Never Say Goodbye

Beth, Alina, Lizzy, Aurelie, other Alina, me (holding Kita), Maarten (holding Mitzy), Ryan and Gerome in front of our vessel. We'll miss you Cake! 

            Last night we learned that there was space for four volunteer spots on the boat this morning. Alina, Lizzy and Beth had gone out to a bar in Gansbaai after the braai, and they didn’t come home until pretty late. When they got home they said that they’d probably prefer to just sleep the next morning, so we agreed that Aurelie, Ryan, the other Alina, and I would go out on the boat. When my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning, I headed out to the garage with Aurelie to start packing up the supplies for the boat. Alina soon arrived at the house and joined us. When Maarten arrived we asked him to go wake up Ryan in his room. Last night was his last night here at the volunteer house, so we’d all had a lot of fun, him especially. When he eventually showed up in the kitchen he said that, thankfully, he was feeling okay and definitely wanted to go out on the boat one last time. After walking down to the harbor in the darkness of the early morning and packing up the boat, we returned to the volunteer house to eat a quick breakfast before meeting the clients outside the white shark projects office at seven.

            We went back to the dam today since it was a very windy morning, and the island is more exposed than the dam. The first shark showed up pretty fast after we dropped anchor, and it turned into another really great morning for shark viewing. We saw a female that was over four meters long, which is definitely one of the biggest ones that we ever see around here. We also got some more great action with the shark that people either call “Slashfin” or “Razor”, the big female that has two big slashes through her dorsal fin, probably from a boat propeller. After being out on the water for about an hour and a half, the wind picked up even more and the swells got bigger, pushing the limits of what our boat can handle. We can go out if the swells are up to about three and a half meters. When we first left the harbor this morning they were about three meters, and got considerably more intense just as we pulled up anchor and started to leave. We’re not able to go out if they’re bigger than three and a half because the boat then has a higher risk of capsizing. The guests still all seemed to have a really good time while we were out on the boat, and Ryan said that it was a really good last trip for him.

            When we got back to the house, Lizzy, Beth and Alina were getting up. Maarten came with us back the house, and we all got pretty sad when Ryan rolled his suitcase out of his room. We’ve always called Ryan “Cake”, because it’s his last name and, as we said, that name is just too great to not use. Being the only male white shark projects volunteer for the time he was here, he was pretty sad to be leaving, and all the girls were certainly sad as well to see him go. We all walked down to the harbor one last time and took a picture of all of us in front of the shark team boat. Maarten and Gerome, another crew member that we’ve hung out with a lot, came down with us and got in the pic as well, which was nice because Maarten said he really didn’t like to be in pictures. Upon returning to the volunteer house, we all did one last shot in Cake’s honor, exchanged hugs, then he got in the white shark projects bus and left.

            It’s really interesting how in a span of merely two weeks, people can come into your life, come to pretty much feel like family, then leave again. Since all the other volunteers are from around Europe, I’m probably the least likely of all of us to ever see Cake again. Either way, we all had a lot of fun, life changing experiences in the two weeks that we were all volunteers together. On that note, this post’s food for thought- and title- is from a song that we were all recently listening and singing along to in a restaurant: “You and me and my old friends hoping it would never end. Holding on- we’ve got to try. Holding on to never say goodbye.”- Jon Bon Jovi

Braai Night!

These were sooo good! 

Aurelie, Jen, Alina and Ryan in the kitchen 

Jen, Aurelie, Alina, Ryan, me (holding our dog Mitzy), Lizzy and Beth in the volunteer house kitchen

            Well, tonight is Ryan’s last night here at the white shark projects volunteer house with us. Tomorrow around noon the project but takes him back to Cape Town, dropping him off at the airport to return home to Wakefield, in the UK, where he’s from. Beth and Lizzy are staying a couple more days, since they arrived a few days after him, but they’re leaving soon too. We decided to have a braai tonight while we still have all the volunteers here. Most of the volunteers originally thought that a braai was just the South African term for a barbecue, but when we went shopping this afternoon with Jan, we learned that we were wrong. He’s from South Africa, and when he saw that Alina had bought hamburger patties to make at the braai, he seemed legitimately morally offended. “No.” he said. “There are very specific things that you can and cannot have at a braai. Follow me.” And we walked back into the grocery store. By the end of the shopping trip, we had ribs, several different types of steak (including something I found that was labeled “Texan Steak”),  sausages, onions, peppers, potatoes, and more.

            After returning home, we put some of the food away, then a few of us walked over to a little store about a block away that we go to all the time to get some firewood and beer. Jan and his girlfriend Jen, as well as Maarten, soon arrived at the volunteer house, built up the fire, and began to cook the meat, starting with the ribs. We finished about an hour ago, and most of the volunteers have since been in food heaven. A few of then have said that they’re thinking about going out to a nearby bar soon, but tomorrow may be a sea day so I think I’ll stay here. We’ve heard that there will definitely be one trip out tomorrow. We don’t yet know how many volunteer spots are available, but we’re hoping that we’ll all be able to get out on the water. Ryan, Beth and Lizzy said that the water visibility wasn’t great at the dam this morning, but it was still cool to see the sharks from the boat.

            Having the braai tonight with the other volunteers kind of reminded me of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last summer, when Jesse would grill right outside our dorm for everybody. There have been a few similarities that I’ve noticed between this summer and last, although South Africa is very different from Wyoming and working with White Shark Projects is very different than working at Jackson Lake Lodge. For example, I’ve met a lot of great people from so many different places, the night sky is so full of stars in both places, now the grill nights, and there’s a view of the horizon when we’re out on the boat around sunrise that reminds me of the gorgeous Teton mountain range. I also thought it was pretty weird that May 14 of this year was my first night in South Africa, while May 14 of last year was my first night in the employee dorms of Jackson Lake Lodge in the park. It kind of makes me wonder where I’ll be at this time next summer, and what adventures I’ll be going on.

