Cape Town, South Africa
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2005
1
34
43
Trip End
May 02, 2006
Cape Town,
South Africa
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Our swim with the sea's most powerful predator was a real delight.
Picked up by a friendly crew member, Brian, at about 6a.m. and drove the 2 hours to the town of Gansbaai from where we would take the boat out to the shark-infested waters around Dyer Island and Geyser Rock, just a 20 minute boat ride from Gansbaai.
Upon arrival we were fed a lovely breakfast and a second dose of sea sickness tablets. They warned us that with the boat being anchored so far out and the possibility of sitting and waiting for quite some time, it was likely we would get sick.
The first two hours on the boat I spent sleeping
A Lovely Dinner of Fish and Chips!
. Literally curled up right on the side of the boat, my back inches from the edge, the sun beating down on me and took a real nice nap waiting for Jaws to make an appearance. We visited Cape Town during low season, as far as the sharks are concerned. It is summer in Cape Town and in the 80s and 90s every day but the water here is quite the opposite. Something having to do with the southeasterly winds and yadda, yadda. Not really sure but the point is the water is FREEZING. And the sharks don't like that either as it turns out. But we were very lucky.
I woke up from my nap to find Bonnie sitting beside me and girl-who-barfed-up-breakfast gone. Thankfully. I swear 3 minutes didn't go by before I heard the excited yells and screams of the crew and other passengers. I turned my head to see what had inspired such commotion and I was suddenly staring at an enormous Great White Shark about 10 feet in front of me, gliding just beneath the surface.
"He's a big one!" the crew was yelling. And he was. He came and went for the next 10 minutes or so, then a female came along as well. But not together. These first two were about 3 to 4 meters in length (about 14-15 feet)
A short shark video
. To be able to dive the crew told us we would need a "friendly" shark, one that was willing to hang out a while, circle the boat, play with the bait, etc. It took quite some time before one decided to be "friendly" and stick around for a bit but finally he came along...The crew tried dissuading us from getting in because the water visibility was very poor that day. It is so cold that it really has to be "worth it" to get out of your clothes, into a semi-wet wetsuit, and into the frigid water for the hopes of an up-close glimpse at a Great White Shark. Only about 6 or 7 of the 15 on board decided to brave the cold...and the shark...
We, of course, were two of them. Bonnie slid in first and I right behind her. The cage comfortable holds up to 5 people. It is attached to the boat and you literally just step over the side and plunge down into the water with nothing but a mask on. Strangely your hands and feet have to go somewhere and since there is no bar or hold on the inside of the cage, your toes and fingers are clasped around the wires half-exposed to whatever is on the OTHER side of the cage! This was a bit unsettling and we were excited giggling and screaming when it came time to duck and go under to see the shark. Since the visibility was bad, the crew and people on board would basically start yelling at those of us in the cage,
"On your left
Bird's Eye View of Cape Town
! Coming on your left!" So we'd take a deep breath, dive down and jerk our heads frantically all around and then suddenly in a second's time there was a 12 foot shark RIGHT NEXT TO YOU! The crewman handling the bait which was what the shark was after would fling it into the water and then pull it quickly towards the cage and up out of the water just as the shark would open it's huge mouth to take a bite. This part usually happened right up against the cage. It felt as though the shark was "attacking" the cage but in fact was just after the bait. The first time this happened I freaked out and instead of diving down beneath the surface I stayed with my head just above it and witnessed the mad thrashing from a foot away watching his dorsal fin and tail flail wildly about. Apparently I was screaming a lot because from that point on the crew and other tourists were making fun of the "girl that started screaming". Well...what did they expect me to do? They weren't in that cage were they?!!! The second time I was alone in the cage, the last one to get out and the crewman started saying,"Here comes the baby! On your right, your right!" So this time I managed to get down under water but was greeted by something that did NOT look like a baby to me! Got a real nice up-close view of the shark's head, eye, and teeth as it went for the bait that was about 2 feet from my face on the other side of the cage
Great White Shark
. I decided at that point that had been enough excitement and hypothermia was setting in so I climbed back out of the cage.That was probably the most adrenaline-packed thing we have done in quite some time. It was disappointing that the water was so murky because I was not able to get good photographs of one of the things I wanted to see the most on this trip but I don't think I will forget it. We had an awesome time.
We also visited the top of Table Mountain for sunset. Table Mountain is a famous mountain in the heart of Cape Town. There is some sort of phenomenon with the clouds up there that is just incredible to watch. The cloud cover is low and the mountain peaks jut out above them for miles and miles. The clouds come in from the east and roll ever so gently over the mountains. As they reach the end which is just below Table Mountain and along the edge of the sea, they slowly cascade over the cliff side creating the illusion of a huge white waterfall in slow motion pouring over the mountain and down the side of it. It is spectacular.
Visited Robben Island, famous for its maximum security prison where former South African president, Nelson Mandela, spent 30 years as a political prisoner
Robben Island
. We took a ferry out to the island and went on a guided 3 hour tour by one of the former prisoners himself. Today, about 18 former prisoners still live on the island and 8 or 10 are part of the staff that conduct the tours for tourists. Our guide had a very thick accent though his English was perfect, he was very hard to understand. But it was very interesting and we were glad we did it.Have had a few cloudy/rainy days the last couple of days so we did not make it to Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost part of the continent and home to a colony of 14,000 African Penguins. Bummed about that but these days don't feel like we have too much room to complain!
Headed back to Johannesburg tomorrow for an overnight layover before heading to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and beginning our 12 day trek through the East African bush. Hopefully many more large creatures in store for us!
