Rain Down in Africa!

There have been some serious storms in Gansbaai lately! 

We love it when the crew join us for Braais! Even though Mandla refused to smile

What better way to welcome new volunteers...

            There have been some serious storms the past few days here in Gansbaai that have kept us on land, but we’ve definitely been making the most of our free time! Wednesday evening most of the vols went to Jimmy Rocket’s, a pub in Gansbaai, because they had karaoke night going on. When we arrived, we saw Marius, the newest crew member of White Shark Projects- he just started working here around the time I arrived. We’d been on the boat and in the garage with him plenty of times, but I think up until Wednesday night I hadn’t heard him say anything other than “good morning”. When we walked into the pub, he immediately ran up and hugged all of us, and at first I almost didn’t recognize him. We’d never seen him so happy and talkative before! He excitedly told us that he already had four songs lined up for him to sing. Over the course of the next few hours he sang at least a dozen songs, all while dancing and chatting with all of the vols. It was definitely a big change from the way we were used to seeing him! We stayed there at Jimmy Rocket’s singing karaoke and having a good time until close to one in the morning before calling it a night and heading home.

            The next day we were originally planning on going to Bark, the local dog rescue, to walk the dogs, but we were woken up that morning by a big storm blowing in. In the past two days, it’s rained more here in Gansbaai than I’ve ever seen in Africa before. Thursday turned out to be a pretty quiet day here- we did our usual grocery shopping in the morning, which we do just about every Thursday and Monday. Lizzy and Beth were originally supposed to leave on Thursday, but they’re not flying back to the UK until this Wednesday, so they asked Jess if they could stay a couple of extra days, and she said that’d be fine if they could just move into the flat right next to ours, where Tom used to live, to make room for new vols. Where they’re now staying is actually attached to our place, and they’re really just using that place to sleep- other than that, they’re still over here. After they moved their stuff over Thursday afternoon, Jess and I decided to offer to move fellow volunteer Loryn down to the lower house with us. She’d been spending a lot of time down here anyway, and joining me on some of my beach cleans, so we offered and she said she’d like that, so as of two nights ago, she’s my roomie.

            Thursday afternoon Jess led a lecture on the topic of the two orcas that have been coming into the bay here in Gansbaai the past year or so. Orcas have been passing through this area since long before these two, but these two are the first ones that we’ve seen predating on and causing problems for the sharks. Whenever Port and Starboard, as the two orcas have been named, are spotted in the bay, it’s usually followed by at least one dead white shark, with the liver removed, washing up on a nearby beach, followed by a few weeks of no sharks being seen in the area. After they passed through about a year ago a few dead sharks washed up, all missing their livers, which was then followed by 46 days of no shark sightings in this area at all, which is very unusual for that time of year. The vols all talked about things like why the orcas might be here, what their relationship might be, why they aren’t in a large pod like orcas typically live in, and what their presence means for the sharks. The main thing we wondered was this: orcas are not considered an endangered species, while white sharks definitely are. These two orcas are rogue males for the most part, so they’re not beneficial to a pod and probably aren’t going to reproduce, while causing big problems for the shark population in the area. So, for the sake of conservation, would it be acceptable or appropriate to take out the orcas? Most of us were leaning toward yes.

            Friday was another fairly quiet day- we did end up going to Bark because the weather was a little better. Also, being that it was the 15^th, three new vols ended up arriving, all of whom are staying in the top house. There’s one girl from California, and two women from Britain. We decided that evening we’d have a braai for the occasion. It was still a drizzly, dreary day, so we decided it’d be best to do it up at the top house on the indoor fireplace. As usual, a braai is a real occasion here! We played a bunch of different games throughout the evening as the food was prepared, while also getting to know the new vols. As usual, we invited all of the crew to join us. Jerome stopped by for a little while pretty early on, but he needed to head to Cape Town so didn’t stay too long. Thankfully Mandla also took us up on our invitation and stayed for most of the braai. He typically doesn’t come out to do stuff with us, and Jerome and Jess said he comes out even less when Lizzy, Beth, Cake and I aren’t around. We always love it when the crew hangs out with us, and it was so nice to have Mandla around for the evening.