            I’ve been in South Africa for exactly two weeks as of today, and I still have to remind myself that I’m actually. Almost every time I look down to the end of our block, out to the crashing waves of the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean, I think to myself, I’m really in Africa. That adventurous little girl that grew up watching The Lion King and knowing that one day she’d be working with wildlife in Africa was right. On that note, I’ll end this post with another one of my favorite quotes: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”- Eleanor Roosevelt. 

A Great Day With Great Whites!

I love this shot! 

It's so cool to watch their eyes roll back during an attack

My, what large teeth you have! 

            It was another great morning out on the white shark projects vessel! We got a text from Karla last night to be up and in the garage getting ready at 5:30 this morning, half an hour earlier than usual. So, needless to say, none of the volunteers got a full eight hours of sleep last night. Still, when my alarm went off at 5 o’clock this morning, getting up really wasn’t hard considering that I’d soon be out on the boat with the sharks. With Ryan, the two Alina’s, Aurelie, me, and the crew all working, we got the boat packed up pretty quickly and returned to the volunteer house to have breakfast before heading out. There were seven guests on this trip, along with the five volunteers and the crew members. The crew for this trip included Grant and Gerald, the skippers, Maarten and Jan as photographers and dive masters, and Mandla to handle the bait and the cage. Mandla was one of the first crew members I met on my first day (he was the one that greeted the new volunteers with “welcome home”). While out on the boat, he’s been teaching me a few words of Afrikaans.

            We went back to the dam for this trip. The swells today were the biggest that I’ve experienced in my time out on the boat- they were over three meters. Thankfully, though, I didn’t feel seasick at all. I think by now I’ve gotten used to the feeling of being out at sea, and have learned to just let my body move with the boat. The water visibility didn’t seem to be too great so I decided not to get in the cage today, but instead just take pictures from the boat. You can often get a better view of the sharks from the boat, even if the water visibility is good.

            The sharks were very active and feisty this morning, so it turned out to be a great morning on the water. We saw several of them breach, or jump out of the water, to follow the bait, and I got some good pictures of their heads out of the water. We got the bait stolen about five times out on the boat this morning, which is rare. Usually, in the hours we’re out on the water, that’ll only happen once or twice. One thing that surprised me about being out on the boat is that it’s actually pretty easy to tell different sharks apart when we see them. When I see a shark for the first time, we try to find some specific characteristic about it that would distinguish it, so that if it hung around the boat for a while we could tell it apart from the other sharks around. Almost all the great whites we see have scars, spots, or something like that which makes them instantly recognizable, usually around the dorsal fin. In fact, all sharks have distinct notches in the dorsal fin that can serve as a fingerprint in identifying them from all other sharks.

            After a couple of very exciting hours out on the boat with the sharks, we headed back to the harbor. The volunteers took the used wetsuits back to the garage to wash them, then relaxed until lunchtime. We decided that this evening for dinner, instead of cooking, we’d go to the Great White House, a restaurant that’s almost right across the street from our house. Ryan, Beth and Lizzy will be leaving on Friday- they only signed up for two weeks- so we wanted to eat there at least once with them. So at about seven this evening Lizzy, Beth, Aurelie, the two Alina’s, Ryan and I walked over to the Great White House. Shortly after ordering, the lights around us were dimmed and candles at the tables all around us were lit. “Ah, so romantic.” Ryan said. “It’s like I have six wives.” We all laughed. Maarten originally said he wouldn’t join us, but as we were nearly finished with our meals he walked in. He knew that we’d be pretty much done, but he still joined us for dessert and a couple of beers before walking back to the house with us.

            Tomorrow Karla said there’s room for three volunteers on the boat, and we all agreed that it should be Ryan, Lizzy and Beth, since they probably won’t get another chance. The rest of us will still be in the garage at six to help pack up everything, but then we’ll probably just go back to bed.

            While walking back from the Great White House tonight, all the volunteers paused outside for a moment and just looked up at the sky. There’s a beautiful half moon, and you can see so many stars out here. It reminded me a bit of the beautiful night sky in Wyoming last summer. I will say that if there’s one thing that can make a Texas girl feel a bit out of place is looking up at the night sky and not being able to find the Big Dipper.  But seeing the bright moon and stars shining over the crashing waves of the ocean right in front of us was absolutely beautiful. And, with that thought, I’ll close this post with one of my favorite quotes that I recently discovered: “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”- Mary Anne Radmacher 

Sharks Have Personalities

That nictating membrane that goes over their eyes before an attack is so cool

We call this one Slashfin. This was probably done by a boat propeller. Photo credit for both of these pics goes to Maarten Jozef Billen, the photographer for White Shark Projects 

            Again, yesterday I didn’t make a blog post since there wasn’t much news to share. Yesterday and today have both been no sea days because of the really intense conditions out on the water. I heard that there were six-meter swells today, which is absolutely crazy. We don’t usually go out if the swells are bigger than about three meters. This morning Karla came over to the volunteer house and gave us a quick overview on the shark data- how to collect it out on the boat and file it back at the house, on the volunteer computer. It was raining this morning, so Karla said that she’d call us when it stopped so we could go down to the harbor and meet with Jan, one of the crew members, so he could go over a boat induction with us. At about noon, after the rain stopped, Jan came up to the house, and the six volunteers followed him down to the harbor and up into the boat. The boat induction lasted about half an hour, with Jan going over everything from the anchor, names of parts of the boat, how to steer the boat and control the engines, radios, and other things. We all had a pretty good understanding of the boat already having spent quite a bit of time on it, but going over it with Jan was nice because it gave a sense of purpose to the no sea day. He also went over the safety procedures of the boat, including the flares that were kept on the boat to get attention for help if an emergency on the boat was to happen. He said that it was regulation for those to get replaced every year, so on the coast of South Africa every New Years Eve, the boats in the area all shoot off their flares as if they were fireworks, then get new ones to have on the boat. After going over pretty much everything about the boat, Jan came back to the volunteer house with us and hung out for a while.

