typically has the clearest water. Although at this time we can occasionally experience unreliable shark activity, most trips usually see some days with shark activity at least equivalent to many later "Peak Season" dates.
Later in the cooler "Peak Season" months, even though the winds are often stronger, they gratefully prevail from an ideal direction to suit our anchorages, but the voyage there can be rough and it can still be a bit chilly! Other than your availability and the trip price, the trade off to consider when to join us seems to be one of either enjoying the longer days, warmer weather, clearer water and smoother seas in the Off Peak Season, verses the seemingly absolute shark reliability in our cooler Peak Season!
The Month of October seems to be have shown very strong activity in the last couple of years and we may end up recommending it as a peak season Date if this success continues! We rarely set dates in November and December unless we have demand! We then organise tours from other smaller vessels than "Falie" which are more suitable for exclusive and/or smaller mixed groups. These bookings are always subject to recent shark activity.