            I’m not even going to talk about what we did this morning, because honestly it could be an entire blog post in and of itself, and this one is long enough! This post’s food for thought: “The more I traveled, the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.”- Shirley MacLaine

Swop Shop and Other News

Swop Shop! 

These kids melt my heart...

This girl was chasing some bubbles! Some things are universal

            The past few days have consisted of more time on the boat with the sharks, beach cleans, and time out in the community of Gansbaai. For this blog post, though, I’m going to focus mainly on that third category. Yesterday morning we had one trip out to sea, in which we saw several sharks, including one very inquisitive new male. He had some black circular scars on both sides of his dorsal fin, which looked like he had previously had a camera tag clamped to the fin which had fallen off. The scars made him really easy to identify, and we saw that guy again today.

            Yesterday afternoon, after we’d cleaned up and unpacked the boat and washed the wetsuits, the volunteers jumped in the van and headed to “Swop Shop”, the program in the local community that White Shark Projects runs. Swop Shop takes place in Masakhane, the black neighborhood of Gansbaai, which is a really poor area. Although apartheid has been gone for more than two decades here in South Africa, the effects of it are still around. Mainly here in Gansbaai, I’m reminded of it by the fact that the three main ethnic groups of South Africa- black, white, and colored- are divided into three different parts of town. Not divided in everything they do, of course, but specifically in the area where they live. Blacks live in Masakhane, coloreds live in Blompark, whites live in De Kelders. Masakhane is an especially poor neighborhood here, and that’s where we do Swop Shop. Basically, the kids in the neighborhood collect recyclables like plastic and glass bottles from in and around their homes and bring them to the shop. There, they earn a certain amount of points for what they bring in, that they can then “spend” in the Swop Shop for things like toys, school supplies, and clothes. It happens most Tuesday afternoons, and the vols went yesterday to help out. Working Swop Shop is something here in Gansbaai that reminds me that I’m in Africa- believe it or not, it’s often easy to forget! Not all of the kids have shoes, and they sometimes wear clothes meant for the opposite gender just because they fit. One thing that amazes me about them, though, is how they never complain or get upset if they can’t get something. See, the shop is arranged by shelves- the higher the shelf, the more points the item is worth. Sometimes a kid will point to an item that they’d like but don’t have enough points for, and we have to tell them no. All Americans know that if you tell a little kid they can’t have something while shopping, they’ll probably throw a fit, but these kids just don’t! I don’t get it, and it’s amazing to see. Aside from that, they’re just more respectful in other ways as well. For example, yesterday I was walking a girl around the shop who was looking at some clothes. Whenever she’d get down an item, look at it or try it on, and decide it wasn’t the right size, she’d ALWAYS fold up the item again before putting it back. Anyone that’s worked in a clothing store knows American kids aren’t really known for doing that.

            It was a very successful afternoon working Swop Shop- the kids collected a LOT of recyclables from around the neighborhood and all the vols seemed to have a good time helping them out. When the kids were done, we locked up the shop and headed back to the vol house to get ready to go spend the evening at Oppidek, our favorite pub in Gansbaai. They were having a trivia night, and the WSP vols decided to all go play as a team. We didn’t stay out late, though, because it was another 6 am start this morning.

            This evening we’re going out into town again for karaoke night at another pub in town, since tomorrow is a no sea day. I don’t know if we have any plans for tomorrow yet, but we’ll see! This post’s food for thought: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whales and Winelands

The view from the whale watching boat

Sunfish! 