            Since the last two days have been no sea days, Karla promised us that, unless the weather suddenly got really bad, which doesn’t look likely, all the volunteers will get to go out on the boat at least once tomorrow. We know that there are two trips to sea planned, but we haven’t heard yet how many spots are available per trip. Karla said it was likely that we’d all go out on the first trip. As with most sea days, there’s a six o’clock start in the garage tomorrow morning to start packing up the wetsuits and everything. Getting up early here actually doesn’t feel so hard, probably because I’m always really happy and excited about getting out on the water and seeing the sharks.

            When talking about data collection with Karla this morning, it reminded us all of something really interesting about the great white sharks that we see- they’re all individual, and they’re all different. I’d heard researchers say that they believe white sharks have individual personalities, and in working with them through this project I really believe that as well. Sometimes we’ll see a shark swim around the boat one time, then decide it’s not interested and swim off. At the same time, we’ll see sharks stay around the boat for an hour or more, charging and playing with the bait, watching the divers in the cage, and swimming all around the boat. Some sharks have markings that easily distinguish them, so much so that we’ve given them specific names. For example, one shark has two big slashes down its dorsal fin (we’re pretty sure it’s from a boat propeller), so we call her Slashfin. Another shark has a big chunk taken out of one side of her mouth, so we call her Scarface. Another shark has a disfigured pectoral fin that’s a lot smaller than the other one, so we call him Nemo. There are even a few sharks that don’t have that many special physical characteristics but have very distinct behavior that makes it easy to identify them. For example, there’s a big female in the area that we call Rasta that really likes to lift her head out of the water and look around. She’ll often roll on her side, with one eye out of the water, and swim around the boat watching us. Sometimes, she’ll actually just lift her entire head up and out to look around. That behavior is called spy hopping, and while it’s fairly common among whales and dolphins, last I heard great white sharks are the only fish that are known to do it.

            Well, tomorrow morning it’s back out on the boat for the white shark projects volunteers, and I’ll probably bring my camera along. Hopefully I can get some more good shots. This post’s food for thought: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”- Mahatma Gandhi 

Summertime (And The Living Is Easy)

This view reminded me a bit of working in Grand Teton National Park last summer

I love when they stick their heads out of the water following the bait

            I didn’t make a blog post yesterday since I didn’t have a lot of news to share. Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day here at the white shark projects volunteer house. We’d all gone out the previous night to celebrate for Aurelie’s birthday, so we were actually pretty relieved when we learned that yesterday was a no sea day. After we all let ourselves sleep in, someone mentioned pizza around lunchtime and we all jumped at the idea. We ordered pizza from a place in town and, with some help from Maarten, got it picked up and brought back here to the house, where we quickly devoured it while watching Jurassic Park (we learned that, amazingly enough, Alina had never seen it, and immediately decided to change that). That evening was another night of load shedding, so we made a fire, lit some candles, and all sat around the living room, relaxing and talking. I don’t really know why it’s called load shedding, but here in Gansbaai and surrounding areas the power is intentionally shut down for a couple of hours about every other night. It’s typically shut off between 8 and 10:30, but sometimes it comes back on closer to 10. All the volunteers have said that we actually kind of like load shedding, and are going to miss it when we leave South Africa. During that time, there’s no lights, no television, and no wifi connection, so we just kind of sit around the square of couches in the living room with some candles and talk. At first we thought load shedding would be kind of annoying, but when we’re sitting around talking to each other, the time usually goes by pretty quickly. I think I’ve gotten to know the other volunteers a lot better than I would have if load shedding didn’t happen.

            We knew by early evening yesterday that today would be a sea day. We got a text from Karla, the volunteer coordinator, on the volunteer phone, saying that there would be two trips out today. The second one was full, but the first trip had room for five volunteers. Beth wasn’t feeling very good, so she volunteered to stay home. So, at six o’clock this morning, Alina, Ryan, Aurelie, Lizzy and I were in the garage packing up the wetsuits, life jackets and other gear, then heading back to the house to have breakfast before meeting the crew and clients at the boat at about 7:15. I decided to bring my camera out on this trip to see if I could get any good shots of the sharks. We went back out to the dam, where the water visibility was still good, thankfully. Today was the last day that we were on reduced capacity, so the boat contained seven guests, five volunteers, and five crew members. Of the seven guests, six of them wanted to get in the cage, while the other guest and five volunteers watched from the boat. We saw a total of ten beautiful sharks in the nearly two hours that we were out on the water, and I got some decent pictures of them, as well as a few short videos.

            The Shark Team boat pulled back into the harbor at about 9:30 this morning. After helping the guests out of the boat, we walked back up to the house, washed the used wetsuits, and went inside to clean up, look at the pictures we took, and relax.

            We’ve already heard that tomorrow will be a no sea day, so we’ll get to stay up and later tonight. Maarten’s already over here at the house hanging out, and he’s off tomorrow, so he’s said he’ll stay over and have fun with us. It’ll be another great evening here in the white shark projects volunteer house.

            This post’s food for thought: “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”- Robert Louis Stevenson

Weird Guests, Lockouts, and Birthdays

The spot where I caught the brown shyshark while snorkeling yesterday

I saw my first wild rock hyrax yesterday! So cute! 

