Shark team! From left to right: Mayke, me, Beth, Cake, Lizzy, Matt, Jerome, Dax, Bee, Julian, Sibo and Grant
The reason I
didn’t make a blog post yesterday certainly wasn’t because it wasn’t eventful;
quite the contrary, it was actually so eventful that I didn’t have time to
write one up. So, time to recap the madness that the last two days have been. Two
nights ago, Cake made a delicious meal for the four of us, which we followed up
with the one of the best shark b-movies ever- “Shark in Venice”. Yes, that’s
what it was called. You thought Sharknado was dumb? It had nothing on this
movie. It was fun to watch it with other shark nerds and point out everything
that was wrong with it, from the shark that roared to people being able to talk
while scuba diving to the fact that the shark apparently had a sex change
halfway through the movie- in some shots it was male, in others it was female. When
it was over, we went to bed, knowing that the next morning would be another
early start- but it was a volunteer exclusive trip, which are my favorite!
The
following morning, the boat was out on the water at about seven, with all of
the volunteers plus Mandla, Grant, Sibo, Bee, and Tom. It was a nice long trip;
we stayed out there until a little after noon, enjoying the sharks and the
relaxed environment on the boat that always comes with vol exclusive trips. For
part of the trip, Lizzy, Beth and I sat up at the bow of the boat talking to
Grant. I really don’t think I talk about Grant enough here in my blog. He’s the
skipper of the boat, the reason we often have to get up so early to be the
first boat out, and we all love him. He’s not South African; he actually used
to be a paramedic in the UK, but decided to give that up for a much less
stressful life here in Gansbaai. He’s usually pretty quiet around the guests.
Not exactly shy, he just kind of likes to hang back I guess. But he relaxes
more when it’s just the crew and vols on the boat, and if you get him talking
he’s the most hilarious person you’d ever meet.
One thing I
was really reminded of on that trip out was the fact that sharks have such
strong individual personalities. We had one come up that hung around our boat
for quite a while, but was pretty cautious. He was on the smaller end of what
we see around here- less than three meters long. It often seems that the bigger
sharks tend to be bolder and more assertive, while the smaller ones are shy and
cautious. A few times, as this smaller shark circled near the bow of the boat,
he did one of my favorite shark behaviors- spy hopping. Meaning, he lifted his
head out of the water to look around. Yes, they actually do that. Dolphins and
whales also do it, but I believe great white sharks are the only fish that have
been documented to demonstrate that behavior, and it’s really cool to see. It’s
just another example that these animals aren’t the mindless killing machines
that people once thought they were.
After a damn
near perfect morning out on the boat, we came home, made lunch, and hung out at
home for a little while until Jerome picked us all up to take us to the store.
We’d decided that we’d all go back to that cave in De Kelders and do a braai
there that night; unfortunately, it was some of the volunteers’ last night
here, including Lizzy, Beth, and Cake. We decided that we wanted to make their
final night super special, and that beautiful cave by the beach seemed like the
perfect spot to do so. We got supplies for a braai at the store, came back home
for just a few minutes to get stuff ready, then we all piled in the truck and
Jerome drove us back to the cave. He said that after work he’d come back there
to find us and hang out for a while. We’d also invited Bee, Sibo, and Mandla to
join us, but we still weren’t sure if they would. By about five o’clock we’d
made it back to the cave and began setting up for the braai. Climbing down that
path to the cave two nights before had been hard enough carrying only my
camera. Doing it last night with about twenty beers on my back was a whole
other story. I nearly plummeted to my death once or twice, but we all made it
to the cave unscathed, and then the real fun began. We played a couple rounds
of flunkeyball on the beach while there was still light, then went back up to
the cave to relax and get the braai ready. We were all really happy to see
that, shortly after it got dark, Mandla, Bee and Sibo did show up, followed
shortly by Jerome! We all took turns hugging them as they arrived and saying
how happy we were that they’d decided to come hang out with us. I had a nice
long talk with Mandla as we were eating about South Africa and how volunteers
came from all over the world (as I told him, we come to this project because we
love the sharks; we return because we love the people). He’s also trying to
teach me Xhosa, one of the languages spoken here in South Africa. I’m learning
a few words, but it’s pretty hard to pronounce; I’m not good at the clicking!
We stayed
out there eating, drinking and having fun until nearly ten o’clock, when we
decided to call it a night. We cleaned up the area and got a ride back home
from- you guessed it- Jerome (for the record yes, we do pay him to drive us
around).
This morning
we got up early again for one last trip before Lizzy, Beth, Cake, Caitlyn,
Matt, and Julian all left- this morning WSP had nine volunteers, tonight we
only have three. When we pulled back up to the harbor, we all got off the boat and
I took turns hugging Lizzy, Beth and Cake before they ran to finish packing up
and I got back on the boat for a second trip. It was so incredibly nice to come
back and volunteer with them all again like we did in 2015. I already miss
them, but I know that today wasn’t goodbye- it was see you later. We’re already
thinking about the next time. Between the four of us, we’ve been on six
continents, but we all agreed that we’ve found our own little perfect corner of
it here in Gansbaai.
That second
trip was interesting because there was a seal that popped up right beside our
boat and hung around it for about half an hour or so, playing in the water
right next to the boat. This seal looked big and healthy- not the kind of seal
a shark would go for, and this isn’t even the time of year when their main diet
is seals, so I think it was pretty safe. A lot of people probably don’t realize
this, but a healthy adult seal could actually do quite a bit of damage if it
wants to, and most sharks aren’t willing to take the risk. We’ve seen sharks
full of scars, quite possibly from seals fighting for their lives, so in
general they’ll only go for pups, or sick/injured seals.
When we
pulled back up to the harbor a little after noon, I helped wash the wetsuits,
then made lunch. The house has felt so empty and quiet this afternoon and
evening- in one day I’ve gone from having three housemates to none. This
afternoon I felt the need to get out for a while, so I took a trash bag and
went and walked along the beach for about an hour picking up whatever trash I
could find. When I got back from that, I went back up to the top volunteer
house to put the drying wetsuits into the garage and see if anyone knew the
plan for tomorrow. I heard from Jerome that tomorrow is a no sea day, and he
wasn’t sure if Tom had a plan for us to do anything else, so my schedule for
tomorrow is still kind of up in the air. I have heard that we’re getting
another volunteer tomorrow; don’t yet know anything about them or if they’ll be
staying at the top house or here with me. We’ll see tomorrow! Okay, sorry for
this super long post, but there was just so much news to convey! This post’s
food for thought: “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to
another: what! You too? I thought I was the only one.”- C.S. Lewis
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