            Time for the last few days of news from here in South Africa! Friday morning there was an early 6 am start in the garage for another trip out to sea. That one only had two clients on it, so all of the volunteers got to go out on it. Harry left to head back home on Thursday afternoon, so there were twelve vols on that trip. We had a new guy arrive Friday, named Eric, who will be here for three weeks. He’s from France, making him the only one of the thirteen volunteers that’s not either British or American. On that first trip we saw that beautiful inquisitive female we’d seen on a few previous trips as well. We might name her if she keeps sticking around; she’s so cool to see and has very recognizable behavior. She loves gently bumping the cage with her nose, circling the boat, spy hopping, and hanging out around the stern of the boat by the engines.

            After returning from that trip, we got the boat restocked and ready for the next trip, then all the vols went to get ready for the whale-watching trip that we had planned for that afternoon. A little after noon, we loaded into the van and headed out. The company that did the whale watching tours is where Karla now works, the old White Shark Projects’ volunteer coordinator. When we arrived and saw her, Cake, Lizzy, Beth and I took turns giving her a hug. We spent the next couple of hours out on the boat following and watching dolphins, cape fur seals, African penguins, and even a Bryde’s whale! Another animal that we saw out on that trip that I really didn’t expect to see was a sunfish. I’d never seen a wild one before and didn’t even think they were found around these waters so seeing one come to the surface was really special!

            After getting off the whale watching boat we walked over to Oppidek, our favorite little pub in Gansbaai, and had an early dinner since we were all hungry. Some of the volunteers wanted to stay out at Oppidek and hang out after dinner since we knew we wouldn’t be going out to sea the next day, but I went back home with some others. I got in a little beach clean before the sun went down, then hung at home reading until the others returned.

            Yesterday we had arranged to go visit a couple of vineyards around Hermanus and the winelands and get in a few wine tastings since it was a no sea day. A few of the vols, including me, don’t drink, but we tagged along anyway to just hang out with people. So a little after ten, with Benz driving and Tom joining us, we headed out. We were out most of the day doing that- I’d almost forgotten how beautiful the winelands of South Africa are! We arrived home at about four- Loryn said that she was cooking a huge pot of soup up at the top house for dinner and we were welcome to join them for it, so we decided that’s what we’d do that evening. After I went out for a beach clean as usual, I joined everyone at the top volunteer house and we sat around eating soup and watching Harry Potter.

            Today there wasn’t a lot planned on the agenda. The weather was really nice but the swells were big, so it was a no sea day. Tom decided that since it was nice, sunny, and not too windy, we could go out and do- get this- a beach clean before lunch. As always on beach cleans, I kept an extra sharp eye out for rope and fishing line and collected that separately since there’s an organization based here in Gansbaai called Seven Seas Rope, that takes rope and fishing line found on the beach and turns it into bracelets that people can buy. After collecting it on every beach clean that I’ve done so far, I had a big bag of the stuff today for Tom to take to the guy he knows at the organization.

            Tomorrow there are two trips out to sea, but I don’t know yet how many spaces are available on them, so we’ll just have to wait and see. This post’s food for thought is a little different than most because it’s something that was said by the skipper of the whale watching boat that we went on: “Take a picture with your mind first. You can always download a picture or buy a postcard. You can’t download a memory.”

Sharks and Birthday Surprises

This beautiful girl is one of the most inquisitive sharks I've ever worked with!

            I haven’t made a blog post in about three days, so there’s plenty of news to report from here in Gansbaai! After I published my last post on Monday evening, I learned that the first trip out to sea Tuesday morning had space for five volunteers- but luckily, the second was a volunteer exclusive trip, so it would just be all the volunteers and the crew on the boat! Vol exclusive trips are definitely my favorite since the vibe on the boat is a lot more chill than it is when we have clients. The crew is more relaxed, and all the volunteers can get in the cage if they want. I honestly don’t really like being in the cage that much, so I stayed up on the fly deck for most of the trip.