            I decided to make this post fairly early today since I don’t think I’ll have time later. It’s about 4:30 here at the great white shark project volunteer house, and most of the volunteers are relaxing after a great morning out on the ocean. We got up this morning in time to be out in the garage by six, getting the wetsuits and life jackets ready for the first trip out. There were actually two trips out to sea today, one leaving at 7:30, one leaving at 10. All the volunteers got up in time to go help pack up the boat for the first trip, then all of them except for Alina and I went back to bed to rest a while longer, while Alina and I ate breakfast, then met the crew and clients by the boat. There was room for the two of us on that first trip; the other volunteers were going on the second one. The engines on the boat were just replaced a couple of days ago, so today we had a reduced capacity. Typically the boat can accommodate up to five crew members and twenty clients and/or volunteers, but today they only were allowing twelve non-crew members per trip. So the boat definitely didn’t feel very full this morning out on the water; it was just Alina, about ten guests, the crew, and me. We helped the clients into their life jackets and pulled out of the harbor right on time.

            For this trip we returned to the dam, where we went my first day out at sea, instead of the island, where we’ve been the past two sea days. The wind out on the water was really strong this morning, and the dam area is slightly sheltered from the wind, while the spot by the island is totally exposed. Thankfully the visibility in the water was better this morning than it had been the first time I went to the dam. Within about ten minutes of dropping anchor the first shark showed up by the boat. We quickly got wetsuits passed out and helped the clients into the cage. Since we only had six clients on the boat that wanted to go into the cage, getting them ready was pretty easy. Once we’d helped out all the clients, Alina and I went up to the front of the boat and sat on the edge, relaxing and watching the sharks swim around the cage. We saw a total of nine or ten sharks on that trip, and most of them were really big- most were at least about twelve feet long and quite bulky. We saw a really big male white shark, which was interesting. Typically the really big sharks in this area are female- seeing a male that big is pretty rare. Seeing sharks that big propel themselves out of the water following the bait is such a cool thing to watch. We also saw one tagged shark and a shark that had a big chunk taken out of its caudal- it amazes me how tough and resilient these creatures are.

            While watching the sharks, Alina and I had a rather interesting interaction with one of the clients one the boat. A man from India, who was on the trip with his wife, said that he wanted to put on a wetsuit, take a picture of himself wearing it, then take it off, but not get in the cage. Alina and I both tried to tell him that if he’d already spent that much money to come on this trip, and was going to go through the trouble of putting on the wetsuit, he might as well get in the cage, but he insisted that he didn’t want to. He said that he wanted to send his kids a picture of him in the wetsuit and tell them that he’d gotten in the cage, but not actually do it. Even more ridiculous, his reason was, in his mind, the cage was completely unsafe and if he got in it he was going to die, or at least lose a hand- yes, he actually said that. Alina and I assured him that the cage was totally safe and as long as he followed the rules inside it he’d be completely fine, but he wouldn’t change his mind. Eventually we gave up trying to reason with him and just gave him a wetsuit to put on. He did exactly what he said- went to the hassle of pulling on that thick, uncomfortable suit, had his wife take a few pictures of him, then immediately took it off.

            After nearly two hours of admiring the beautiful sharks in the area, we pulled up the anchor and returned to the harbor, where the other volunteers and next group of clients met us. Alina and I took the used wetsuits back to the volunteer house to wash them, then realized that Ryan had the volunteer house keys, and he was out on the boat. We went back to the white shark project lodge, got the spare keys, but couldn’t get the back door open with them. We decided we had to just wait until the other trip returned to get inside. After sitting out on the porch for about an hour, one of the boat crew came up to help us. We stayed out on the front porch while he went around back to try the door again. A few minutes later, he opened the front door from the inside holding a screwdriver, looked at us, and said, “When all else fails, break in.” So there’s the drama for the day.

            Today is special here at the volunteer house because it’s Aurelie’s birthday. This evening it’s my turn to cook dinner, then the volunteers are going for a while to celebrate. We bought a cake yesterday at the grocery store and are having it after dinner. We probably won’t stay out too late, since we don’t yet know what the plan is for tomorrow. We’re all kind of hoping for a no sea day though.

            It was a week ago exactly that I moved into the great white shark project volunteer house, and I’ve already had so many cool experiences here. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this summer has to offer. This post’s food for thought: “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”- Aldous Huxley

South African Shark Conservancy

Me holding one of the sharks they had at SASC

Holding the brown shyshark that I caught while snorkeling 

            When I think of the best days of my life, all of them involve being around animals. Hanging with the komodo dragons at the zoo. My first behind the scenes with the lions and tigers. The day I met Chuma the okapi is definitely in my top three best days of my life. And I think today is also on that list.

            The volunteers got up bright and early this morning to get ready for our exclusive cage diving trip to sea. We had the boat all packed up and ready to go by seven, and soon after we pulled out of the harbor. Karla, the volunteer coordinator, decided to come along with us, so the boat contained: me, Aurelie, Ryan, the two Alina’s, Lizzy, Beth, Karla, Maarten, Grant the skipper, and two other crew members. We dropped anchor right near shark alley, not far from Geyser Rock, and put the cage in. I’d already decided that I was not going to wear a wetsuit this time. The wetsuits they have are really thick and uncomfortable, and other volunteers said that they’d previously gone in with just their swimsuits, and it wasn’t that bad. So, along with six other volunteers (all of which were wearing wetsuits), I climbed down into the 55-degree water wearing just my swimsuit. It felt incredibly cold when the water first touched my skin, but after a few minutes I got used to it. Unlike me first time in the cage, the water visibility was absolutely fabulous today, so we all got some really great views of the sharks. I was in the leftmost spot in the cage, and it seemed like that was the best spot to be. Several times sharks ran into the cage right in front of me. There’s an inner bar in the cage that we’re supposed to hang on to, so that we have something to hold without having our fingers outside of the cage. When the sharks hit against the cage right in front of me, several times I found myself instinctively pulling my hands off the inner bar and back, even though they were already out of reach of the sharks.

