Today was
the first sea day we’ve had in several days here in Gansbaai- the wet weather
and strong swells have kept us on land for a while. Thankfully, since we knew
that yesterday was going to be another no sea day, we planned another outing to
keep us busy. This was to a place that I hadn’t been to before- it was
basically a spa! Okay, it actually had a lot more than a spa, but that was the
main area that we used. The whole place, called the Caledon, included several
restaurants, a gym, spa, hotel and a casino! It was near Hermanus, about an
hour away from Gansbaai. Not all of the vols went- it ended up being Mark,
Andre, Sophie, Mo, Jessica and me, with Jerome driving. Spas aren’t really my
thing, but after hearing a bit about it from Tom and Jessica at the braai two
nights ago, I decided to go just to check it out and get out for the day. I was
mainly interested in the hot springs that you can actually swim in, which
turned out to be my favorite part. There were about five different pools that
you could swim in, set at five different levels, which flowed into each other.
The first one, at the lowest floor, was pretty cool, but as you went up each
flight to the next pool, it got hotter. None of us could even go into the top
pool for more than a few seconds, it was so hot! The six of us spent most of
the morning hanging out in the different hot springs, before changing out of
our swimsuits and heading to one of the restaurants for lunch. The restaurant
where we ate was right next to the casino, and when we were done eating we
walked in there, really just to check it out. None of us actually gambled while
we were there- we just spent about half an hour walking around it, looking at
the different types of machines and games. It was actually my first time being in
a casino in my life- another thing to check off my bucket list!
When we were
done at the Caledon, we stopped in Hermanus on the way back home to explore
that nice little town. I’d been to Hermanus before, back in 2015, and it felt
so nice to be back, walking those streets again! The South African Shark
Conservancy, or SASC, is in Hermanus, and seeing it again made me think of the
day that I’d been snorkeling in the waters around it, in which I’d caught the
brown shyshark with my bare hands. That was an amazing day.
As we were
heading back home, some of us suggested going out into Gansbaai after dinner,
to hang out at Seaview, one of the pubs. I hadn’t been out into Gansbaai at
night in a while, and since I’d heard that the trip to sea today was a later
one, I decided that I’d join them.
While
hanging out at Seaview last night, listening to the music and watching the
other vols play a few rounds of pool, I couldn’t help but think about the fact
that this is now my last week here in Gansbaai. I’m trying not to think about
that yet, but I’m not always successful. I love South Africa, especially this
area of it; it really feels like a second home to me!
Although the
past few no sea days have been fun, we were all happy to be back out on the
boat this morning. It was a late launch, with the boat leaving the harbor a
little before noon, and luckily enough, there was space for all the vols on it!
The water visibility was pretty nice today, and we got a good amount of shark
action for the three hours or so out on the water. There were quite a few
occasions today where we saw multiple sharks hanging around the boat at the
same time, which I always find really interesting. While great whites are
solitary animals, I think that they do follow each other and have some
interaction with other sharks. Sometimes I’ll notice a behavior where two
sharks will swim parallel to each other for a while. It seems like they’re
sizing each other up, with the bigger shark taking priority in terms of
territory and prey.
After returning
to the harbor and cleaning up the boat, I got in about an hour long beach clean
this afternoon, then came home to make dinner. Tomorrow there are two trips out
to sea, and it sounds like I’ll be going on the first one, which launches at
seven. Hopefully we’ll get some more good shark action, like today! This post’s
food for thought is a very classic travel quote that I absolutely love: “To
move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give, to roam the roads
of lands remote, to travel is to live.”- Hans Christian Andersen
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