JAWS!

On Sunday morning, I was lowered into a cage in the middle of Shark Alley with fish heads and guts poured in the water surrounding me. No this was not my death sentence or a form of torture created in South Africa...I was willingly Shark Cage Diving!!! The only way to describe my experience is, INSANE. Exhilarating, jaw-dropping (hehe), breathe taking...the list goes on. For those of you who know me well, you know that my swimming abilities are pretty sub-par. At 19 years old I have still yet to master diving and my attempts at doing so have proven to be a fun party trick for my sister Brooke to show off. Anyway, with that being said, let's just say my family was a bit nervous for me to be in shark infested waters where swimming would seem to be a pretty crucial aspect. But don't worry people! I'm still alive n kickin' with all of my limbs in tact. So..let me begin my in depth description of this wild afternoon.

10 am, wake up and board the mini-bus outside of our flats. Everyone is tingling with excitement and wishing that we had remembered that liquor stores are closed on Sundays because we wanted to pop a bottle of champagne after coming back alive. I wish someone had warned me that the car ride to the docks was going to be 2 hours because I was literally shaking with excitement and had nothing to occupy myself with besides pestering everyone around me. Once arriving at The Great White Project's office building, we were greeted by a lovely spread of food for lunch while we waited to get out on the water. I knew not to eat too much before going on a boat but some of my comrades were not as fortunate. Once going through some brief (very brief) safety precautions, we boarded the boat and headed out to Shark Alley, a strip of water on the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula, aptly named for the multitude of sharks that habitat the area. I kept my eye on the land to avoid having my stomach jostled by the waves on the 15 minute ride out. Once out there, I along with 5 of my friends immediately volunteered to be the first group in. Had I known that getting into a wet suit would be the hardest part of this whole endeavor, I would have started putting it on on the car ride there hours before. With the waves rocking the boat, I tugged the sticky wet suit on with as much coordination as Bambi walking on ice. We then lowered our bodies into the cage in the icey water as the crew started tossing out chum to attract our Great White friends. I was initially nervous that I wouldn't be able to hold my breathe for long enough and would miss seeing the sharks when they came but quickly learned after seeing my first Great White at arm distance that holding my breathe wouldn't be the issue, remembering to breathe in general would be more important. As the sharks would approach the cage, attracted by the massive fish heads floating in front of us, their eyes were like soulless black marbles. After about 10 minutes, we got out and gave the next group a chance. Little did I know, while I was under water infatuated with the largest predator of the sea, those left on deck were having a rough time getting their sea legs. A rough time is a complete understatement, people were really losing their shit, pardon my French. And I don't mean freaking out about the sharks..people were puking left and right. This is where I have to say, Thank You Dad for taking me deep sea fishing with you because my stomach was solid as a rock. Because so many people were losing their lunches, I even got to go into the cage twice and I think the sharks were attracted to their puke because the second time in I saw a HUGE one that skimmed the cage and chomped down on the bait in front of us. I even saw a cute little seal (dumb, but cute) swim past and (hopefully) escape the sharp teeth surrounding us.

Overall, what an experience!! We got back to Rondebosch at about 7:30 and after showering headed to our favorite sushi restaurant, Beluga, for some fresh fish and drinks. Later that night, I even met some famous surfers that were in Cape Town filming a documentary. Of course I was too awkward and spastic to hold a conversation with any of them but my friends did a good job at making them think we were normal. A great end to an amazing day.

Wet Suit Seal Conspiracy 

I stole all of these pictures from my friends because I somehow managed to avoid taking a single picture. oops?