            After about an hour in the cage admiring the huge sharks swimming around us, we got back up onto the boat, pulled up the anchor, and returned to the harbor. On our way back we went right by Geyser Rock to see the Cape fur seals that live there. The entire rock is just crawling with these seals, which is the main reason that the great whites are in the area.

            When we got back to the harbor we unloaded and cleaned up the boat, then walked back up to the volunteer house to clean up. I took a quick shower, mainly to warm up as opposed to clean up, then at about 11:30 Karla picked us up in the volunteer bus and we headed to Hermanus. We picked up lunch on the way at a KFC- yes, South Africa has KFC… but not Starbucks- then arrived at the South African Shark Conservancy at about 1:30. The building is located right beside the ocean, in a spot that’s great for snorkeling and is home to some species of shysharks that SASC catches, tags, and releases. We spent some time inside the building looking at the sharks that were inside and listening to the SASC employees explain what they do, then we were invited to go snorkel with one of them and try to find and catch some sharks. A couple of the volunteers changed into wetsuits, but most of us just jumped in with our swimsuits, fins, and masks and snorkels. The water there didn’t feel quite as cold as in the cage that morning, and the fact that we were actually swimming around made it feel better. I was the only volunteer that actually caught one of the shysharks that we were looking for. The water visibility was great yet again, and when I saw it I took a deep breath through the snorkel, then dove down to the bottom, slowly came up behind it, and reached out and grabbed it right behind the pectoral fins. It was actually surprisingly easy to catch; it didn’t seem to notice me coming behind it, and thankfully I got a good grip on it from the beginning so it didn’t slip out of my hand. Shark’s skin doesn’t have the same kind of scales that most fish have- their skin is rougher and easier to hold on to. Once I grabbed it and brought it up to the surface, I noticed that this one already had a tag on it. That made it even better since SASC could now see when they last caught this shark, what its measurements then were, if it’s grown at all, etc. We stayed out in the water for about half an hour, and I was the only volunteer that was able to catch one. After getting out of the water and back into our dry clothes, we headed back to the volunteer house.

            The volunteers just finished dinner and are hanging around the living room with Maarten hanging out. There’s a fire going in the fireplace- it’s about 60 degrees outside. Tomorrow there are two more trips to sea. The first one has room for two volunteers, and the second has room for five. Maarten told me that it’s often better to pick the first one, since sometimes clients scheduled for the second trip don’t show up, and you end up getting to go on both, so Alina and I are going on the first one, which leaves at 7:30. It’ll be another great day with the great white shark project. This post’s food for thought: “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy adventures working with wildlife in Africa and that’s pretty much the same thing.”- me. 

Another Day in Paradise

The water in the tide pools is really clear

A beautiful abalone shell

I love the ocean

            So last night, after I made yesterday’s blog post, the volunteers were told that we should be on stand by for the next morning; we weren’t sure whether we’d be going out to sea or not. The engines on the Shark Team boat were getting changed out yesterday, so early this morning they had to do a couple of test runs with just the crew. There was only one trip to sea with clients scheduled for today, and there were only room for two more people. Since Lizzy and Beth are the newest ones, we all decided to let them go out today, and the rest of us would just have a realizing day around the harbor. Their trip to sea was scheduled to leave at 12:30, so the volunteers all slept a little later than usual. When we all met in the kitchen and were eating breakfast together, we decided that some of us would take a walk along the coastline heading towards the lighthouse to just continue exploring the area. At a little before eleven Lizzy, Ryan, Aurelie, the two Alina’s (we sometimes distinguish them as German Alina and British Alina), and I headed down to the harbor and walked along the path by the water, just before the rocks, enjoying the sunny day and the beautiful coastline. After going that way for about forty minutes, Lizzy, Aurelie, and the German Alina decided to head back so Lizzy would be sure of being ready in time for the trip out to sea. Ryan, British Alina, and I decided we’d continue on in that direction for a while longer before turning back. After about ten more minutes of walking, we left the main path and walked down closer to the water, jumping around the rocks and admiring some of the tide pools that had formed around them. I didn’t bring my phone or camera on this walk, but I’ll definitely take that walk again before I leave and bring my camera along. We saw several starfish, some bigger than my hand, as well as lots of sea anemones of a wide variety of colors, some little fish swimming around the pools, and some beautiful shells scattering the area around them. The shells that we find out here on the South Africa coast are the type of shells that I could only find in gift shops back home.

            We arrived back home at a little after one this afternoon and made a pretty simple lunch, then just hung out around the house most of the afternoon. Aurelie had started making her dinner by the time we got home; she’s making a stew for tonight, so she made it really early and just left it cooking most of the afternoon.

            When Ryan, Alina and I got back home we arrived to really great news; to make up for us not going out to sea this morning, Karla arranged a volunteers only cage diving trip tomorrow morning, then a trip out to the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) on Hermanus after that. The trip should also include snorkeling in the Hermanus area, which is about an hour away and supposed to be beautiful, and having lunch at a restaurant out there.

            The volunteers that have already been here awhile have said that the volunteer only cage diving trips are the best ones, and SASC is a really nice area to visit. Tomorrow should be a really great day, and I’m sure I’ll bring my camera along for the ride. I pretty much feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now.

            That’s enough for now. Tomorrow’s shaping up to be a really busy day, but I’ll try to make time for another blog post. This post’s food for thought: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”- Mark Twain

Hanging in Cape Town!

            This will probably be a short post since I don’t have a whole lot of time to write. Cape Town and the surrounding area has something called load shedding, where the power is periodically turned off. It happened for a few hours my first night here, and is scheduled again tonight. Anyway, today was a no sea day due to the weather, so the shark project volunteers spent the day hanging out in the beautiful city of Cape Town. San Antonio will probably always be my favorite city in the world, but Cape Town is becoming a close second. It was a little drizzly and pretty cloudy today, so we decided against Table Mountain, since we probably wouldn’t be able to see much anyway. Instead, after picking up the new volunteers from their hostel, we headed down to the waterfront to walk around there. There were a total of seven people- me, the two Alina’s, Ryan, Aurelie, and the new volunteers, Lizzy and Beth (yes, they’re both named Elizabeth as well, but at least they both go by other things). They’re both from Wales and are here for two weeks. This is actually their second time with the project; they came for about a month last year. They’re friends back home, so they planned this trip so they’d come together.

