As I made my way down the stairs I was greeted by someone saying "Morning". I halted my progress and did a quick scan of my surroundings, which revealed no-one in plain sight. Thinking I had imagined it, I took another step forward. "Morning!". Okay, who the hell said that, I am clearly the only person about. Reached the bottom of the stairs quite bewildered (please bear in mind it was 06:20ish). Finally I got an extended greeting "Good Morning!". Ah ha, gotcha!! Twas only Lou-Lou the parrot looking for a bit of attention. I strolled over to her cage and found myself going "Good Morning!" to her. "Hello!" was her response. Shaking my head in disbelief I went to grab some food.
Went down to the Umkomaas dive shop with Pete, Tony and Francois, who were all scheduled for two dives that day. Got kitted up in a wetsuit and fitted for some fins as Shaun, the guy at the dive shop said I would have the option of snorkeling with the sharks if I wished. I did tell him that I'm a poor swimmer and so that would not be an option, but he just shook his head and told me that I'd change my mind when I was in the water and to take the fins just in case. Our group were the only customers diving and I just had to share the cage with one other person. Result! I'm liking small groups. Plus, was well impressed with the number of crew that went with us, we had the skipper, and five other divers.
Morning is overcast which was perfect weather conditions for me, assuring that I wouldn't fry while waiting for the divers. Sea-launch off the beach. Our skipper was giving instructions on how he wanted everything to go and when to climb on. The best way to haul yourself in is to spring from the knees and go head first into the boat then swing around sit on the edge, put your feet into the foot straps and keep hold of the rope that is all around the edge. Piece of cake right? Bah, I was really hoping that he could beckon me aboard before we hit the water. Not sure if it was because I had a look of panic strewn across my face or if it is common practice, but thankfully he ushered me onto the rib before we got started. Result! Seriously I have zero upper body strength and would not have been able to haul myself into the rib from the water (as I discovered when snorkeling in Tofo).
We rocketed off out to sea and headed in search of some oceanic blacktip sharks (who can get up to 1.5m and are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish). Came across a small boat that had a group of ten people snorkeling in the water. "Look at the fins" the skipper remarked. Sure enough, there were sharks zipping in around the group. All of a sudden there was flash of grey and the sound of smacking water - one of the sharks had leapt out of the water and rolled mid-air. Holy crap! "Did you see that? Did you see that??". Incredible.
The pull of the current was quite strong so we headed a little bit further from that group and then the guys lowered the cage into the water. "Cage divers in!" said the skipper. So I made my way towards the cage. Looking back I was not a bit apprehensive or nervous about this. Here I was happily agreeing to pop into the water with what are portrayed to be violent vicious creatures and I've not got a care in the world. Now I'm not completely barmy but I figure that this venture are these guys bread and butter and they really are not going to put valued customers in a perilous position. Safe as houses it is; granted to a point. Obviously there's no accounting for the stupidity of customers, "Well hello there Mister Shark, coochy-coochy-coo, oh dear you seem to have bitten off my hand!".
Anyhoo, I lowered myself into the water, surprised at how warm it felt, popped the snorkel in my mouth and under the water I gazed. Holy crap!!! There's sharks everywhere, EVERYWHERE! A bag of chum has been attached to the bottom of our cage and they are all coming to it to have a munch. They are beautiful creatures, moving so effortlessly. It's a spectacular sensation, looking out underwater into the murky horizon and then suddenly out of nowhere a shark looms, gliding towards you, filling up your field of view. Beautiful! Actually, wait a minute what are those creatures that are shadowing the sharks, worryingly they look small enough to get through the cage grid. Ah ha, okay, on closer examination they are not wee sharks, they are suckerfish (remoras), phew - however those teeth still look none too friendly - so you keep outside the cage buddy, capeesh!!
I lifted my head out of the water to clear my snorkel and got a wee bit of a shock to discover we were drifting about aimlessly in the sea and the boat was nowhere in view. Hmmmm, interesting! Still, there's awesome activity happening under the water so get your head down lady! Unfortunately about twenty minutes into the dive I started to get quite cold, all the inactivity and pretty much staying stationary is not good. I'm now beginning to rue not asking for a rash-vest.
