2 April 09
Song for this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMe09CXpYQA
Today I am driving about 2 hours along the Garden route to act as bait for African Great White Sharks. Why do I like to do this stuff and call it adventure. I will never know! The drive was peaceful and I had the roads all to myself for I got up at 4:30am to get out there on time. The town the dive was in was quaint town and the sharks were the town's main attraction. Once I got there I hooked up with the driver and guide of my tour and the rest of the dive group at a restaurant where a mandatory South African breakfast was served. I was not hungry but ate reluctantly since they set it right down in front of me and gave me a guilt trip. Then we were off for a briefing that was brief enough just to explain who the tour group was and that they also work as a shark conservatory. They told us about the safety and that more people are killed by falling coconuts each year than from sharks. I think this was suppose to make us feel better about getting in the cage.
We loaded on the boat and headed out to what they call Shark Alley! This is a section of the Indian Ocean that is notorious for Sharks sightings. So much so they named it after them. The reason the sharks come is for the large amount of Seals that make their home on a group of rocks in the middle of the ocean. It is a feeding frenzy for the sharks. If have watched shark week on Discovery, then you have seen this place before. We were about 20 mins from the shore in the middle of the ocean that you can't even see the shore. What you don't experience from watching shark week is the horrific smell of the seals basking in the sun. The smell was something I never smelled before and do not want to smell again and I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was the smell of BO combined with wet dog combined with smelly crotch combined with fish time 200. For a gal like me who won't each fish for even the slight smell makes me gage, let's just say my first experience of sea sickness set in as soon as we anchored. The smell didn't go away either for the wind was high that day. In addition, the crew was using seal meat to mash in a bait soup and put large seal fillets on the end of a hook to lure the sharks in. For the next 3 hours, I tried to hold down my mushroom omelet with little luck. While everyone was giddy about the sharks and enjoying the view with a brew or two... I was on the side of the boat heaving. While breathing thru my own shirt so that I could not smell the seals as well. It took all of me just to get the wet suit on and took many puke breaks as well.
After one of the breaks, I jumped into the cage for nothing was going to sink my battle ship and not allow me to view these animals. Once in the 10 degree Celcius (about 52 F) waters my mind was on keeping my fingers in the cage rather than my breakfast in my stomach. The boat guys would shout "down" and in the deal soup water we went. Thru my goggles I could see this grey being with ripples like an old washing board on his side. He was coming for the bait that was 6 inches from my cage and with one swift stride - opened his mouth and tried to ravage it with us in the cage watching like sport spectators. For 20 some odd mins, we were submerged in this water and visited by 3 sharks several different times. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience . I even forgot that they were in their natural habitat and was temped several times to reach out of the cage and pet them. They were just too cute!
When I got back on the boat, I was immediately sick again and dreaming of the shore, getting back to the guest house and having a nice shower. Two hours later (i was speeding) I was in bed thinking - why would I have paid money to do that??? HA HA! Lesson learned - you only live once so if you have a chance to be in a gigantic poop with a shark, do it. Even if you must take a puke break for the whole day.
Song for this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMe09CXpYQA
Today I am driving about 2 hours along the Garden route to act as bait for African Great White Sharks. Why do I like to do this stuff and call it adventure. I will never know! The drive was peaceful and I had the roads all to myself for I got up at 4:30am to get out there on time. The town the dive was in was quaint town and the sharks were the town's main attraction. Once I got there I hooked up with the driver and guide of my tour and the rest of the dive group at a restaurant where a mandatory South African breakfast was served. I was not hungry but ate reluctantly since they set it right down in front of me and gave me a guilt trip. Then we were off for a briefing that was brief enough just to explain who the tour group was and that they also work as a shark conservatory. They told us about the safety and that more people are killed by falling coconuts each year than from sharks. I think this was suppose to make us feel better about getting in the cage.
We loaded on the boat and headed out to what they call Shark Alley! This is a section of the Indian Ocean that is notorious for Sharks sightings. So much so they named it after them. The reason the sharks come is for the large amount of Seals that make their home on a group of rocks in the middle of the ocean. It is a feeding frenzy for the sharks. If have watched shark week on Discovery, then you have seen this place before. We were about 20 mins from the shore in the middle of the ocean that you can't even see the shore. What you don't experience from watching shark week is the horrific smell of the seals basking in the sun. The smell was something I never smelled before and do not want to smell again and I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was the smell of BO combined with wet dog combined with smelly crotch combined with fish time 200. For a gal like me who won't each fish for even the slight smell makes me gage, let's just say my first experience of sea sickness set in as soon as we anchored. The smell didn't go away either for the wind was high that day. In addition, the crew was using seal meat to mash in a bait soup and put large seal fillets on the end of a hook to lure the sharks in. For the next 3 hours, I tried to hold down my mushroom omelet with little luck. While everyone was giddy about the sharks and enjoying the view with a brew or two... I was on the side of the boat heaving. While breathing thru my own shirt so that I could not smell the seals as well. It took all of me just to get the wet suit on and took many puke breaks as well.
After one of the breaks, I jumped into the cage for nothing was going to sink my battle ship and not allow me to view these animals. Once in the 10 degree Celcius (about 52 F) waters my mind was on keeping my fingers in the cage rather than my breakfast in my stomach. The boat guys would shout "down" and in the deal soup water we went. Thru my goggles I could see this grey being with ripples like an old washing board on his side. He was coming for the bait that was 6 inches from my cage and with one swift stride - opened his mouth and tried to ravage it with us in the cage watching like sport spectators. For 20 some odd mins, we were submerged in this water and visited by 3 sharks several different times. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience . I even forgot that they were in their natural habitat and was temped several times to reach out of the cage and pet them. They were just too cute!
When I got back on the boat, I was immediately sick again and dreaming of the shore, getting back to the guest house and having a nice shower. Two hours later (i was speeding) I was in bed thinking - why would I have paid money to do that??? HA HA! Lesson learned - you only live once so if you have a chance to be in a gigantic poop with a shark, do it. Even if you must take a puke break for the whole day.
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