            We walked around the waterfront taking pictures and enjoying the view of the boats and the ocean. We ate lunch outside, at one of the restaurants in the shopping mall near the waterfront, then walked around the mall, going through gift shops and getting some souvenirs. I’ve known these other volunteers for less than a week, but I already feel like I know them so well. At about four, we met back up at the volunteer bus and headed back to Gansbaai. Alina’s cooking tonight, and tomorrow we should be heading out to sea again. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll bring my camera out for this trip or not; it’ll probably be a spur of the moment decision. Either way, tomorrow should be another fun day.

            Sorry for the short post. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have more time to write. This post’s food for thought: “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”- Tim Cahill

Another Morning at Sea!

Our vessel 

A big beautiful female

This one got really close to the cage

These animals are so cool to see up close! 

            This morning the shark project volunteers were up and out at 5:30, going to the garage to pack up the wetsuits, life jackets, bait, chum, and snacks in the truck, and taking them down to the harbor to pack up the boat. We then walked back up to the house to eat breakfast and grab our jackets before heading back down to the shark project guest building to help the clients into their life jackets and into the boat. It was an absolutely beautiful morning; the boat pushed out of the harbor at 7:30, just after the sun came up. The wind was pretty strong out on the water, but after we got out of the shallows, the swells got smaller and calmer. My body definitely felt thankful for going to bed early and refraining from party last night; my stomach felt a lot better out on the water. No seasickness for me today, though I can’t say the same for everyone on the boat. It’s becoming clear that guests providing some of their own “chum” is a pretty regular occurrence.

            I decided not to go in the cage today, but instead bring my camera out and enjoy the view from the boat. We anchored today at a different place than we had yesterday- directly south of Geyser Rock. Yesterday we anchored between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock, which is the typical summer spot for us to be. But, since it’s coming up to winter down here and the sharks weren’t very active over in that spot yesterday, we decided that this morning we’d switch to the winter spot, and it paid off. We saw a total of fifteen sharks of various sizes, from one that looked like it wasn’t much bigger than a baby to a big four and a half meter female that played around with the bait for quite a while near the boat. The visibility in the water was better than yesterday, too, so it was much easier to see the sharks in the water. We stayed out on the boat for over three hours, photographing and enjoying the show that the sharks were putting on. I got a few good pictures of the sharks swimming beside the boat and charging the bait, as well as a few short videos. When we finally pulled up the anchor at a little after 11, I think just about everyone on the boat would’ve agreed they’d seen quite a show.

            When we returned to the harbor and helped the clients out of their wetsuits and off the boat, three of the volunteers went back up to the house to wash the wetsuits, while Aurelie and I stayed and helped the crew wash the boat. At about noon, we were finished with work for the day and went back home to clean up.

            After cleaning up, eating lunch at home, and relaxing for a while, Karla came and picked us up to go grocery shopping, which we do Mondays and Thursdays. Tonight was my night to cook dinner, which we just finished, so I got some supplies for that, and a couple of snacks to have around the house. Karla told us that, due to the weather, tomorrow would be a no sea day, so she’d planned a trip into Cape Town for us. We’re getting picked up at seven tomorrow morning to make the drive up to the beautiful city of Cape Town. We’re picking two more volunteers up at their hostels at ten, then Karla said she’d let us decide what we’d prefer to spend the day doing there. We agreed on taking a gondola up to Table Mountain, which, as far as we’ve heard, is the main must-see spot in Cape Town. The view from Table Mountain is supposed to be incredible, and there’s a small spot to eat at the top. Sounds like it’ll be another great day with my fellow volunteers! I’m definitely bringing my camera along for the ride.

            In the past few days I’ve officially confirmed what I already suspected- spending time in a foreign country can definitely be an incredible learning experience. I’ve been taking in so much of the different culture from the beautiful country of South Africa. Some of the boat’s crew members are teaching me some words in Afrikaans, one of the main languages used here. I’ve been getting along fine with just English around here, but beginning to learn the new language has been fun. This is my first time traveling internationally, and it feels very weird. Last night, while talking to the other volunteers, I said, “here in the US…” then realized, no, that’s not an accurate statement. It’s also been cool, looking at the signs at shops and restaurants around here, to see how they call some things differently here. For example, in the grocery store, they do have pickles, but they’re referred to as “sour cucumbers”. Chips are also referred to as crisps, and they say gentsmen here instead of gentlemen.

            That’s enough for today, I guess. It’s been a great day, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! This post’s food for thought: “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”- James Michener 

Day One on the Boat

Getting ready to get in the cage! 

This shark came really close to us! 

Bait for bringing the sharks in 

Just like out of Jaws 

            Today was my first day officially out on the boat with the great white shark project. For this first trip out, the two other new volunteers and I basically just played the role of clients, so we could get that experience first. Some of the fellow volunteers and staff had warned us about the possibility of seasickness while on the boat, but I thought I’d be able to handle the choppy feeling and large swells without getting sick. Long story short… I was wrong. My abs are still sore from heaving. And I certainly wasn’t the only one. Ryan also fell victim, and about five tourists on the boat. From what the crew and more experienced volunteers said, it’s fairly common for that to happen, especially on days with conditions like today, with really large swells.