The guy sharing the cage with me was six-foot-three and skinny as. He was shivering uncontrollably and had fed the fish due to the choppy movement of the cage on the surface. I checked that he was okay and if he wanted to call the boat, he assured me he was fine, so not being able to do anything for him, I popped my head under the water again and kept moving my legs in a cycling motion to get a bit of blood flowing.
Such astounding sights, I'm nearly considering doing this all again tomorrow morning. Shaun swam over to the cage and asked if I wanted to get out and snorkel - I'll admit I was sorely tempted, but I know I would have been flapping my hands about like a mad one as I'm not confident enough to snorkel by simply finning alone. Instead I'd have draw the attention of the sharks and ended up as dinner for sure. That would have given the divers below quite a show.
Lasted another twenty minutes in the cage but then I had to surrender, the cold was too much, plus I was feeling a wee bit queasy. Popped my head up, saw the boat in the distance and waved for them to come over. "You've about 10-15mins left" the skipper informed me, "thanks but I'm bloody freezing, I seen loads and am delighted with what I've seen, can I get out please".
Hopped aboard the rib and immediately began to tremble violently. Luckily the skipper had loads of waterproof jackets. Shimmied into one and tried to get warm. The guys on the boat pointed to my legs and had a good laugh. I looked down and saw that my calves had ballooned hugely after my time in the water. So that's what happens when a wetsuit is too big, I released the seals at my feet and half the ocean flooded out, hehehe.
"Have a lollipop", Shaun said. "Emm, no thanks", stomach would not appreciate that I think. "No, seriously, it's good to get rid of the taste of salt, and give you a bit of sugar energy". Dubiously I took the lolly offered and popped it in my mouth. Bad idea! A few mins later I leaned over the side and fed the fish, just a little. Apple flavour - nice! The divers came up from their shark viewing session. They were also frozen to the bone. Jackets and lollipops are fired off in all directions and we huddled together to try and generate some warmth. If only the sun would peek out from the overcast sky twud heat these jackets (and us) right up.
We moved on to the next dive destination, guys had only been up about twenty mins, not even and were heading down again. Francois was shivering uncontrollably so the skipper gave him another layer to put on under his wetsuit. Hopefully that will make a bit of difference. However, once you are cold, it is very hard to right yourself. Pete decided not to do the second dive as he was too cold and didn't reckon he would enjoy the dive. While waiting for the divers we chatted, kept an eye out for breaching whales and I fed the fish a second time. Seriously!!! I do not get sea-sick, I'm blaming it on being so cold and from my snorkeling position in choppy water. Thankfully by this stage I had warmed up a bit.
Beach-landing was next on the cards, the skipper lined up the rib, timed the waves, and tore onto the beach full steam ahead, driving the boat into the sand. Thwack! Clinging onto the ropes prevented me going head first into the diving equipment. Nicely done! Plus our landing was a lot gentler than the Tofo one. We alighted the boat and after taking the few obligatory pics, made our way back to the trailer.
The dive shop's 4x4 was on the beach ready to get us back to town. In order to drive onto the sand, the air had been let out of the tyres. When we returned to the tarmac, the trick was to use the compressed air tanks to fill the tyres up again. However the tank the driver had was not working so she sent an African lad back to the beach to get another. I was a bit agog at how she treated him. "Go get a cylinder, hurry now, run, run" and she clapped her hands at him to indicate the haste needed. As he made his way she rolled her eyes and tsked after him. When he made his way back to the truck, she guided him to the tyre she wanted filled, again admonishing him when he didn't react quick enough for her liking. It was a bit surreal and unsettling to witness such behaviour. It's definitely a different way of life over here.
On the way back to the dive shop we spotted our gang sitting on the veranda of Waves. (They had been for a lovely walk along the beach in our absence). Made my way to the cafe after getting rid of the wetsuit at the dive shop and I entered the terrace to rapturous applause for my 'bravery', haha. Twas enough to make a girl blush to her toes! Seriously, I love these guys to pieces, best traveling posse in the world!!!
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