Until Next Time, White Shark Projects!

One last picture with the group. I'm already missing these people! 

            I’m writing this post from Atlantic Point in Cape Town, the delightful little hostel that I stayed in my first night in Africa, and will be staying at again the next two nights. This morning I had my very last trip out on the White Shark Projects boat with the sharks. The conditions were pretty rough and quite a few people on the boat were getting seasick so it turned out to be a shorter trip than normal, but we still got some great shark action while we were out there. I brought my camera but decided that I’d just live in the moment and enjoy the sharks with my own eyes instead, especially since the rough conditions made it hard to get a good shot.

            When we pulled back into the harbor I jumped off the boat, ran back to the volunteer house to quickly change and bring out my suitcase for the bus to pick up, then returned to the boat to get a couple of final pictures with the people that have come to feel like family in the past month. After we got a few pictures by the boat, we all went back up to the volunteer house.  The “Old Bean” and I each “skulled” one last beer in honor of my final day, then it was time to say goodbye. There were tears in my eyes as I hugged my fellow volunteers and crew members goodbye, and as I got in the bus I promised myself that I will return to work with this project again. This has been a truly unforgettable and life changing month. From serenading the great white sharks with Backstreet Boys songs in the cage on the volunteer exclusive trip to catching the brown shyshark with my bare hands while snorkeling in Hermanus to nearly getting swept off the rocks of Devil’s Cave at high tide, I’ve made so many memories here that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. Perhaps most of all, I’ll treasure the friendships I made here in this short month. That being said, I’m going to dedicate this next section to the people I got to know here while working with White Shark Projects.

            Cake (Ryan)- Thanks for going full exorcist on our first morning out on the boat, so I wouldn’t feel like a wimp being the only volunteer to do so. I think you still hold the record for loudest puking. I absolutely love your crazy Cake-isms, like “don’t worry, I work in IT” and “how romantic. This is like I have six wives”. You will always be the king of falafel in my mind, as well as the king of really bad pun jokes. And yes, we somehow managed to fix the television after you left. You just turn it off and on again, right?

            Oreo (Aurelie)- Your amazing homemade mayonnaise has forever ruined my taste for the type of mayo that I get back home. I think I’m going to have to start making my own. Hanging out in town the night of your birthday was absolutely insane, though the tradition of it being the birthday person’s job to pay still seems backwards to me. Thankfully, it was not a sea day the next day. Oh, and if I ever visit Belgium, I call dibs on some of that bacon chocolate you sell.

            Lizzy and Beth- that night that we were sitting in the living area in the dark during load shedding singing along to Green Day was a really great night. I’ll always think of you when I listen to American Idiot, though you made me realize how ironic it is for an American to like that album. Lizzy, I thought it was pretty hilarious when you asked about guns in America, and how it really blew your mind to learn that so many people have them. It was definitely a lot of fun going out in town for both of your last night here (though the details of that night need not be posted here- you’re welcome).

            Alina Schmidt- thanks for teaching us that crazy German drinking game that the volunteers played so much. I didn’t originally realize how serious everyone takes it though- that game would always start as just us having fun and end with all the volunteers hating each other. We’d get over it after another game though. Oh, and thanks to you I know how to swear in German! That’s going to be very useful back home. Of course, pretty much anything in German sounds like an insult.

            Alina Finch- I’ll probably think of you whenever I hear Everybody by The Backstreet Boys, and remember when we were singing it to the sharks in the cage. Thanks for allowing me to cross “have a cup of tea that was actually made by a British person” off my bucket list- your tea is delicious! Your nickname of mother bird is definitely deserved; even though you were the youngest, you always were the one that was watching out for everyone else. I won’t soon forget some of the great things you said, like “you know you’re a scientist when you can make fire out of water”, “I drink wine to appear more civilized than I am”, and “I’ll trust you with my life, but not my eyebrows.” When you get back home to the lab, please take some pictures like the ones I posted in that link on Facebook!

            Amber- I’ll never understand your serious dislike of snakes, spiders, roaches, moths, and ants, yet love of sharks. You made me realize that I guess I’m not a typical Texan when you were constantly saying you were cold, though I always felt fine. Spending time with you has made at least one type of British accent recognizable to me- hard not to recognize it actually!

            Now for the staff members. Jerome- I never understood how you were able to be so bright and perky in the garage at six in the morning when the rest of us were still mostly asleep. Thanks for taking care of the volunteers on multiple occasions, from giving us rides to making sure you were the last guest to leave the volunteer house that one crazy night. Sorry I didn’t get to actually say goodbye to you today, but hopefully I’ll see you next year. P.S.- your son still owes the volunteers a dishwashing session for always using our wifi.

            Karla- Thanks for taking the volunteers to explore the caves on the shore by Hermanus that day, though you weren’t crazy enough to go all the way to Devil’s Cave. Oh, and thanks for coming to save the volunteers when the power went out at our house that night. Hopefully I’ll see you next year. And, as I said when I was leaving, email me if you want me to write more for the White Shark Projects blog!

            “Old Bean”- I saved your section for last because I knew it would be hardest to write. I think I’ll miss you the most out of everyone I’ve met in the past month. Thanks for being the only other person that actually speaks normally around here (what the hell are crisps? They’re called chips!). I’ll miss your love of taking pictures yet hatred of being in them. I’ll always love the crazy things you say, like “I plan my spontaneity well in advance!” and “people need their buttons pushed. Otherwise they’re too comfortable.” You showed me that not everything needs to be planned out, and it’s okay to just live in the moment instead of constantly think about the future. As you said to me in the volunteer house one night, “saving is for people that think they have an unlimited life span. We could die tonight, so let’s drink.” Thank you so much for talking to me at the house on Lizzy and Beth’s last night, after most of the other volunteers were out, and convincing me to go out even though I originally wasn’t going to. I’m glad I went out. I’ll see you next summer. Take care of Mitzy for me.

            Well, having just read over this post, I’ve noticed that it’s probably the longest blog post I’ve ever made, and it kind of makes it sound like the White Shark Projects volunteers and staff are all raging alcoholics, which, at least most of the time, really isn’t the case. This post’s food for thought: “May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.”- Trenton Lee Stewart