We woke up early again ( I took a picture to prove how early I get up) Surprisingly this has not been a problem for me. I think its because my body was so confused with the time change and the flight that it accepted the first schedule I gave it. Originally we were supposed to all go on the morning trip and then Julia was going to give us a lecture in the afternoon, but there was a last minute change so we would all go out in the morning and then six would go out in the afternoon. For the morning, I showed Mikey and Alex how to do data. It was a real slow morning and the sharks didn’t seem like they wanted to come out or stick around. After we’d been there an hour or two, Julia asked me if I wanted to go in the cage since I hadn’t been in since the first day. So over and grabbed a wetsuit and booties and mask etc. Last time I dove I wore a medium large and I had the hardest time squeezing myself into it. So this time I grabbed a large. BAD IDEA. Yes it was easier to get into, but the looser fit also made it easier for the water to get into…and the water is very cold. When I got into the cage there were three other people in with me. After a while we stopped seeing sharks and one by one the people started getting out. Eventually I was the only person left. And then the sharks came back. It was so amazing to be inside the cage by myself because I could really move around. If the shark was on the left side then I could be on the left side; or if the shark was completely under the boat then I could twist myself around and watch him. (Not sure if I went over this before but the cage is tied to the side of the boat and about a foot is left out of the water. When Mandela or one of the crew calls out, you take a big breath, pull yourself under and then hook your feet under a bar at the bottom to keep you down) It was freezing but awesome. I did imagine (just for a second) what would happen if the ropes holding the cage to the boat would snap.
We came back cleaned the boat and then took out the second set of tourists. This trip I decided to try chumming. To chum, you wait until the boat is about to anchor and then you take a big trash can which is tied to the very back of the boat onto a wooden platform that is basically level with the ocean. Into the bucket goes whole rotting fish, a splash of anchovy oil and a couple bucketfuls of ocean water. Then you take the chumming shovel and chop up all the chum into nasty fish chunks. Finally you take big scoopfuls of this mess and toss buckets of it overboard. This is called a chum line and it spreads out in the ocean that way if a white shark swims through it, it can follow the chum slick all the way back to the boat and then hopefully go for Mandla’s bait line, which has the giant tuna heads on it. The back deck, which once again is right next to the water, tends to get a bit slippery with all the anchovy oil and fish bits that fall on it. On that morning the boat was rocking pretty good so Alex and I were sliding all around the deck. At one point I was trying to reach into the bottom of the chum bucket to scoop out some chum when one of my feet shot out from under me and I almost fell right into the water.
That day we saw some really good sharks, one was the largest we had ever seen at 3.5 meters. She was also starting to get fat around and that was the coolest part. I mean, this shark was absolutely massive! Dave was in the cage while she was there and got a few pictures though I don’t know if they came out. After she had left, me, Tina, Mikey, and Jo got in the cage. We saw a few more sharks including a few that came straight at the cage (I took some pics with my underwater camera so we’ll have to see if they turn out.) There were a few instances where I wasn’t thinking and in pursuit of a better picture stuck my hands and camera outside the cage while a shark was around, but then I remembered where I was and what was swimming around me and quickly pulled them back in. I stayed in for at least a good 45 minutes (a feat considering the water temperature) before we pulled up anchor and headed back home.
After clean up we all showered and headed to a local watering hole; Ernie’s. Its this tiny little bar with pictures from all the crazy parties they’ve had tacked up on the walls. The bartender is apparently officially insane and quite interesting to talk to. We all headed out to this great deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We were able to watch the sun set over the water and chat for a while. IT was real relaxing after the past few days. Ernie’s is actually closing next week because the new owner wants to build condos or something and the locals (including our boats two skippers; Gerald and Grant) are quite peeved. We had a few and honestly I was a little tipsy when we headed home. The taxi driver had charged us 30 rand per person (somewhere around $5) each for the trip there and then surprisingly told us that it covered the ride home too. So we didn’t even have to pay for the taxi ride back. When we got home Dave and I realized that no one had typed in data, so we quickly typed that up (even though we were both a little drunk and therefore found the whole process wayyyy more amusing than it actually is). Finally, I headed off to bed, once again, at the late hour of 10:30.
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