            Now, putting that aside, the viewing of the sharks that we got made the seasickness totally worth it! It was about a fifteen-minute boat ride from the harbor to the area where we dropped anchor, and about another twenty minutes of chumming and preparing the cage until we saw the first shark. The cage fits up to six people, and I was part of the first group that went in. After pulling on a thick wetsuit and pair of goggles, five tourists and I jumped into the frigid, shark infested water of the Atlantic Ocean. I noticed that, as I was pulling on the wetsuit, my heart was pounding, the adrenaline was clearly flowing, and my hands were even shaking slightly. From what I’ve heard, a lot of people will get a reaction like that the first time, even if they don’t consider themselves to be afraid of sharks.

            The cage is held against the side of the boat and floats on the surface of the water, so getting an underwater view of the sharks is done by simply taking a deep breath, grabbing the inner bar of the cage, and pulling yourself down to the sharks’ level. The visibility of the water changes from day to day, and today it wasn’t too good. I did get some good underwater views of the sharks really close to the cage, including a great white whipping its tail right on the other side. The best thing I saw actually happened right above the surface of the water, and, even better, I was the only one in the cage to see it. When the crewmember that was pulling the bait rope would see a shark coming near the cage, he’d tell us to go down underwater to see it. At one point, he said that and we all went under. I came back up before anyone else, though, and my face pulled up a matter of inches from a great white’s face, which was biting the bars of the cage. He only stayed there for a second or two, so by the time the others came up, he was already gone. The fact that I was the only person in the cage to catch that moment made it all the more special.

            After about thirty minutes in the cage, my group came out to let the other people that wanted to go have a turn. The view from the boat was actually better than the view from the cage. Being higher, I could spot sharks easier up there, and could more accurately guess their size. At one point while I was on the boat, a really big female great white charged the bait several times, and she hung around the boat for a while. She was probably about four meters long, and pretty bulky; definitely an intimidating, powerful animal. She was the biggest one we saw on that trip.

            Eventually, after everyone who wanted to had gotten some time in the cage, we pulled up the anchor and headed back to the harbor. Upon returning, the volunteers all headed back to our house to clean up and relax until dinnertime, which we just finished. We need to be ready at six tomorrow morning for another trip out to sea, so no partying tonight for sure (the fun we had last night might’ve also contributed to me being sick on the boat today). I definitely am going to bring my camera out for this one, so hopefully I’ll get some good pictures to share on my next blog post. Tonight’s food for thought is one of my favorite quotes of all time: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”- Nelson Mandela

Hanging At The Harbor

African black-footed penguins at the center we visited

The ocean here is so powerful!

I saw wild sacred ibis! How cool is that?!

I love the ocean 

            Well, it’s a little before eight in the morning here at the great white shark project volunteer house. I started to type this blog post up last night, but didn’t get around to finishing it, so this post will mainly be talking about yesterday’s crazy festivities. Yesterday was such a fun day! It started with me and the other new volunteers meeting Karla, the volunteer coordinator of the shark project, and getting our official introduction to the program. We met with her at about 11 in the morning, and the whole thing took only a little over an hour. Karla explained the majority of the project to us, from working with the tourists to data collection to boat handling. She also said that, if the weather stays the way it’s expected to, then tomorrow (now today) we’ll be going out to sea for the first time! Since it’ll be the new volunteers’ first time out on the boat, we’ll basically just be clients this time, so we can get the hang of it before we start working with the tourists and collecting data and other typical volunteer jobs. Karla also told us that, to get everybody out of the house for a while that afternoon, all the volunteers were going to visit an African penguin and seabird conservation center nearby. So, when the volunteer introduction was over, we returned to the volunteer house and hung out there until two, when Karla picked everybody up in the volunteer bus. It was a total of Karla, both Alina’s (yes, there are two volunteers named Alina), Aurelie, Ryan, me, and Maarten, who’s another staff member with this project. He’s one of the leaders of the volunteers, and he’s around all the time. He was over here at the house hanging out with me and the other volunteers until pretty late last night. He’s the only person here that, to me, doesn’t sound like he has an accent. He was born in Belgium but grew up in Canada. Since I’m the only one with this project that’s from the US, talking to him makes me feel a little closer to home. 

            Anyway, the penguin conservation center was really fun to see. They had a pair of African black-footed penguins that we got to see pretty close up, and we also got a special tour of the lab and behind the scenes areas of the center. The team at the center knew that a group of volunteers from the great white shark project was coming, so they arranged an extra tour that most visitors obviously weren’t provided with.

            When we returned to the volunteer house after the tour of the penguin center, the two other new volunteers, Ryan and Aurelie, and I decided to take the five-minute walk down from the house to the harbor, to check out the ocean that we’ll be going in soon. Long story short, the harbor is absolutely beautiful! We explored the area for almost an hour, looking at the cool shells we came across on the beach, climbing over the precarious rocks around the water, and watching the crazy waves that we’ll hopefully be riding in the shark team boat very soon! It was definitely a very beautiful shoreline, with a lot of really cool shells scattered all around, and some very intense waves crashing over the rocks. The ocean definitely seemed very different than the Texas coast that I’m used to. Not only were there some shells out on the beach that back home you could only find in gift shops, but the clear power of the water was definitely more intense than the type of ocean around Port Aransas. Climbing around the rocks and hearing the crashing waves in my ears definitely made me all the more ready to be out on that boat with the sharks! I’ve always loved being around the ocean, and the fact that I’m spending the next few weeks living so close is pretty much a dream come true!

            I think this post is long enough. In a couple of hours, I’ll be in the shark team boat out on the water- not to mention in the cage with the sharks! This post’s food for thought: “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”- Isak Dinesen 

Hello, Great White Shark Project!

The front of Atlantic Point, the hostel where I spent my first night in Africa

The breakfast room in the hostel

The bedroom where I stayed. There were four sets of bunk beds

The kitchen in the house I'll be staying at for the next month

The living room, complete with my fellow volunteers! 

