The Sound of Shark Diving

"Brrraaaawwwwwww!" That's what shark diving in Cape Town sounded like for me as I played "Which Part of Breakfast was That?" over the side of the dive boat. I was sea sick. Fortunately, though, I was still able to get in the cage and see a Great White Shark up close and personal in it's natural habitat. That was before I hurled. The best time to see sharks is just a couple hours after dawn so we headed up to Hermanus, which is about two hours north of Cape Town, to see ourselves some big fish. Hermanus is also the most popular whale watching point in the Western Cape as well, so I was also hoping to see some big mammals, although I already had seen some in Kansas, Hey-OOO! Ok, sorry, I am a bit under the weather as I have technically eaten, but not digested anything all day.

The sea was angry today my friends, and it took it's anger out on the S.S. Shark Hunter, that was our boat. Our boat was a soldier and took all the surf in stride, but there were a few times I was really glad I was wearing a life preserver. I have never been sea sick before, but then again, I have never been in waters that treacherous. In fact, I was less afraid of the sharks and more afraid of the ship capsizing. Eventually we made the 4 or 5 mile trek over to shark alley. This is a narrow strip of ocean that runs between two very small islands. One island is a bird sanctuary and the other is a seal colony, which in shark terms means: lunch. This is the most densely populated area of Great White Sharks on the planet, which makes it a great place to dump tourists off in a steel cage to get a glimpse of these predators of the sea.

We saw six or seven different Great Whites, the smallest being about 10 feet long. They are unbelievable to watch. When you are in the cage the guides throw some bait in the water and guide the sharks toward you. While we were in the cage the bait was 5 feet in front of us or so and a shark came at blazing speed right up from underneath us and snatched the dead fish off the rope as it flew out of the water. It was unbelievable. The guides said that we were lucky to see that.

Cape Town has been an adventure of a different style. While I have been here I have hiked up Table Mountain, swam with sharks, and driven along one of the most beautiful and unique coastlines on the planet. Africa's south west peninsula offers so much natural beauty that it is almost overwhelming. I hiked up Table Mountain with four other folks that I met. After you make the two hour, 3000 foot vertical ascent you rewarded with an view from the top of Cape Town. Table Mountain gives you a spectacular panorama since it is not a mountain with a proper peak, it is really more of a plateau. Once atop you can see 360 degrees of the Cape, as well as where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. When we all got to the top we caught our breaths and took in the sights. One of the things we were most astonished by was the smattering of girls we saw wearing strappy flip flops and dresses. All of the folks I was with were in shape twenty somethings with proper hiking boots or running shoes and we had a helluva time. I was dumbfounded as to how these girls made it up, but they were the only ones who looked like they were prepared for a photo shoot in their pictures, so cheers to them. Next time I am going to hike a mountain in a tuxedo, just to see if I can do it. Whatever I do next, I'm hoping I just don't puke anymore, it is not fun.