Being human bait for great white sharks was a dream come true for Calgarian Samara Sinclair.

Last month, the 13-year scuba diver enjoyed the experience of a lifetime when she spent three days with the apex predator in the Pacific Ocean — part of that time in a deeply-submerged, open cage.

“It was totally the defining moment of my life,” said Sinclair, 35, who’d previously never seen a shark in her many diving adventures.

“I always wanted to see a shark underwater — I went from nothing to everything.”

Sinclair’s encounters have been captured for the TV show Wild Obsession on the Animal Planet channel, to be broadcast in Canada on the 8th December.

In a written submission explaining why she should be paired with her animal obsession, the great white shark, the scuba diver outswam a host of other hopefuls to land the coveted small screen position.

That selection took her to Ensenada, Mexico and a 20-hour boat voyage into the open Pacific in search of great whites.

Sea sickness couldn’t dull the excitement, said Sinclair — particularly when the film crew sprang a daunting surprise on her.

“Instead of being just a surface cage, one of the cages was a submersible that went to a depth of 50 feet and was wide open,” she said.

“I think I remember being thrilled at the increased exposure to the animals, but then I realized how exposed I was — the space in the bars are enough for a person to squeeze through.”

Accompanied by a camera operator on the first day, Sinclair said waiting for sharks got kind of boring.

Holding a dead bait fish in a hand extended outside the cage, she was suddenly jabbed in the side by the cameraman.

“Suddenly, there’s an enormous great white right beside me,” she said.

A second day of filming proved uneventful, leaving Sinclair despairing she might have to be content with her one limited encounter.

But the third and final session became a near-frenzy of dorsal fins and massive sandpapery hides.

Four great white sharks up to seven metres in length rose from the depths to circle Sinclair in her open cage.

“The sharks actually could get inside if they wanted to — there were a couple of moments when they came close to the open doorway,” she said.

“I wondered ‘should I close the door,’ then they veered off.”

Sinclair had descended with an underwater camera, but the quartet of sharks possibly sizing up prey meant she had to leave the shooting to the TV crew.

“I kept twisting my head back and forth to keep sight of them,” she said.

“I couldn’t use my camera, that’s how preoccupied I was.”

But Sinclair said she didn’t hesitate to face off with the sharks because “I’m scared of everything else except animals.”

If anything, the experience bolstered her stand on shark conservation, primarily through halting the harvesting and consumption of shark fins for soup.

It was heartening, said Sinclair, to see Calgary city council take up the issue earlier this year “but disappointing when they shelved it.

“A big deal for me is starting to think of these animals not as man-eating monsters but rather as mysterious and beautiful and part of a healthy ecosystem.”

Source: www.calgarysun.com