            Spending last night and this morning at Atlantic Point was really nice. By the time I’d finished yesterday’s blog post, I was so tired that going to sleep was incredibly easy. People told me that this time change wouldn’t be too hard to get used to, and they were right. It really makes sense, since last night here felt like mid afternoon to my body, but it felt like a mid afternoon where I’d had no sleep the previous night, so sleeping was really easy. It seemed like I was the only American at Atlantic Point; I think most of the other guests were European, since I heard a lot of French, German, and Dutch spoken around me. I can now scratch “sharing a bedroom with seven other people I just met” off my bucket list!

            I’m writing this post from the couch in the front living room of the house that I’ll be living in for the next month. I can actually see the Atlantic Ocean from the front porch of this house, and it already feels like home. This living area has four couches set up in a square, with a coffee table in the middle, and a TV off to the side. There’s also a fireplace along the sidewall, and a very well equipped kitchen at the back of this big front room. Shortly after arriving, the volunteers all took the project bus over to a nearby supermarket, to buy some food for dinner. The project provides breakfast and lunch for us, so we only have to worry about dinner, and the volunteers often cook on a communal basis, making it pretty cheap. Of the four of us here, three just arrived today, while one girl has already been here for about a month. She said she’s staying a total of three months, so she seems to already know the ropes really well. She said she’d cook tonight, so we should get supplies for some of the following nights, and we’d take turns cooking.  

            So, of the three other volunteers that I’ve met staying here so far, here’s what I know: Ryan, who also stayed at Atlantic Point last night, is from the UK. He’s 23 years old and staying two weeks. Alina is the volunteer that’s already been here for a month. She’s 21 years old and is also from the UK. Aurelie’s staying here three weeks. She’s 25 years old and is from Belgium. I also met some of the crew that I’ll be working with. One of the men greeted us by saying “welcome home”, which was nice, then took us around the garage where our supplies are stored and explained some of that. He sounded like he was from South Africa, and said that he’s been working with the project for eleven years. The crew members I met didn’t all say where they were from, but from listening to them talk, I can tell that I’m the only American here. One thing that’s happened several times to me in the last two days is people have asked me where I’m from, and I’ve replied the US. I’ve never before in my life said that, and it feels weird. I’ve also been paying a lot of attention to the different accents I’ve heard here. The South African accent is a bit hard to understand at first, but once you get used to it, it actually sounds really nice. I’m also starting to learn and get used to the other customs of this country, such as driving on the left side of the street, the driver’s seat in cars being on the opposite side, using Celsius to tell the temperature, and using the metric system to measure length and weight.

            Due to the weather right now (it’s currently about 60 degrees and cloudy), it’ll probably be two or three days before we go out on the boat. It’s expected to rain tomorrow. I’ve heard that tomorrow we’ll meet the volunteer coordinator and get an official introduction to the project, then later in the day the crew will take us to a restaurant out in town.

            That’s pretty much all the new information I have today. This is a beautiful place, and I can’t wait to learn and explore more tomorrow! This post’s food for thought: “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”-Freya Stark

SA To SA- San Antonio To South Africa!

            Greetings from Africa, everybody! I’m writing this post from my bed at Atlantic Point Backpackers in Cape Town! The past 26 hours or so have been pretty insane. Going through every little detail would take all night, so here’s the short version: the flight from San Antonio to Atlanta was a breeze. I got through security without any problems at all. At first I was worried that my flight might be delayed since it was raining, but we took off right on time! There was a bit of turbulence right after takeoff, but after we climbed over it the flight was smooth almost the whole way. Then came the real fun…

            The Atlanta airport is huge, but thanks to the train they have going through it, I made it all the way across the place in about fifteen minutes. After getting a snack and making a few last calls to friends and family, I boarded the fifteen-hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. It was by far the biggest plane I’ve ever been on. Each row had a total of nine seats, and there had to be close to sixty rows total. It looked like the plane was full too I sat between two guys, one that was about my age and was from North Carolina. He said it was his first time flying internationally too. The guy on the other side of me was older than us, and said he traveled all the time- He went to South Africa alone about six times a year, and also regularly traveled to Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and more. Thankfully, he knew getting up to walk around and stretch pretty regularly was the best way to deal with being on these long flights, and we followed his lead. I think I got a total of maybe two hours of sleep, at the most, the entire time we were on the plane. After what seemed like forever, we finally landed in Johannesburg. Being at that airport was another part of the trip that I was a bit worried about, since I didn’t know my way around, I knew it was big, and I needed to print out my boarding pass for the flight to Cape Town and pick up my checked suitcase to move from one airline to the other. I also hoped I could find some time to exchange some US cash for South African rand, which I was able to do quite easily (South African money is beautiful, by the way). When I got my checked bag I walked out to the main area of the airport, not really sure exactly where to go next. Thanks to a very helpful porter that stepped in to assist, though, I got my boarding pass printed out, got through customs, got my bag checked, and found my gate for the Cape Town flight in less than half an hour. While waiting at the gate I started talking to a nice older couple, who said they were originally from Manchester, but had retired to Cape Town a few years ago. We ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. The two-hour plane ride from Johannesburg to Cape Town felt incredibly easy compared to the previous one. The couple asked me if I had transportation from the airport to my hostel, and even when I told them that I’d already planned an airport transfer, they made sure that I found the guy that was transferring me over to the hostel before saying goodbye to me. One thing I’ve learned today that’s a benefit of traveling by yourself- people tend to be more willing to help you.

            So, here I am, finally in a comfortable place, at my hostel here in Cape Town. I get picked up here early tomorrow morning by the shark project, which will bring me through to Gansbaai to begin working with them. I could definitely make this post longer and more detailed if I wanted to, but I haven’t had a really restful sleep in over 30 hours, so I’m going to call it a night (even though it’s still only mid afternoon San Antonio time). This post’s food for thought: “There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.”- Charles Dudley Warner