Out to sea!
My view from the office this morning
Last night
at the braai we heard from Tom that actually, there would only be two trips out
today, which most of us were fine with. Two trips out a day are great, but
three kind of starts to feel like overkill. Even better, we learned that the
second trip out would be a volunteer exclusive, so there would be no clients
out on the boat, just us and the wonderful crew that we loved so much. The
first trip had room for five volunteers. Tanya was definitely going on it since
it was her last day, and a few others volunteered to go on the first one as
well so they could hang out with Tanya a bit more before she left. The rest of
us said we’d be ready by about nine for the second trip. As another really fun
and delicious braai came to a close at the other house, the four of us walked
back over to our house. After two successful trips out to sea yesterday, we
were pretty tired, and were in bed shortly after ten.
We woke up
at about eight again this morning, and after breakfast, headed down to the
harbor to meet the boat as it returned from the first trip. The first trip took
longer today than the one yesterday, so we figured maybe they were seeing more
sharks. When the boat eventually arrived, we refueled, switched out the wet
wetsuits for clean ones, and shoved off with just the volunteers and Jerome,
Benz, Bee, Tom, and Grant. I’d decided that today I’d get in the cage if there
were sharks around, and, like the crazy person that I am, I didn’t pack a
wetsuit for myself. I’d heard that the water was a “balmy” 18 degrees
(Celsius), which as about as warm as the water around here gets, and I figured
since in 2015 I’d gone in the cage without a wetsuit in 14 degree water, I
could handle 18 degrees.
When we
dropped anchor and the others started changing into their wetsuits, I climbed
up on the fly deck to get the best vantage point of the area. With Jerome
chumming at the back of the boat and Benz handling the tuna head bait, we got a
shark over to our boat in not too long. The first one we saw was a 3.2 meter
male that was quite feisty- absolutely beautiful creature! One of the most
gorgeous sharks I’ve ever seen! It was really fun to watch him chase the bait
and circle the boat from up on the fly deck. Near the end of the trip, after
most of the volunteers had already been in the cage, I got in during the last
half hour or so of the trip. The water was cold, but not as cold as it had been
before, and it was worth it to get to be in the water with the sharks.
Around noon,
after a really good trip out to sea, we pulled up the anchor and headed back to
the harbor. A few of the volunteers were planning to go snorkeling around De
Kelders again like we did a few days ago, but I decided to sit out. Instead, I
spent this afternoon taking a long walk along the beach. I brought a trash bag
with me, which was nearly fully by the end of my walk. I mainly kept an eye out
for rope and fishing line, since Tom has told us about a friend that takes rope
and fishing line found on beaches, cleans it, turns it into bracelets and other
things, and sells them. When he’s earned and saved up enough money, he wants to
buy a boat so he can go out and clean up the reefs as well as the beaches.
After Cake
spent the afternoon snorkeling in De Kelders, Lizzy and Beth went to Swap Shop,
and I went out walking on the beach, we’re now all back home and watching
Jurassic Park while getting ready for dinner. We’ve heard that the plan is two
trips tomorrow, but obviously, plans can definitely change here, so we’ll see.
I realized while on the boat this morning that I’ve now been back at White
Shark Projects for exactly one week. It’s been an amazing week, and I can’t
wait to see what the rest of my time will bring. This post’s food for thought:
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can
go.”- T.S. Eliot
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