Awesome picture taken by Matt Edwards, fellow WSP volunteer
Yesterday
was a pretty chill day here at White Shark Projects, so I decided not to make a
blog post. We weren’t going out to sea, so instead all the volunteers got a
lecture from Tom on sharks, followed by watching a documentary in the volunteer
house. We heard from Tom in the evening that there’d be two trips out to sea
today- the first one had room for six volunteers, the second had room for four.
Cake, Beth, Lizzy and I got lucky by getting the second trip, since it meant we
didn’t have to be in the garage getting ready at 5:15 in the morning, like the
other volunteers did. Instead, we woke up at about eight, had some breakfast,
and waited for the first trip to return so we could head out to sea for our
trip. We all had our fingers crossed to see some shark action.
The four of
us sat out at the harbor, waiting for the White Shark Projects boat to return.
When it did, we immediately noticed that the cage wasn’t on it, which we hoped
was a good sign. When we go out on multiple trips in a day, we leave the cage
in the water between trips with a big buoy attached to it so we can find it
again, to mark our place in that spot. We figured that, if they hadn’t seen any
sharks, they wouldn’t have even put the cage in the water. When the boat was
pulled up onto solid ground, the other volunteers and crew gave up thumbs up-
sharks! They said that they’d only seen three, but it was a good sign that they
were probably returning to the area, and thankfully they’d had one shark that
had stayed around the boat for a couple of hours.
We refueled
the boat, replaced the used wetsuits with clean ones, and helped the clients
into their lifejackets as they boarded the boat. There was definitely
excitement in the air among the volunteers as our boat was lowered back out
onto the water- we were all ready to see those beautiful sharks again.
Once we
returned to the spot where the cage was waiting and reattached it to the side
of the boat, we passed out wetsuits to the clients that wanted to go into the
cage so they could be ready if and when we got a shark near the boat. I then
climbed up to the fly deck of the boat, which was the best vantage point for
seeing any sharks in the area. I decided not to get in the cage this time
around, but rather just enjoy the sharks from the boat. It was easier to see
them there anyway.
It took some
time just chumming and putting the bait out in the water, but after a while, I
heard Mandla, who was up on the fly deck with me, say he saw a shark
approaching. I looked where he was pointing, and saw a dark shape coming
towards the back of the boat, where the chum line was coming from. The crew
quickly recognized it as the first shark they’d seen on the first trip earlier.
As it came up to the bait and Benz, who was the bait handler, drew it closer to
the boat, we saw that it was about a 2.8 meter female. She had some scars
around her gills that made her easy to recognize. This turned out to be the
only shark that we saw on our trip, but it was okay because she was just the
type of shark that we loved to see. She was very curious and feisty; she stuck
around our boat for over an hour, constantly circling, chasing the bait, and
coming up right by the cage to give the guests quite a show. Some people think
that an animal like a shark can’t have a personality, but they absolutely do!
I’ve seen very shy, cautious sharks that circle the boat once, then swim away.
On the other hand, I’ve seen ones like the one we had this morning, which are
my favorite because they’re just so much fun to watch and interact with.
We stayed
out on the water until about 11:30, when we decided to pull up the anchor and
head back in. Even though we only saw one shark on this trip, we deemed it a
success because she was such a show, and it was a sign that the sharks were
hopefully coming back. We’ve heard that the orcas haven’t been spotted in this
area for a while now, so maybe the sharks have decided it’s safe enough to come
back to these waters that they’re so familiar with.
We’re having
another braai this evening since it’s one of the volunteers’ last night, but
are doing it early since it’ll be another early morning tomorrow! We’ve heard
that we’re actually going to have three trips out tomorrow, which we don’t do a
lot. We don’t yet know how many places are available for volunteers yet, but
hopefully, with three trips, we can all get out on the water at least once.
Maybe, if the sharks are around again, I will get in the cage tomorrow. That’s
all for now! This post’s food for thought: “The
cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” Isak Dinesen
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