            I didn’t go on the first trip Tuesday morning, and when the boat got back to the harbor at about eleven, I asked Jerome if they saw anything, and he said that they had two sharks around the boat! It was a big relief to know that they’re back around. When the guests from the first trip were off and the vols and crew were back on the boat, skipper Grant took the wheel and we were off. Soon we were back where the boat had anchored for the first trip, where the cage still floated. Since the smell of chum was still in the water from earlier, we spotted a shark almost as soon as Grant turned off the engine! It was about a 2.5 meter female that stuck around the boat for almost our entire trip. Not only was she gorgeous, but she was also one of the most inquisitive sharks I’ve ever seen here in these waters, which made her fantastic to watch! She circled the boat many times, seemed very interested in the stern of the boat around the engines, and would regularly come up and gently bump the cage with her snout, exploring it. We saw her and another bigger male on that trip. They were both inquisitive and stayed around the boat for quite a while.

            After the vol exclusive trip Tuesday, most of the rest of that day was pretty relaxed. Yesterday was a British volunteer named Vicky’s birthday, so we were planning on going out for dinner at the Great White House, a restaurant up the street owned by Marine Dynamics, another shark diving company out of this harbor. Before that, though, we had two trips out to sea. The first one only had seven clients on it, so all the volunteers got to go on it. The six am start in the garage was a little tough, especially since it’s so cold here in the mornings, but once we were out on the boat it was so worth it. Grant always likes to be the first boat out on the water in the mornings, which usually means really early starts, but also means that we’re the first to see the sharks. It took a little while to get some sharks on that trip, but when the first one did show up, we quickly recognized it to be the same female that we’d seen on the vol exclusive trip the day before. She has a black, old looking scar over the last two gills on her left side that makes her pretty easy to recognize, and she was just as inquisitive as the day before. Her behavior makes her so much fun to watch- she seems to really like hanging out around the engines, likes to watch and gently bump the cage, and she does a LOT of spy hopping, which is my favorite thing to see the sharks do! We also saw the same male from the day before on that trip, as well as a third shark.

            I didn’t go on the second trip yesterday, and a lot of the vols spent part of the afternoon down here at the lower house getting some stuff ready for Vicky’s birthday. We made her a happy birthday sign that we hung up in the backyard and made her a cake. Lizzy and Cake were also planning to have a massive “flankyball” tournament, the ridiculous drinking game that has become a tradition for us to play, since yesterday was also Harry’s last night here. Cake broke the vols up into four teams of three, with me serving as the ref. Jess also made us a reservation for dinner at the Great White House. We also arranged for Jerome to drive us into Gansbaai after dinner so we could hang out at a pub.

            Late yesterday afternoon, someone walked Vicky down to the lower house, while the rest of us were already waiting down here. We surprised her with the decorations and cake, and we hung out down here until 6:30 when we walked up to the Great White House for dinner. When we were done with that, it was time for the flankyball tournament! I had the job of ref, which was very necessary because, just as expected, the games got very intense! Eventually, after several heated rounds, Beth’s team won right around the time Jerome showed up to drive us into town. We ended up spending a few hours at Seaview, a pub where Lizzy, Beth, Cake and I had been to plenty of times before, though not yet on this trip. In classic Gansbaai fashion, though, it hadn’t changed a bit.

            We knew that today would be a no sea day, so we didn’t get home last night until after 1 am. Jerome came down to the lower house and hung out with us for a while, telling us one of his shark stories that the returning vols all love hearing.

            This morning Tom lead a lecture on shark biology in the top vol house, then we spent part of the afternoon at the nearby penguin sanctuary. After getting back home and relaxing for a little while, I went for a solo beach clean. I saw some abalone poachers while I was out on it, which isn’t really rare. There are a lot of them that work around this harbor. It is illegal, but apparently not enforced too well, so they don’t really put too much effort in hiding. I’m used to seeing them by now and don’t really worry about it- they’re harmless to people unless you’re an idiot.

            There are two trips out tomorrow and I’ve heard that there’s space for all of us on the first one. Then tomorrow afternoon we have a whale watching trip planned, which should be fun. That’s all the news for now! This post’s food for thought: “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” Isak Dinesen