The hostel has a really nice open restaurant area where I had breakfast, there are even amazing views of table mountain. (Although during breakfast I read an article about the Table Mountain mugger whose still on the loose… lovely)
I met up with Emma, checked out of the hostel and waited out front for the White Shark Project van to pick us up. Emma, who’s from St. Louis Missouri, had just come from working a month with Baboons in Palla Borra, Africa. The bus got there around 9am and we hopped in. The driver Moos, an older South African man is pretty taciturn (I’ll have to sneak a picture of him later). In the van Emma and I met Josephine, from Norway, who just came from working with lions somewhere else in Africa and who will be working with African orphans after the shark program. Also in the van was Tina who comes from Sweden. A few minutes later we were joined by Alex(andra) originally from Switzerland but she’s been volunteering in Africa with animals like monkeys, kudus, springboks, ect. for the past year. And Jillian who’s from Hawaii, (I think she came right from Hawaii but I don’t remember..)
The car ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (pronounced (guttural H) Hans-bye) took about 2 hours and the views were amazing. Right outside of Cape Town we passed the slum area where houses were literally constructed out of any materials lying around. (Though most of them had electricity thanks to a government program) Later we passed soo many gorgeous mountains and bays. (I’ll get pictures on the drive back) We drove through Gansbaai and went to Kleinbaai (pronounced Kline-bye) where the program is actually based. The whole town is made up on one major street. The harbor with the shark boats are at one end and about four or five houses up is the volunteer house that I’m staying in. (Once again I’ll get pictures tomorrow)
There are about six or seven other cage shark diving programs here, but we’re obviously the coolest. So the van pulls up to the lodge, which is where the clients go before and after their shark diving trips, we are greeted by Julia who’s the videographer and also in charge of us volunteers. And the first thing out of her mouth is. “Ok get your swim suits on and lets got on the boat” So we grab our luggage out the back of the van and run inside to put on our suits and get on the boat. They put the boat in the water and……nothing happens. A cable had snapped (it had something to do with the motor) and so we couldn’t go anywhere right then. Julia took us up to the volunteer house (which is great btw) and did our orientation (blahblah etc) About an hour later they had fixed the boat and we got back on and motored out into the Atlantic Ocean. The water was, in my opinion, pretty choppy and we were bouncing over the swells quite violently.
There was one other volunteer there though he was leaving the next day, Evan, from New Zealand. He was nice and, since he had already been there two weeks, knew what he was doing with the boat.
The car ride from Cape Town to Gansbaai (pronounced (guttural H) Hans-bye) took about 2 hours and the views were amazing. Right outside of Cape Town we passed the slum area where houses were literally constructed out of any materials lying around. (Though most of them had electricity thanks to a government program) Later we passed soo many gorgeous mountains and bays. (I’ll get pictures on the drive back) We drove through Gansbaai and went to Kleinbaai (pronounced Kline-bye) where the program is actually based. The whole town is made up on one major street. The harbor with the shark boats are at one end and about four or five houses up is the volunteer house that I’m staying in. (Once again I’ll get pictures tomorrow)
There are about six or seven other cage shark diving programs here, but we’re obviously the coolest. So the van pulls up to the lodge, which is where the clients go before and after their shark diving trips, we are greeted by Julia who’s the videographer and also in charge of us volunteers. And the first thing out of her mouth is. “Ok get your swim suits on and lets got on the boat” So we grab our luggage out the back of the van and run inside to put on our suits and get on the boat. They put the boat in the water and……nothing happens. A cable had snapped (it had something to do with the motor) and so we couldn’t go anywhere right then. Julia took us up to the volunteer house (which is great btw) and did our orientation (blahblah etc) About an hour later they had fixed the boat and we got back on and motored out into the Atlantic Ocean. The water was, in my opinion, pretty choppy and we were bouncing over the swells quite violently.
There was one other volunteer there though he was leaving the next day, Evan, from New Zealand. He was nice and, since he had already been there two weeks, knew what he was doing with the boat.
So once the boat had gone out to Geldsteen (pronounced guttural Hel-steen) reef, which is right near Dyer Island and Geyser Rock (the infamous shark alley) we all out on our wetsuits, a new and constricting experience for me. These suits are 7 mm think and very tight. They have to be though because the water is only 10 degrees
Celsius which translates to upper 40 degrees Fahrenheit (think really cold).
I got to be the first person to climb inside the cage followed by four of the girls. (The cage can hold five people) The cage itself is tied tight to the side of the boat, this means that part of it is always above the water, so we don’t use scuba gear. The bubbles scare the sharks and we use the more simple method of holding your breath and pulling yourself under.
The visibility was really low so you could only see shadows until the sharks were five feet or closer. The crew chum the waters with fish bits and oils to draw the sharks in and then throw fish heads into the water on a rope to persuade the sharks to come even closer. The goal is to yank the fish head away before the shark gets it, but that doesn’t always happen. I saw at least eight sharks while in the cage; and was so interested and amazed by the sharks that I stayed in the water for a long while and was the last person out.
Celsius which translates to upper 40 degrees Fahrenheit (think really cold).
I got to be the first person to climb inside the cage followed by four of the girls. (The cage can hold five people) The cage itself is tied tight to the side of the boat, this means that part of it is always above the water, so we don’t use scuba gear. The bubbles scare the sharks and we use the more simple method of holding your breath and pulling yourself under.
The visibility was really low so you could only see shadows until the sharks were five feet or closer. The crew chum the waters with fish bits and oils to draw the sharks in and then throw fish heads into the water on a rope to persuade the sharks to come even closer. The goal is to yank the fish head away before the shark gets it, but that doesn’t always happen. I saw at least eight sharks while in the cage; and was so interested and amazed by the sharks that I stayed in the water for a long while and was the last person out.
It was really amazing to see these animals up close. Honestly, it wasn’t scary at all, more peaceful under the water. My favorite experience was when a shark went for the bait line, then swam right by the cage and turned and circle to underneath the boat. I was able to follow him as he went around and it was just so cool to see that. (I definitely can’t even describe how crazy amazing and fabulous it was!)
I got out and we pulled up the cage and set back out for the harbor. (A few of the girls has issues with sea sickness but this hasn’t happened to me yet, knock on wood.) Then we went grocery shopping and came back to our volunteer house (from now on referred to as home) where we ordered pizza and drank beer/wine together. We were all crazy tired so we made it an early night with the last of us (me) going to bed around 10:30.
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