Saturday was our "free day," and a large majority of the group had planned to go shark diving. We were picked up at our hotel a little after 5am and then drove for 2 hours until we arrived at this quaint little town called Gansbaai.
It reminded me a lot of Monterey, California. Rocky beaches, beautiful coastline, cute homes. There is a place 15 minutes off the shore that they call "Shark Alley" because it's a hot spot for Great White Sharks.
Because of this prime locale, there are many boats that are in the business of shark diving.
After a quick breakfast, our guide gave us all the instructions we would need in order to be safe.
You don't wear scuba gear or even a snorkel because that scares the sharks away. So 5 of you get in the cage which is mostly submerged in the water. Your head is above water. When they see sharks, they yell at you to go down and you see the sharks swim by with your masks.
This was our boat. You could view the sharks from the top or the bottom.
Heading out to Shark Alley
They baited the sharks with a large tuna head. Once we anchored the captain said it was just a waiting game until the sharks started smelling the tuna scent. Before he even finished his sentence, a shark came up and took off the tuna head. The captain told us all to get our wet suits on and get ready. You can see how the sharks would come up from below, and then sometimes they came out of no where.
Jonathan and I were one of the first to have our wetsuits on, so we both ended up going in the first cage. It wasn't super clear, so the underwater cameras didn't work too good; however, you could definitely see these huge creatures up close and personal right outside the cage.
Our friend Eric getting in the cage.
I had the pleasure of fighting sea sickness for a large majority of the boating trip. Here I sat with my fellow sickies while my husband took pictures from above. When we had about 10 minutes left, I totally puked and felt so much better. Within that 10 minute time frame there were 7 of us that lost our cookies. It was a lovely sight, and totally hilarious.
It was an amazing day and both Jonathan and I are so glad we had the opportunity to go. In the end, we had well over 30 sharks. It's been checked of the bucket list, and we lived to tell about it. We got back to shore, had some gross lasagna, and then we were driven back to our hotel in Cape Town for our last night.
After dinner, just chilling with some friends: Brad, Eric, and Alex.
Thank you Cape Town. If Jonathan ever was given the opportunity to transfer there, I'd say yes. It's just like southern California, but significantly cheaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment